Top 10 technology trends 2024

Generative AI is positioned as one of the leading technology trends for 2024, due to its rapid development and widespread adoption across multiple business sectors. This prediction is backed by different international analyst firms and has been featured in their presentations and technology events since mid-2023.

Along with generative artificial intelligence, other technology trends are on the horizon that will shape the business scene. These include sustainable technology, smart apps, and the growing momentum of no-code solutions.

So, if you are considering investing in digital transformation to boost productivity and competitiveness, promote sustainability and innovation in your business, or want to keep abreast of the latest technology developments, we invite you to read this publication. Updated annually, it provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic technology trends that will have the greatest impact in 2024.

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Strategic Technology Trends 2024

1. Generative AI

Generative AI, also known as Gen AI, has been one of the technologies that have garnered the most attention throughout 2023, both from the media and analyst firms, for a variety of reasons.

In particular, highlights include the launch of the latest version of ChatGPT – GPT-4 – and Google Bard. Other relevant news is related to the incorporation of new AI functionalities in social networks owned by Meta, as well as the irruption of new applications or improved versions that integrate generative AI for product design, video editing, audio creation, etc. To this must be added the approval of the EU’s new Artificial Intelligence Law, designed to address the potential risks arising from the massive use of this technology.

Against this backdrop, it is worth asking what developments we can anticipate for this technology trend in 2024. As the analyst firm International Data Corporation (IDC) explains in its FutureScape: Worldwide Artificial Intelligence and Automation 2024 Top 10 Predictions report, “generative AI takes center stage” and will be a “critical external driver shaping global IT and business planning”. So much so that, “33% of G2000 companies will use innovative business models to double their monetization potential from generative AI”.

Furthermore, the IDC report highlights the following key predictions for 2025:

“Two-thirds of enterprises will leverage a combination of generative AI and RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) to discover and access relevant, domain-specific information without relying entirely on human intervention, improving decision efficacy by 50%”.

“The G2000 will allocate over 40% of core IT spend on AI initiatives, leading to a double-digit increase in the rate of product and process innovations”.

2. Sustainable technology

Technology is an essential ally for the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), established in the 2030 Agenda. Some concrete examples of its application can be found in the generation of clean and affordable energy, through the construction of smart grids and smart cities; along with measures to combat climate change, including the creation of data centers and green power supply systems.

Thus, all the solutions that seek to support sustainability and minimize environmental impact are part of what is known as sustainable technology. The most prominent options include:

AI: According to research published in Nature magazine, entitled The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, AI can facilitate the achievement of 79 % of the SDGs, “generally through technological improvement, which may allow overcoming certain present limitations”. In this context, modeling potential impacts generated as a result of climate change represents an example of its multiple applications.

Automation: Business Process Automation (BPA) technology plays an important role in promoting sustainable business practices and minimizing the environmental impact of business operations. For example, it helps in tracking and complying with environmental regulations by providing an accurate digital record of processes and activities, facilitating audits, and demonstrating compliance. It also improves supply chain visibility and management, enabling more accurate planning and a reduction in associated inefficiencies, such as excess inventory or product obsolescence.

Cloud computing: The use of cloud technologies is considered sustainable because it improves energy efficiency, reduces the need for local infrastructure, optimizes resource consumption by enabling multiple applications and workloads to run on a single physical server, and promotes more efficient practices in software development. However, it should be noted that the sustainability of the cloud is intrinsically linked to the specific practices of the providers and also to how organizations implement and use the services provided by this technology.

3. AI TRiSM

AI TRiSM, an acronym that stands for Artificial Intelligent Trust, Risk, and Security – takes a prominent position in our technology trends special for the second year in a row.

Introduced by Gartner in 2023, the AI TRiSM concept ensures that the implementation of artificial intelligence is ethical, fair, effective, safe and secure with a special focus on risk management and the construction of reliable and responsible AI models. To this end, it covers several dimensions such as:

Reliability: AI models – programs trained from a set of data to perform specific tasks such as recognizing patterns, making decisions, or generating predictions – must be built and operate safely and ethically. To this end, processes and controls will be put in place to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the results generated by such models.

Fairness: AI models must maintain fairness, avoiding the input of discriminatory biases that may lead to unfair results. This is achieved by implementing practices that identify and mitigate biases in the data and algorithms used.

Effectiveness: To ensure the effectiveness of AI models, it is necessary to establish quality and performance standards. This involves regular testing, continuous monitoring, and corrective action to ensure that models achieve their objectives effectively.

Security: Security involves protecting AI models and the data used in their training and execution against potential threats and vulnerabilities. To achieve this, security measures must be put in place to prevent unauthorized access and data manipulation.

Data protection: To ensure data protection in the context of AI, it is necessary to comply with privacy regulations, guarantee anonymity where necessary, and take measures to safeguard data integrity and confidentiality.

According to predictions made by Gartner, “By 2026, enterprises that apply TRiSM controls to AI applications will increase the accuracy of their decision making by eliminating 80% of faulty and illegitimate information”.

4. Intelligent applications

AI techniques have been developing in the field of smartphone computing, enabling devices to function intelligently. As reported in Mobile Data Science and Intelligent Apps: Concepts, AI-Based Modeling and Research Directions, prominent techniques include Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) methods, Natural Language Processing (NLP), knowledge representation (organization and structuring of information for use by computer systems) and expert systems (AI applications that use knowledge representation to perform specialized tasks).

Broadly speaking, these types of intelligent applications are characterized by:

Proactivity: the most important characteristic of smart apps is that they can anticipate user decisions through predictive analytics.

Inherent adaptability: They are easily updated according to the environment, delivering satisfying user experiences.

Personalized suggestions: They generate suggestions tailored to individual or personalized needs, facilitating informed decisions.

Data-driven results: Extract information from a variety of sources, such as online interactions, user data, and sensors, to identify patterns and subsequently improve UX.

Contextual awareness: Consider user and device contexts to proactively provide relevant information and suggestions.

Cross-platform compatibility: They understand and process results consistently across platforms, providing users with a consistent experience even when working on different platforms.

However, smart mobile apps represent only a small part of the AI software market. This includes artificial intelligence platforms, AI software applications, AI system infrastructure software (SIS), AI application development and deployment (AD&D) software, as well as generative AI platforms and applications. All of these are expected to see significant enterprise-wide deployment over the next few years. Specifically, IDC predicts that “Revenue for Artificial Intelligence Software Will Reach $307 Billion Worldwide in 2027”. This growth, according to Raghunandhan Kuppuswamy, research manager for AI and Automation at IDC, is due to “The momentum behind investments in AI and automation technologies”. He adds “Businesses are realizing that utilizing cutting-edge technology is not only a strategic necessity but also a crucial factor in achieving long-term success”.

If you are interested in learning more about this technology trend, we suggest you consult the IA40 list compiled by Madrona, in collaboration with Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and PitchBook. A ranking that includes the top private companies that are committed to the creation of smart applications, ranked according to the total amount of capital raised:

Early: Up to $30 million.
Mid-stage: Between $30 million and $200 million.
Growth-stage: $200 million.
Enablers: Enablers willing to work with companies at any stage of their development (early, mid or late stage), building tools and infrastructure that enable the operation and deployment of smart applications.

Specifically, the top 5 companies on the overall IA40 2023 list are OpenAI (Model Provider), Databricks (Data and Analytics), Airtable (Productivity), Anthropic (Model Provider) and Snyk (Security).

5. Industry Cloud Platforms

Industry Cloud Platforms (ICP) represent a significant evolution in the implementation of technology solutions, for industry-specific companies. Unlike generic cloud platforms, ICPs are designed to address the particular challenges and requirements of a specific sector such as logistics, retail, or agriculture. To this end, they provide a full range of cloud services ranging from specialized applications to scalable infrastructures.

These platforms are a response to the growing demand for more specialized technology solutions tailored to the specifics of each industry. By combining software capabilities, platform, and infrastructure resources, ICPs offer a holistic approach to help companies optimize operations, improve efficiency, and respond quickly to changing market demands. Among the distinctive attributes of ICPs are:

Industry adaptability: Designed to meet the unique needs of an industry, ICPs are designed with the particular business processes, regulatory challenges and market trends characteristic of each sector.

Specialized services: Industry cloud platforms offer specialized services that are critical to the operation of companies in a specific industry. These include data analytics tools, specific security solutions and customized business applications.

Regulatory compliance: As different industries are subject to specific regulations, ICPs are designed to ensure regulatory compliance within a specific domain. This helps companies effectively manage the legal and regulatory issues associated with their operations.

Scalability and flexibility: Like conventional cloud platforms, PKIs offer the advantages of scalability and flexibility. This allows companies to adapt to changes in demand, integrate new technologies, and expand their operations efficiently.

According to Gartner, “Industry cloud platforms are a notable emerging trend, because they create value for companies by offering adaptable and relevant industry solutions”. The analyst firm also predicts that “by 2027, more than 70% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives, up from less than 15% in 2023”.

6. No Code

The adoption of no code will experience significant growth in the business environment in the coming years. Despite initial doubts from some analyst firms, who expressed some skepticism about the lack of a clear differentiation from low code, the reality is that its expansion is undeniable.

A forecast supported by IDC, anticipates strong demand for Low Code, No Code, Low Code and Intelligent Development Technologies (LCNCIDT) from both professional and non-technical developers. Specifically, “ worldwide LCNCIDT revenue growing to $21.0 billion in 2026 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.8% from 2021-2026”.

According to the firm, “Enterprises are implementing LCNCIDT technologies to improve developer productivity, either by enabling professional developers to work more quickly by streamlining or eliminating aspects of the development process, or by providing non-technical developers with tools they can use to create or update digital solutions without the help of professional developers”.

Gartner predicts that “Low-code and no-code technologies use will nearly triple by 2025”. In particular, it is estimated that, by the same period, “70% of new applications developed by organizations will use low-code or no-code technologies, up from less than 25% in 2020”. 

According to predictions by the Information Services Group (ISG) in the article Low-Code/No-Code Tools Ignite Democratized Development, the market for low-code and no-code development tools is expected to grow four-fold from 2023 to 2027, noting that the demand for such platforms “has not eaten into the overall application services market, but instead has expanded it”.

Some of the reasons for this growth, according to the Next-Gen ADM Solutions 2022 – Low-code/No-code Development Platforms report, are due to the “business agility and implementation simplicity” that this type of solution confers. Other benefits include “their innate ability to work with legacy IT infrastructure, decrease development, testing and maintenance costs and better cross-team collaboration”.

However, no code stands out as the technology that has radically transformed the market for software development solutions, overcoming the restrictions of low-code solutions. Thus, while no code can “configure applications based on business logic and pre-built drag-and-drop options,” low code requires coding, as ISG points out in its LCNC development platforms report.

7. Hybrid working

The flexible working model is no longer a passing trend adopted by organizations to keep their operations running in crises. This is according to The Okta Hybrid Work Report 2023, published by the cloud-based identity and access management platform Okta. This document analyses the willingness of European companies to review their hybrid work models and assesses the impact of hybrid work on employee well-being. Specifically, 524 surveys were conducted with people who have a role or responsibility in decision-making related to the corporate digital work environment in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The results indicate the following:

The analyst firm Forrester, in its 2024 Predictions Guide, anticipates that “Europe will lead hybrid work adoption”. The report includes various data on the level of adoption of this type of work, in different countries around the world, over the course of 2023. In Europe, the Netherlands is the Member State most supportive of flexible working, with 74% of employees authorized to work remotely, compared to the current European average of 30%. In contrast, 28% of working days in the US are spent working remotely, compared to 8% in South Korea and 26% in Australia.

Finally, Forrester predicts that ” Europe will outpace the US in flexible working in 2024, with 40% of Europeans working remotely at least some of the time”. It also expects” additional flexible working legislation to come into force in the UK and the EU next year”. A fact that will lead European companies to invest in a new model of collaboration, to empower their hybrid workforce.

8. New horizon in customer experience

“CX will improve for the first time in three years.” This is how Forrester puts it in its 2024 Predictions Guide, assigning generative AI a crucial role in this development.

The analyst firm confirms “GenAI will augment customer service agents’ capabilities”. Furthermore, it notes that ” Improvements will be most pronounced in Europe and APAC. In North America, the US will improve, while Canada will continue to struggle”.

So how can generative AI enhance the skills of customer service employees and, in turn, have a positive impact on the key factors linked to customer experience? This is achieved through:

Fast and efficient responses: Gen AI can analyze large data sets and learn patterns, providing fast and accurate answers to common questions. This can be used by customer service agents to access relevant information instantly, streamlining interaction with customers.

Proactive problem solving: By anticipating problems based on historical patterns, Gen AI can help agents address potential issues before they escalate, at the first customer contact. This prevents unfavorable experiences.

Personalized communication: Gen AI can analyze data on customer behavior and preferences to personalize interactions. This resource can be used by agents to achieve more effective and clearer communication, adapting to the specific needs of each customer, and increasing the overall level of satisfaction.

Multi-channel support: Gen AI can be integrated into different communication channels, such as live chat, email, or social media, allowing agents to provide consistent and coherent support across all platforms.

Customer acquisition and retention: Gen AI can help create persuasive responses and highly useful content, in sales or for customer retention. Agents can leverage it to deliver more effective messages, maximizing opportunities for sales, loyalty, and retention.

Continuous improvement: Through Gen AI, detailed data analysis of past interactions can be obtained. This is a very helpful mechanism, both for the different company departments and for the agents themselves, providing the opportunity to learn and continuously improve the quality of customer service.

Finally, innovations introduced in customer service must align with the company’s CX strategy. To do this, Customer Experience leaders must coordinate, implement and evaluate new or revamped customer service experiences. An issue that Forrester also points out is essential to cope with a dynamic business environment where customer trust will continue to be at stake.

9. Satellite-based internet connectivity

The IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2024 Predictions includes the “Digital High Frontier” as one of the top global predictions for the IT industry in 2024. This means that satellite-based internet connectivity, specifically using Low Earth Orbit (LEO), will be widely adopted and part of the communications infrastructure by 2028.

LEO satellites operate at relatively low altitudes above the Earth, typically less than 2,000 kilometers. This proximity, compared to satellites in higher orbits, allows for lower latency and higher throughput in terms of data transmission speed. This is crucial for streaming applications, such as those designed for video conferencing, document and project collaboration, instant messaging and group chats, as well as online video games.

Moreover, LEO technology has the potential to bridge the digital divide by providing internet access in regions with connectivity problems, overcoming the drawbacks of traditional terrestrial infrastructures. This ensures that rural or less developed areas have access to advanced digital services.

On the business side, LEO technology opens the door to new business opportunities and applications that can have a significant impact on increasing efficiency, safety and sustainability, across multiple sectors. This includes IoT services, precision agriculture, maritime fleet management and tracking, scientific research, and disaster or emergency risk communication.

Therefore, according to IDC, “By 2028, 80% of enterprises will integrate LEO satellite connectivity, creating a unified digital service fabric that ensures resilient ubiquitous access and guarantees data fluidity”.

To this end, companies such as Telesat, considered one of the world’s largest satellite operators, and SpaceX, the aerospace and space transportation firm owned by Elon Musk, have announced an agreement to deploy the Telesat Lightspeed constellation in LEO orbit. Specifically, Telesat has signed a contract that will allow for 14 launches using the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the capacity to carry up to 18 satellites. In 2026, Telesat will begin its launch campaign with the expectation of offering global services from 2027.

10. Unified control

Unified control enables the management and coordination of diverse operations and systems through a centralized platform.

However, as IDC points out in its FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2024 Predictions, using these platforms “will be One of the most challenging tasks for IT teams in the next several years”. The main reason cited by the analyst firm is the need to adapt to the degree of maturity reached by these control platforms. They have evolved ” from addressing a few basic systems to becoming a standard platform that orchestrates operations across infrastructure, data, AI services, and business applications/processes”.

With this statement, the analyst firm refers to the fact that, in the past, control solutions focused on managing specific aspects of technology, but as organizations have adopted a more holistic and complex approach at the IT level, unified control that spans multiple dimensions is required. This involves managing hardware infrastructure, efficiently handling large amounts of data, integrating AI services to improve decision-making, and coordinating applications and business processes.

In this sense, the maturation of control platforms implies not only improvements in the technical capacity to manage all these areas but also the standardization of processes and the seamless integration between them. This global approach not only increases operational efficiency but also allows organizations to adapt more easily to technological changes and optimize their resources.

Ultimately, unified control represents the evolution of control platforms to address the growing complexity of technology, providing IT teams with a centralized tool to coordinate and optimize operations across different domains, from core infrastructure to cutting-edge AI services.