World's leading information technology research and advisory company Gartner published “Top Strategic Predictions for 2017 and Beyond: Surviving the Storm Winds of Digital Disruption” on October 14, 2016. Its analysts presented their top 10 predictions at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, world's most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT leaders, which took place in Orlando from October 16-20.

As digital business innovation has proven to have a greater impact on people and technology, it is very important for digital strategist to identify secondary effects in order to ‘prepare’ the world to survive digital disruption effects.

Among the analysts that have taken part in Gartner’s top strategic predictions for 2017 and beyond are Daryl C. Plummer, Martin Reynolds, Charles S. Golvin, Allie Young Patrick J. Sullivan, Alfonso Velosa, Benoit J. Lheureux, Andrew Frank, Gavin Tay, Manjunath Bhat, Peter Middleton, Joseph Unsworth, Ray Valdes, David Furlonger, Werner Goertz, Jeff Cribbs, Mark A. Beyer, Alexander Linden, Noah Elkin, Nick Heudecker, Tom Austin, Angela McIntyre, Fabio Chesini, and Hung LeHong.

Gartner’s insights and predictions for 2017 and beyond examine these three fundamental effects of continued digital innovation:

• Experience and engagement
• Business innovation
• Secondary effects that result from increased digital capabilities

“Gartner's top strategic predictions continue to offer a provocative look at what might happen in some of the most critical areas of technology evolution. At the core of future outcomes is the notion of digital disruption, which has moved from an infrequent inconvenience to a consistent stream of change that is redefining markets and entire industries,” according to Daryl Plummer, managing vice president, chief of research and Gartner Fellow. “Last year, we said digital changes were coming fast. This year the acceleration continues and may cause secondary effects that have wide-ranging impact on people and technology,” Plummer added.

Here are Gartner’s top 10 predictions for IT organizations for 2017 and beyond:

1- By 2020, 100 million consumers will shop in augmented reality.

2- By 2020, 30 percent of web browsing sessions will be done without a screen.

3- By 2019, 20 percent of brands will abandon their mobile apps.

4- By 2020, algorithms will positively alter the behavior of more than 1 billion global workers.

5- By 2022, a blockchain-based business will be worth $10 billion.

6- By 2021, 20 percent of all activities an individual engages in will involve at least one the top-seven digital giants.

7- Through 2019, every $1 enterprises invest in innovation will require an additional $7 in core execution.

8- Through 2020, IoT will increase data center storage demand by less than 3 percent.

9- By 2022, IoT will save consumers and businesses $1 trillion a year in maintenance, services and consumables.

10- By 2020, 40 percent of employees can cut their healthcare costs by wearing a fitness tracker.

You can read Gartner’s Top Strategic Predictions for 2017 and Beyond: Surviving the Storm-Winds of Digital Disruption full report here.

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