5 tech trends identified as affecting businesses

Nontawat Poomchusri, country managing director and financial services lead for Accenture in Thailand, said the firm conducted a survey, called Technology Vision 2019 Thailand, in which it polled 60 executives in the fields of banking, consumer goods and services, industrial equipment, insurance, public services, retail, telecommunications and utilities industries. The survey took place over the last quarter of 2018.
Of the five trends identified, the first is what the company calls DARQ Power.
“The technologies of distributed ledgers, artificial intelligence, extended reality and quantum computing (DARQ) are catalysts for change, offering extraordinary new capabilities and enabling businesses to re-imagine entire industries,” Nontawat said. “When asked to rank which of these will have the greatest impact on their organisation over the next three years, 41 per cent of executives ranked AI No 1- more than twice the number of any other DARQ technology.”
He said that 95 per cent of Thai businesses and enterprises are experimenting with one of more of these technologies. They will have the greatest impact on their organisation over the next three years. Some 32 per cent of executives ranked AI as the No 1 trend.
The second trend relates to unlocking unique opportunities with customers.
 “Technology-driven interactions are creating an expanding technology identity for every consumer. This living foundation of knowledge will be key to understanding the next generation of consumers and for delivering rich, individualised, experience-based relationships,” he said. “More than four in five executives (83 per cent) said that digital demographics give their organisations a new way to identify market opportunities for unmet customer needs.
“Around 90 per cent of Thai businesses and enterprises agree that digital demographics give their organisations a new way to identify market opportunities for unmet customers need.”
However, he said that 95 per cent of Thai executives believe that “consumers digital demographic are increasingly becoming a more powerful way to understand their organisation’s customers”.
The third trend has been dubbed “Human+ Worker”.
“As workforces become human+ - with each individual worker empowered by their skillsets and knowledge plus a new, growing set of capabilities made possible through technology - companies must support a new way of working in the post-digital age,” Nontawat said. “Around 60 per cent of Thai executives believe that their employees are more digitally mature than their organisation, resulting in a workforce waiting for the organisation to catch up. 
 “Around 87 per cent of Thai executives believed that increased employee velocity - the speed at which members of the workforce move between roles and organisations - has increased the need for reskilling in their organisations.”
The fourth encapsulates the concept that enterprises are not victims; instead, they are vectors.
“While ecosystem-driven business depends on interconnectedness, those connections increase companies’ exposures to risks,” Nontawat said. “Leading businesses recognise that security must play a key role in their efforts as they collaborate with entire ecosystems to deliver best-in-class products, services and experiences. Only 29 per cent of executives said they know their ecosystem partners are working diligently to be compliant and resilient with regard to security.
Accenture has identified the final trend as the concept of “MyMarkets. Under this idea, companies can “meet consumers at the speed of now”.
“ Technology is creating a world of intensely customised and on-demand experiences, and companies must reinvent their organisations to find and capture those opportunities,” Nontawat said.
“That means viewing each opportunity as if it’s an individual market - a momentary market. Six in seven executives (85 per cent) said that the integration of customisation and real-time delivery is the next big wave of competitive advantage.
Moreover, businesses and enterprises around 95 per cent agree the integration of customisation and real-time delivery is the next big wave of competitive advantage, Accenture says.