FUTURE
TECHNOLOGY
The technologies
heading to the
digital workplace
S
peech recognition will reach the
‘Plateau of Productivity’ within
the next two years and six other
technologies will reach mainstream business
adoption in the next two to five years
according to Gartner’s Hype Cycle for the
Digital Workplace, 2018.
"The effects of speech recognition
can be seen on a daily basis. Consumers
and workers increasingly interact with
applications without touching a keyboard,"
said Matthew Cain, Vice President and
Distinguished Analyst at Gartner. "Speech-
to-text applications have proliferated due
to the adoption of chatbots and virtual
personal assistants (VPAs) by businesses and
consumer adoption of devices with speech
interactions including smartphones, gaming
consoles and, specifically, VPA speakers."
The Hype Cycle identifies 40 key
technologies and describes how they will
32
Innovative new technologies are constantly emerging and
it’s important that the channel is fully briefed on those
which could soon be set to disrupt the digital workplace.
Gartner’s report, Hype Cycle for the Digital Workplace,
2018, identifies some of those key technologies that look
likely to soon reach mainstream business adoption.
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ide
impact business performance in the digital
workplace during the next 10 years.
"The Hype Cycle classifies emerging
technologies that describe how we will
work, the tools we will use, the skills we will
develop, the places where we will work and
the workforce culture that we will develop,"
said Cain.
ner
nt a
nd Dis
Gart
tinguished Analyst at
said Van Baker, Research Vice President at
Gartner. "Businesses that haven't begun
deploying AI to interact with customers
and employees should start now, because
customers and employees are increasingly
expecting conversational interfaces to be
available to address help desk and customer
service issues."
Two to five years away from
mainstream adoption
Chatbots and virtual assistants (VAs)
represent a value-added implementation
of speech recognition. VAs use Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
to assist people or automate tasks. They
listen to and observe behaviours, build
and maintain data models, and predict and
recommend actions.
"Increasingly, behaviour and event
triggers will enhance virtual assistants,"
Personal analytics is
the analytics layer of
VPAs which will reach