Technology analyst and advisory firm, 451 Research, released 4Sight, a report detailing the forces of innovation that will reshape the entire digital enterprise landscape over the next decade.
Designed as a blueprint to help clients better plan for, understand, and exploit the profound technology shifts that are underway across every aspect of the industry, 4Sight will underpin the firm’s research agenda, as well as help guide its data products, research and services. In addition, the firm announced 451 Firestarters, a brand-new, analyst-led program that recognises exceptional innovation in the technology industry.
“In the almost two decades since 451 Research was formed we have witnessed vast changes to the information technology landscape; however, these shifts will pale in comparison to the disruption and innovation that lies ahead,” said Martin McCarthy, CEO, 451 Research.
“4Sight provides all of our clients with a higher-level perspective that presents a unified view of the inter-connected forces driving Digital Transformation, helping them make better decisions to thrive in this exciting, disrupted world.”
4Sight offers a vision of how the ‘Digital Revolution’ that is transforming our world will disrupt and impact both the technology industry and the broader business world over the short, medium and longer term. At the heart of 4Sight is the identification of four major, inter-related themes that the firm sees as the driving forces of any transformation strategy:
- Contextual experience: the interactions between a customer and an organisation that are augmented by rich sources of real-time information, delivered to them in the right format and at the right time, for an experience that is friction-free, empowered by technologies such as mobile devices, machine learning and the cloud.
- Invisible infrastructure: the evolution of IT and communications infrastructure to meet the demands of modern, digital organisations, enabling technology consumers to assemble, access and pay for digital services in a simple, seamless and automated manner, without specific knowledge of the underlying physical infrastructure.
- Pervasive intelligence: the increased use of data and analytics to drive not just business decisions, but the core operational applications of the business itself – including the infusion of human and artificial intelligence into applications, services, workflows, systems, devices and computing systems infrastructure.
- Universal risk: the reality of digital transformation which are the risks of IT, which are largely confined to the operational realm, or the consequences of cyberthreats as technology increasingly permeates virtually every aspect of everyday life.
“Like the real world, 4Sight is a framework that recognises that different organisations are at different stages of maturity when it comes to designing and implementing a technology strategy. Rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach, we advocate and present a more contextual approach,” said Simon Robinson, SVP at 451 Research.
“4Sight provides a critical starting point for the deeper discussions all organisations need to have about changes in technology today in order to prepare for the undoubted disruption that lies ahead.”
451 Firestarters
The 4Sight framework will also help guide a new program also announced today – 451 Firestarters. The program is an exclusively analyst-led award nomination program that acknowledges exceptional innovation in the technology industry, regardless of its origin.
Awardees are chosen quarterly by the analysts, based on a combination of factors – including uniqueness of approach, technology and strategic vision, and disruptive potential. The first group of nominees will be announced in October 2018.
“451 Research’s reputation is built on its ability to deliver insight and data around innovation and disruption in the technology industry,” said Christian Renaud, research vice president – IoT. “I am excited for this program in which our analysts have the opportunity to recognise truly exceptional levels of innovation in their respective markets.”
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