t cht lk
TECH TALK
and whenever they are working. While in
sectors such as retail, it will add an entirely
new layer to the consumer experience, with
the possibility for people to have clothes
modelled to them dynamically, seconds
after they have snapped them on their
smartphone. The opportunities of the edge
are also intrinsic to the potential of smart
cities to harness technology in the service of
enhanced mobility, improved sustainability
and reduced running costs.
Two thirds of the futurists and industry
experts surveyed by Fast Future said that
they expect at least a third of companies to
be achieving ‘mainstream personalisation’
in the next five years. From retail to
hospitality, education and healthcare, the
edge will increasingly allow providers to
move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach
and provide customised experiences at
scale. This has immense implications for the
ability to more effectively serve customers,
employees and public service users. Within
the next few years, Fast Future’s experts
believed that the ability to localise products
and services, price dynamically and improve
customer satisfaction will be among the core
benefits of edge computing.
That said, the opportunities of the edge
will not be accessed without companies
68
INTELLIGENTCIO
“
TO PROVIDE
THE FASTER,
MORE DYNAMIC
SERVICES THAT
THE EDGE MAKES
POSSIBLE,
ENTERPRISES
THEMSELVES
NEED TO BECOME
MORE FLUID,
RESPONSIVE AND
FAST-MOVING.
embracing the need for structural and
strategic change. The book suggests
that enterprises need to get comfortable
with new realities, such as autonomous
decision-making by edge devices, and an
experimental approach to devising new
products and services that arise from the
data collected. To provide the faster, more
dynamic services that the edge makes
possible, enterprises themselves need to
become more fluid, responsive and fast-
moving. Both investment and culture must
be led from the top, working hand-in-hand
with the IT department, which has a central
and strategic role to play.
Enterprises need to focus not just on
installing technology but upgrading the
institutional mindset towards a more
experimental approach and improving
digital literacy across the board. Perhaps
most significantly, every enterprise that
moves towards the edge must act to
pre-empt the security threats inherent to
a network newly flooded with connected
devices. Fundamental to these opportunities
is the need for robust, centrally-managed
network infrastructure – one that provides
visibility and control in an increasingly
complex, and potentially vulnerable,
enterprise environment. Enterprises
must also work on the basis of an open
technology ecosystem that leaves them with
the room to adapt and evolve over time, as
priorities change.
We are in no doubt that the edge represents
the single most important trend for
enterprises in the years ahead – one that
unites the rapid developments in available
technology with the equally fast-rising
expectations of consumers for more
www.intelligentcio.com