Piscataway, New Jersey, Nov. 20, 2020: A new study by IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, has said artificial intelligence and machine learning, followed by 5G and IoT will be the most important tech in 20201.
The survey was of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) in the US, UK, China, India and Brazil regarding the most important technologies for 2021 overall, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the speed of their technology adoption and the industries expected to be most impacted by technology in the year ahead.
Among total respondents, nearly one-third (32 pc) said AI and ML, followed by 5G (20 pc) and IoT (14 pc) are the tech to watch out for in 2021.
Manufacturing (19 pc), healthcare (18pc), financial services (15pc) and education (13pc) were the industries that most believed will be impacted by technology in 2021, according to CIOs and CTOS surveyed. At the same time, more than half (52pc) of CIOs and CTOs saw their biggest challenge in 2021 as dealing with aspects of COVID-19 recovery in relation to business operations.
CIOs and CTOs surveyed have sped up adopting some technologies due to the pandemic:
- More than half (55 pc) of respondents have accelerated adoption of cloud computing
- 52pc have accelerated 5G adoption
- 51pc have accelerated AI and ML
The adoption of IoT (42 pc), augmented and virtual reality (35pc) and video conferencing (35pc) technologies have also been accelerated due to the global pandemic.
Compared to a year ago, CIOs and CTOs overwhelmingly (92 pc) believed their company was better prepared to respond to a potentially catastrophic interruption such as a data breach or natural disaster. What’s more, of those who say they are better prepared, 58pc strongly agreed that COVID-19 accelerated their preparedness.
When asked which technologies will have the greatest impact on global COVID-19 recovery, one in four (25pc) of those surveyed said AI and machine learning,
About the Survey
“The IEEE 2020 Global Survey of CIOs and CTOs” surveyed 350 CIOs or CTOs in the US, China, UK, India and Brazil from September 21 – October 9, 2020.
IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.