In a much-anticipated report released today, the International Data Corporation (IDC) has unveiled its top 10 predictions for the global information technology (IT) industry in 2024 and beyond.
This IDC FutureScape report places a significant emphasis on the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) and its pervasive role in shaping the future of technology decisions for businesses worldwide.
While AI is not a new concept, the announcement of OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 series in late 2022 created a seismic shift in the industry, capturing global attention and sparking a surge of investment in generative AI. As a result, IDC anticipates that global spending on AI solutions will surpass $500 billion by 2027. This surge will lead organizations to prioritize AI implementation and the adoption of AI-enhanced products and services, reshaping the landscape of the IT industry.
Rick Villars, Group Vice President of Worldwide Research at IDC, emphasized, “Every IT provider will incorporate AI into the core of their business, investing treasure, brain power, and time. This pivot promises a cornucopia of new, innovative, AI-enhanced products and services but also threatens to inundate IT teams with many ‘now with AI’ options, increasing the risks associated with uncontrolled cost escalation and loss of data control.”
IDC’s FutureScape 2024 research examines the external factors that will reshape the global business ecosystem over the next 12 to 24 months. Additionally, it delves into the challenges that technology and IT teams will confront as they define, develop, and govern the technologies necessary to thrive in a digital-first world.
A closer look at IDC’s top ten worldwide IT industry predictions for 2024 and beyond reveals the following key insights:
Core IT Shift: IDC anticipates a swift and significant shift in IT spending toward AI, impacting nearly every industry and application. By 2025, Global 2000 (G2000) organizations will allocate over 40 percent of their core IT spending to AI-related initiatives, resulting in a double-digit increase in the rate of product and process innovations.
IT Industry AI Pivot: The IT industry will be the most affected by the AI revolution, as every company rushes to introduce AI-enhanced products and services and assist their customers with AI implementations. For most, AI will replace cloud computing as the primary driver of innovation.
Infrastructure Turbulence: Many enterprises will face constraints on AI spending through 2025 due to significant shifts in workload and resource allocation in corporate and cloud data centers. Challenges stemming from silicon supply, networking, facilities, model confidence, and AI skills will also contribute to these constraints.
Great Data Grab: In an AI-centric world, data becomes a critical asset, feeding AI models and applications. Technology suppliers and service providers will invest heavily in additional data assets to gain a competitive advantage.
IT Skills Mismatch: A shortage of training in AI, cloud computing, data management, security, and emerging technologies will hinder enterprise efforts to extract the full value from these investments. Inadequate skilling initiatives will prevent 65 percent of enterprises from fully capitalizing on these technology investments through 2026.
Services Industry Transformation: GenAI will catalyze a shift in human-delivered services, affecting strategy, change management, and training. By 2025, 40 percent of services engagements will involve GenAI-enabled delivery, influencing various aspects from contract negotiations to IT operations and risk assessment.
Unified Control: IT teams will face the challenge of navigating the maturation of control platforms, evolving from managing a few basic systems to becoming standard platforms orchestrating operations across infrastructure, data, AI services, and business applications.
Converged AI: The enthusiasm surrounding GenAI should not impede existing or other AI investments. Organizations must explore, experiment with, and deploy fully converged AI solutions, allowing them to address new use cases and customer personas at significantly lower costs.
Locational Experience: Accelerated GenAI adoption will enable organizations to enhance their edge computing use cases with contextual experiences aligning business outcomes with customer expectations.
Digital High Frontier: Satellite-based internet connectivity will bring broadband access to remote areas, bridging the digital divide and enabling new capabilities and business models. By 2028, 80 percent of enterprises will integrate low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity, creating a unified digital service fabric ensuring resilient ubiquitous access and data fluidity.
IDC’s FutureScape report provides valuable insights into the transformative role of AI in the IT industry and the challenges and opportunities it presents for businesses in the coming years. As organizations adapt to this new landscape, they will need to navigate the evolving technology ecosystem while harnessing the power of AI to drive innovation and competitiveness.
