IT leaders reveal technology adoption

Author:  John Roy

When it comes to investing in technologies, be they emerging or well-established, CIOs are not short of options.  But with so many being positioned as the “next best thing”, it’s easy to see how making choices becomes difficult.  Some organizations are driven by a desire to lead; others are driven to be fast followers; and the rest – quite possibly – driven to madness.

The 2019 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey, the largest IT leadership survey in the world, asked respondents to quantify their adoption in different areas, and the results make fascinating reading.  The latest waves of technology investment include: the internet of things, on-demand platforms, robotic process automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML). At least one-fifth of organizations have at least a small-scale implementation in these technologies.  Over time we expect these to grow, and we expect much of this to be driven by business-led investment.

KPMG

Quantum computing

It is interesting to see that 4 percent of organizations have implemented quantum computing to at least some degree. This technology is so early-stage that some commentators don’t even believe it will have a commercial application, so this figure feels surprisingly high.  That said, we are seeing technology companies race to release the potential of quantum computing in industries like pharmaceuticals, financial services and energy.

Quantum computing uses the unique (and what Albert Einstein considered “spooky”) ability of sub-atomic particles to be in two states at once.  By using these particles as computing “bits” (or “qubits”), computer instructions can occur concurrently, more quickly and using less energy.  It’s early days, but if quantum computing does become more widely proven and available, it may change the shape of computing forever, including rendering current cryptography techniques redundant.

To read the full findings from the CIO Survey 2019 report and understand how digital leaders are outpacing their competitors in delivering real business results, please click here.