There were indications that consumers were no longer leading technological changes, with enterprises now driving the impetus for information technology (IT) adoption after a decade-long lull, advisory firm Deloitte said on Thursday, unpacking the findings of its latest ‘Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions 2015’ report.
Deloitte TMT Consulting industry leader Anun Babu explained that new technologies, such as early computers, electronic calculators and cellphones, were usually adopted by the enterprise first, with the mass-market consumers catching up only years or decades later.
However, the consumer had taken the lead over the past ten years, with most technological adoptions, including that of large touch-screen smartphones, voice-over Internet protocol and tablet computers, besides others, based on a ‘consumer first, enterprise after’ concept dubbed the consumerisation of IT.
Speaking at the release of the latest report, in Fourways, on Thursday, Babu said the “re-enterprisation of IT” was swinging the first-adoption of IT technological back to the enterprises, as seen with the widespread industrial adoption of three-dimensional printers, drones or unmanned aerial vehicles and the Internet of Things and machine-to-machine applications.
Further, while the wearables industry failed to gain traction in the consumer market with its smart headsets and smart watches, the enterprise market could open a “sweet spot” for the industry through the security, medical and warehousing industries, which were all exploring the potential of devices that offered hands-free use, augmented reality display and easy-to-use video camera capability.
“The consumer market may possibly dominate in terms of units sold, but will be less important in the near term in terms of use and value.
“Deloitte is not predicting that all technology trends in future will be pioneered by the enterprise. But it seems likely that the consumerisation model will not be the only game in town, in 2015 and beyond,” the company concluded.