It is becoming increasingly critical to build evolving organisations to navigate the constant changes and external pressures presented by disruptive technologies.

The latest ‘Deloitte Tech Trends 2020' report found that the influence and impact of disruptive technologies is a strategic issue, particularly given the current market’s economic and social conditions.

It is predicted that 40% of S&P 500 companies will be extinct in ten years, while some will no longer be part of the S&P by 2024.

“Last year’s ‘Tech Trends’ report explored nine macrotechnology forces that form the backbone of business innovation and transformation. “This year’s update takes a fresh look at enterprise adoption of these macro forces and explores how they are shaping the technology trends we predict will disrupt businesses over the next 18 to 24 months,” says Deloitte Africa CIO programme leader Kevin Govender.

Companies were previously built to have long-lasting legacies; however, there is now a need for organisations that are built to evolve, he adds, noting that it is time for transformational, not incremental, change.

“We live in a world that is changing constantly, operating in an unprecedented and unpredictable environment. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that kinetic leaders work towards reinventing and reimaging their organisations. “They need to be resilient [and] agile and futureproof their organisations.”

“While some of the trends covered in this report may not come to fruition exactly as envisioned, the technologies underpinning them will fundamentally change the way we work, interact, live and play,” he continues.

The convergence of enterprise technology trends will continue to profoundly transform all businesses, with digital twins, human experience platforms and ethical technology and trust redefining and reshaping the African enterprise.

“Organisations across Africa are finding that increasingly sophisticated simulation and modelling capabilities, power visualisation, better interoperability and Internet of Things sensors, [as well as] more widely available platforms and tools, are making it possible to create simulations that are more detailed and dynamic than ever,” Govender says.

Digital twins, the use of which is increasing as organisations transition from selling products to selling bundled products and services, can enhance efficiency in manufacturing, optimise supply chains, transform predictive field maintenance and aid in traffic congestion remediation, besides others.

The report predicts that, as capabilities and sophistication grow, more organisations will use digital twins to optimise processes, make data-driven decisions in real time and design new products, services and business models.

In the long term, realising digital twins’ full promise may require integrating systems and data across entire ecosystems.

Meanwhile, over the next few months, more companies will ramp up their responses to a growing, yet largely unmet, demand for technology to better understand humans and to respond more appropriately.

“To address the lack of connection that humans often experience with daily digital interactions, a growing number of African organisations are injecting emotional intelligence into their systems,” Govender comments.

These include artificial intelligence capabilities such as machine learning, voice and facial recognition, which can better detect and appropriately respond to human emotions.

“The net result is emotionally intelligent human experiences that leverage connections between people, systems, data and products. “This ability to leverage emotionally intelligent platforms to recognise and use emotional data at scale is one of the biggest, most important opportunities for companies going forward.”

Further, ethical technology and trust have become more important than ever, particularly with the enaction into law of the Protection of Personal Information Act on July 1.

Customers and employees need to know that they can place their trust in the organisation with their personal information when using the different emerging technologies, says Govender.

“It is the responsibility of service providers and organisations to ensure that they are providing a safe, secure and trustworthy technology environment or platform for people to transact on. “This is an important area to focus on in South Africa right now.

“They are approaching trust, not as a compliance or public relations issue, but as a business-critical goal to be pursued. “CIOs will emphasise ethical technology in the coming years and create processes to help solve ethical dilemmas related to disruptive technologies,” Govender concludes.