2836: Insights from Accenture's Technology Vision 2024 Report

[00:00:00] Is the future of technology already unfolding before our eyes? Well today we're going to delve into the digital tomorrow.

[00:00:10] And our guide, he's at the forefront of innovation. His name is Adam Burden, he's a visionary at Ascensia and he's going to be sharing his groundbreaking perspectives from the 2024 Technology Vision Report.

[00:00:24] Now this conversation promises to unravel the very fabric of future technologies from Generative AI's massive economic impact to the seamless integration of human-boy design tech in our daily lives.

[00:00:37] But the big question is, how are these advancements poised to transform the way we work? Interact and think about innovation?

[00:00:47] Well today we're going to explore the potential of these technologies to reshape our world. The challenges we must navigate and the ethical considerations that come with such powerful tools.

[00:00:59] But before we get today's guest on, it's time for a quick shout out to the sponsors of Tech Talks Daily and in today's digital age where data breaches are all too common, securing sensitive information has never been more critical, right?

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[00:01:48] So buckle up and hold on tight as I beam your ears all the way to West Virginia where today's guest is waiting to join me.

[00:01:57] So a massive welcome to the show. Can you tell me well, listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:02:04] Sure. Hi everybody. I'm Adam Burden. I'm the global lead for innovation and Accenture and also I'm our chief software engineer and that job I'm responsible for all of our R&D globally.

[00:02:17] Our Ventures investments that we make with startups as well as our innovation consulting organization. Let's see I've been with Accenture now coming up on 32 years and I've worked across pretty much every industry, but I would say particularly in like utilities and banking, barma and insurance.

[00:02:36] These days I spend my time working mostly at our clients and also directing some of our research efforts into areas like quantum computing, humanoid robotics, biologic compute, and of course everybody's favorite artificial intelligence.

[00:02:54] I'm also one of the authors of our tech vision report, but not everything about me I promise is about work. I also really enjoy bringing vintage cars back to life and I'm currently working on a big project that I've nicknamed the Rustang Restoration.

[00:03:11] So thank you for having me on the show. It's good to be here.

[00:03:15] Well, it's a pleasure to have you. I mean, I was recently speaking with Mark Curtis who's a global sustainability and thought leadership lead for Accenture.

[00:03:22] So do you know him? I do. Yeah, great. We spoke a few times in the past that we were talking and before you came on the podcast today, I was doing a little research on you and given the Accenture 2024 technology vision report, there was a huge starting there.

[00:03:36] I think that generative AI could impact 44% of all working hours and create up to $8 trillion in global economic value.

[00:03:47] I mean, can you elaborate on that and how businesses should maybe start strategically approaching integration of these technology because I know there's a lot set on the sidelines, unsure of what to do next.

[00:03:58] And also what are the key sectors you foresee being most transformed by a genotype?

[00:04:03] Sure. There's a lot to unpack in that question. Can we first just agree that it's just a stunning number, isn't it?

[00:04:10] Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's eye popping, but it's backed up by by real data and real research.

[00:04:16] And you know what we believe here is that to reinvent with generative AI, you know, companies spent 2023 doing a lot of experimentation.

[00:04:27] And there's a different approach that's necessary in in 2024. They're going to need to shift from, you know, siloed use cases to more looking at end-to-end processes.

[00:04:38] So like, for example, in marketing, a lot of people have been using generative AI for like image generation.

[00:04:45] Now they need to relook at the entire marketing process.

[00:04:48] So taking a look at the entire organization's whole value chain and this means really like looking at generative AI not just as like a multi-year change agenda that they're going to use across their enterprise but really like a continuous innovation because make no mistake,

[00:05:04] they're still going to be a lot of innovation coming at us in the artificial intelligence field.

[00:05:10] Now companies, they need in order to do this, they need to elevate their IT stack for the AI era.

[00:05:19] A lot of them don't have what we call a digital core that's really prepared to be able to handle the demands of an AI powered enterprise.

[00:05:29] This means things like having a modern data foundation, having an abstraction layer for your AI architecture not to get too technical.

[00:05:39] But you need something that's really going to support the use of different and lots of different multiple foundation models.

[00:05:47] And it also is going to help you if you do that in the right way future proof yourself from changes that are inevitably going to occur and some of those continued advancements I talked about earlier.

[00:05:59] And I'd say the other dimension here that's so important for companies to think about is that it's going to radically change how work is done and it's going to just make you rethink business processes.

[00:06:12] I actually sometimes like to say that maybe you actually just need to think not just about the business process you have but the business processes you'd like to have too.

[00:06:22] Things that it will enable you never imagine were possible, maybe opening entirely new markets that seemed unaffordable to support in the past.

[00:06:30] Now this actually means that companies are going to need more people who understand how to work with generative AI, the prompt engineers and people doing data management behind the scenes.

[00:06:41] Not less people and I guess the thing that sometimes lost here is that there's no AI ready workforce for organizations to go higher from companies are going to need to take their existing workers and reshape their workforce and reinvent that that workforce retrain them for the gen AI era.

[00:07:03] This is exciting for those employees and it's going to require actually investing more in the people than in the technology.

[00:07:11] And that's really one of the key learnings that we've had and findings we've had over the past year, even here at Accenture we're doing a whole lot of learning ourselves about how gen AI is going to change the way that we deliver services to our clients.

[00:07:27] And I guess the last dimension of this is around having a good responsible AI framework. There's a huge gap between responsible AI intentions so you know I want to do response to AI things and actual execution.

[00:07:42] So maybe we can spend some more time talking about that later.

[00:07:45] I think the second part of your question was about what key sectors will be impacted.

[00:07:50] We've done a lot of analysis on this and there's a couple of them that really rise to the top of the list because of the nature of the work that they do.

[00:08:03] So those sectors would be banking insurance capital markets and retail.

[00:08:09] Now it doesn't mean as I said earlier every enterprise will be impacted but these are the ones who are going to find you know 60 70 80% plus of their business processes impact is in a major way by genera AI.

[00:08:23] And then what I like to actually think about and this is why where I said you know every enterprise is impacted.

[00:08:30] There's a lot of common functions across businesses and some of those common functions are massively changed in this era.

[00:08:38] IT the space I work in technology legal marketing sales customer service all massively impacted by this so these are common functions that exist in every enterprise.

[00:08:49] In addition to the you know the businesses and sectors that I just spoke about so those are those are some of the big impacts that we see from genai in the ways that we believe that you know enterprises need to begin to prepare for those changes.

[00:09:03] And the report also highlights the movement towards human by design technologies which incredibly intriguing so can you talk about some of the implications of this trend for business leaders particularly in terms of enhancing human productivity and creativity.

[00:09:18] And how you envision these technologies reshaping the future workplace.

[00:09:23] Well I love talking about this report not just because I was one of the authors of it because it's just such a it's such a you know a defining moment for for us and for technology and here.

[00:09:34] You're talking about our tech vision in the title this year is human by design I think it's actually really important to explain what the title means so emerging technology and especially artificial intelligence is actually getting more human.

[00:09:48] It started with things like computer vision and language understanding and being able to do audio understanding and others and now it's able to mimic creativity.

[00:10:00] And consequently we're starting to see this massive wave of tech breakthroughs where it's reimagining the interface with machines and ways that are more human by design.

[00:10:11] And in 2024 we're going to see tons of technology releases that where things are just becoming much more intuitive.

[00:10:19] I saw some of this stuff but at CES where you know instead of you know going through the tangle of setting up a TV you just tell like a TV for example I want you to set yourself up for a concast you know a cable box and it will do it.

[00:10:36] And that's a pretty extraordinary leap from you know some of the things that we are today you know having to clumsily navigate through menus and things like that technology is going to become a lot more human by design.

[00:10:48] And you know here's where the implications for business are just monumental there is going to be a possibility here for them to create strategies where there's A.I.B. solutions that erase that friction which has always exists between people and tech it's going to do things like turn searching into synthesizing it's going to enable the lesser skilled among us to do higher level and more rewarding work.

[00:11:16] I actually like to say this term because I think it captures it really well where A.I. is going to is going to be all about especially Jenny I making you know it's rather it's not it's A.I. is going to be not about making super humans but rather about making human super it's going to make us so much more able and capable to accomplish more every day.

[00:11:39] And I think that by embracing this possibility and executing on the strategies I was mentioning that many business leaders are going to create this amazing foundation for what will quite possibly be this this Cambrian era if you will like human creativity and unleashing a productivity that the world's ever seen.

[00:12:03] I actually I really believe you know we've seen sort of a stalling of GDP growth and other things this is going to be you know the the fuel boost that that needs to continue an upward trajectory for a long time to come.

[00:12:19] And one of the other things that really stood out for me was how the report mentions this transformation in the search business to A.I. and how it's ultimately reshaping our relationship with knowledge so how do you see this in fact affecting decision making processes in the organizations any challenges or opportunities you see business facing it's a great possibility is one of the trends that we outline called a match made in A.I.

[00:12:43] And you know first let me just explain like why do we why do we think this is happening and it's all about the way that data is actually stored behind the scenes.

[00:12:53] It's becoming more human like like the way that information and data is represented in a lot of the AI models is not unlike how neurons create connections and relationships between information that you think about when you're using your brain.

[00:13:09] And it's allowing us to do things like turn search into synthesizing and things like decision making process has already begun to be influenced by this I mean every enterprise.

[00:13:20] I can tell you most people are experimenting with using Gen A.I. in some way you know if it's if it's not open a eyes you know chat GPT product it's maybe Google Gemini or other things but they're using it to create first drafts to suggest opinions etc.

[00:13:35] I'll give you an example I told you earlier on the chief software and G.A.S. that means I still write software occasionally I've been working on an e-commerce application

[00:13:45] and one of the things that a client wanted to do was to add a wish list feature and I said well I've never done a wish list before but I think we can probably come up with you know what that should do.

[00:13:58] But I started by asking a Gen A.I. agent you know tell me what you would suggest to go into into a wish list and it came up with the you know kind of the usual stuff that I would I would expect the ability to you know to share it with others and

[00:14:13] you know to create a wish list track what was actually purchased off at that type of thing because you know I like to get gifts so I was thinking about that but then it started suggesting things I hadn't even imagined it came up with like do you know sharing this wish list out on social media

[00:14:30] and I like wow it's actually a really great idea I hadn't even considered that would be an interesting thing to do and my point here is that like if you are if we're starting to think about using Gen A.I. and decision making processes it's going to help us create richer decisions richer information

[00:14:48] and be make more informed decisions about doing things and by the way I can use Gen A.I. to help me with the same thing of creating a first draft anyway but business case for that so yeah you know the challenges here in this is just going to be you know starting to embrace using that as part of your day to day working it's a big change to how your style of working and how you do things

[00:15:13] but I think with responsible AI guidelines in place they are kind of thinking about how do I keep a human in the loop on this process you ensure that you know the AI agents that you're using are trained on data sets that are free of bias and they're secure.

[00:15:28] You know that that possibility certainly exists in front of us it's an exciting time for a match made in AI I really think that you know how decision making and how information is processed and enterprises is going to be really different tomorrow.

[00:15:41] And for any business leader listening to our conversation today they're hearing about that trend of Gen A.I. agents what what shift do you see happening in business strategies and where should they begin to prepare for the integration of these AI agents and integration into their business models because it's quite intimidating for a lot of people.

[00:15:59] It is it is you know AI agents is a is a novel a concept for a lot of folks but I want you to imagine for a minute you know this collection of autonomous agents that are working together but on your behalf to accomplish like all the mundane stuff that you that you hate doing the digital tasks of your life if you will you know confirming appointments and you know doing the things that are just annoying for you but they need to get done.

[00:16:28] You know we're already seeing enterprise or businesses spring up to do this kind of thing with you or for you what I was called do not pay it's a it's basically a service an eight an autonomous agent that renegotiates you know your subscription types of plans rates with some of the providers so like Amazon or Netflix or Hulu or others.

[00:16:57] And it'll actually act on your behalf as an as an agent to go out and renegotiate some of those rates is that something that you would look forward to doing I don't think so.

[00:17:07] So now think about this and multiply it think about billions or even trillions of these agents out there autonomously working all the time with businesses and enterprise.

[00:17:18] It's really going to reshape how customers engage in fact the customer is actually now an agent and as I sometimes joke with some of my marketing friends did they ever imagine a world where they'd be marketing to AI in the future because they're going to in fact they might be marketing to AI actually more than they are with people.

[00:17:39] And you know to be ready for this business is really need to take a hard look at that digital core that I talked about earlier.

[00:17:47] If if their digital course not prepared to be able to handle this influx of of you know autonomous agents and this this meet my agent you know kind of kind of trend that we expect it's really going to struggle under the weight of demands that are created by that.

[00:18:05] And I think that we're only seeing the beginning and scratching the service with little things like do not pay that are out there.

[00:18:11] There's going to be lots and lots of these things that are acting on behalf consumers and even other businesses out in the world tomorrow.

[00:18:18] And speaking of scratching the surface the report also touches on spatial computing and it's potentially creating new value in immersive worlds from Matt reverse ARVR etc.

[00:18:30] That the Apple headset release is a great example that is great but currently missing that killer app.

[00:18:36] But that will change as much of the same way it did with the iPhone more than the decade ago.

[00:18:40] So what killer app should businesses beyond the look out for and how can companies capitalize on these emerging technologies?

[00:18:47] Let's be honest, it's been kind of a disappointing year for the Metaverse hasn't it?

[00:18:52] Yeah.

[00:18:53] And one of the things that we like to say is the Metaverse is dead long live the Metaverse.

[00:18:58] Because the truth is it's alive and it's very very strong especially in the enterprise and it's creating a lot of value in these new realities.

[00:19:08] Yes, we're going to start seeing you know new apps and killer apps out there.

[00:19:12] The one that we really have a lot of faith in especially is in the digital twin type environment places where you can you know safely explore hazardous environments.

[00:19:22] And learn how to perform tasks.

[00:19:24] But we also believe that the augmented reality virtual reality world will continue to explode and when we see you know a lot of interest from consumers in shopping in that type of environment.

[00:19:36] And retailers are waking up to that possibility that they're going to be using their vision pro and other things in the future to actually explore their stores in a virtual way.

[00:19:46] We've done some really cool work with Telstra and Google and Australia.

[00:19:52] You know, the thing rethinking kind of like a stadium experience so when you're in when you're in a big soccer match or in a I guess they click cricket there as well.

[00:20:02] What would that experience look at it look like?

[00:20:06] And how do you how can you refresh that without significant physical changes?

[00:20:11] So imagine you know in an app where a fan can sort of virtually help find their seats.

[00:20:17] But then they can actually hold up their devices to the field and they'll see stats about the players that they're looking at sort of overlaid with the players themselves.

[00:20:26] I mean it has a potential to really kind of change you know the fan experience and that's the possibilities that we see in the future with these killer apps that are ahead in the spatial computing space it's a it's good to say that the meta versus dead.

[00:20:40] And long live the metaverse because I think we're re awakening to what the possibilities are are here for experience and business success in that environment.

[00:20:50] And I also love how the report emphasizes the need for modern network services and the need for low latency because without that stuff we can't bring things emerging technologies like generative AI to life.

[00:21:02] So what would you say are the key considerations for businesses in upgrading and adapting their network infrastructure.

[00:21:09] Have the all tie into the overall readiness of the more tech driven future.

[00:21:14] Well, you can create the most amazing experience in the world. But if you don't have the bandwidth to be able to support it nobody's ever going to enjoy it right so no kidding around here the volumes of data that we're talking about are astronomical.

[00:21:26] I mean whether it's for generative AI or spatial computing experience and you know that trend that I just discuss around the space that we need.

[00:21:35] You know it's a multiple of what's typically in place today and it's also really dynamic as well though that type of communications environment is constantly needing to be changed so modern network services like 5G are absolutely prerequisites for you know taking digital twin capabilities on the factory floor.

[00:21:54] Imagine like a worker in a refinery who's doing their job you know they've got a head mounted visor and you know they're there it's kind of helping them ensure they're following the right procedures for changing out about and they're adhering to the safety guidelines.

[00:22:08] You absolutely need the right bandwidth in place for that that's what that employee requires to be able to do their work in the future so you know take think about technologies like like 5G especially software defined networking these are going to be essential in the future enterprise.

[00:22:23] And I just add to that don't forget the increasing security demands on on those those edge networks that will be out there.

[00:22:32] You know of course they're going to be a new threat vector for a lot of enterprises and there's going to be a lot of attention paid to making sure that those data those data networks are equally secure to the ones inside of their data centers.

[00:22:46] And a question I've got to ask with the report identified trends are AI powered wearables and your row tech all incredibly excited and cool.

[00:22:53] What are your thoughts on how these technologies will eventually alter human interaction in both first time and professional spheres what's your business leaders be aware of when considering integrating some of these technologies this is everybody's favorite trend yeah we call it the body electronic and you know we believe that these technologies are really instrumental to the world.

[00:23:16] The unlock you know the possibilities of what we've described in the human by design tech vision.

[00:23:22] You know it the thing to maybe keep a mind here is they're not all intrusive.

[00:23:26] I want you to imagine for a minute that you're you're working with a robot and you're instructing it on how to move a box from point A to point B.

[00:23:35] And the robot does something that that you weren't you weren't expecting what if the robot could see your face and see the surprise on your face right they might stop what they're doing right

[00:23:45] and sort of rethink what's what's going on. And that's a microcosm of what we expect to see as technology becomes more more human by design and that these you know these interfaces the body electronic and how it actually interfaces with machines is going to change in the future.

[00:24:03] I think what's really fascinating about this trend as well is that as technology becomes more human and the more of it that we have around us around us every day.

[00:24:14] It's actually going to seemingly disappear those clumsy interfaces that you're probably using I'm using right now keyboards and mice and that type of thing maybe they're all gone.

[00:24:25] Maybe machines just interface with us like people like it always should have been and hence human by design.

[00:24:34] Any updates on the jetpack have been waiting for since the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

[00:24:40] We've got to go. I was a promise flying cars sir and yet they have not shown up either.

[00:24:48] And finally with 93% of executives all agreeing on the importance of purposeful innovation in the face of this rapid technological advancements that we're seeing everywhere any advice that business leaders could take on balancing innovation with ethical considerations and societal impact huge topic right now isn't it.

[00:25:08] This is this is top of line for boards for for C suite executives and others and look at a lot of companies there's just there's just a big gap between you know saying that they want to do responsible AI things and actually executing on it.

[00:25:26] If you look into this data a bit further only two percent of companies would say they actually have operationalized a responsible AI framework across their organization.

[00:25:36] And while 30% say they expect to do so they say they're going to do so over the next 18 months I'm not sure that's going to be fast enough.

[00:25:46] I think that we're going to see evolution in the space much more rapidly and organizations are going to have to move very fast to catch up to be able to support that.

[00:25:56] But more broadly I think with with any technology it's really key that an organization has a strong moral compass about how they work with these innovations we do it when we're working in our R&D organization that I described to you earlier.

[00:26:13] And you got to have the governance and guard rails to ensure that you know the principles that that you have as a company or an enterprise or government are upheld.

[00:26:23] They also maybe in especially places like Europe and others that you're complying with regulatory guidelines too.

[00:26:30] We like to use this term positive engineering to kind of encompass what our expected outcomes are here should you follow all these approaches.

[00:26:41] And frankly there's as I said like there's a lot of tech that falls in this in this category like the coming era of what we call in silico bio gene editing quantum computing these all introduce a lot of ethical questions for companies.

[00:26:57] So getting ahead of of you know they're used in an organization is pretty key.

[00:27:04] I say certainly AI is top of mind for every enterprise today and you know if companies and listeners worth thinking well what how do we how do we get started on this what do we do we would say there's a few things that are really important to get going on it's tricky to know where to start but there's a few things that if you if you really focus on you can make progress here pretty quickly one is getting AI governance and principles stood up.

[00:27:33] A second one is is doing a real comprehensive AI risk assessment putting in place responsible AI testing so just like every company like test software before they put into production they need to do the same thing with AI models having something that helps you monitor ongoing compliance of AI.

[00:27:55] And then finally having real discussions with employees and understanding and planning for the workforce impact how you're going to handle things like sustainability and privacy and security.

[00:28:08] That's a bit of a laundry list of things to do but tackling those areas first you can make some really great progress around having you know intentional AI in place and a responsible AI framework that's working for your organization.

[00:28:23] I can't thank you know for coming on here today sharing insights from that report so much food for the whole but I'm going to skip believe one final gift for everyone listening always ask my guess if they've got a book that they'd like to leave our Amazon wish list that people can listen can check out so it's a book you'd like to recommend and why.

[00:28:42] Let me think about that for a second so okay all right I got I got one so i'm going to surprise you with a decidedly on technical book I think it's actually it's one of my very favorites i've actually read it a couple times and it's called one man's wilderness and Alaska and Odyssey and it's the story of a guy who in 1968 sort of left the modern world behind and he just had pretty much an accident gun and he moved to remote Alaska.

[00:29:10] And it's a really simple book and it has like a day to day of accounting of how he built shelter caught food and basically survived on a so because he did it for 30 years all myself and I think it's inspirational because it can show really how anyone even with like just a little bit of training and teach themselves to accomplish these difficult tasks whether it's AI or hunting for food.

[00:29:33] And yeah the pictures in the book are pretty extraordinary of what what he did and I think all of us sometimes feel like when the pace of technology changes just getting a little bit too much at least I do I find myself day dreaming of what this guy Richard Bernicke did for 30 years in the Alaska wilderness but then you know usually right around that time my feed will pop with some breakthrough and humanoid robotics or something and you know I go digging into understanding it instead so I'm going to do it.

[00:30:03] So after all I do hear that they have mosquitoes a size of sparrows in Alaska and I really have no interest in living there as a result.

[00:30:10] It was sounded great until he said Moschia.

[00:30:13] The size of sparrows was that was not related to the film into the wild in some way was that not really no no this is this this guy actually lived not not not like the other the other guy had an unfortunate outcome no no this this person truly was a pioneer living you know in a room.

[00:30:32] Part of a national forest and yeah just was completely alone for 30 years I think he got a male claim that came to him like once every six months or something that was about it.

[00:30:44] Wow I'm going to be checking that out sounds fascinating so I'll add that to the Amazon wish list and for anyone listening wanting to explore some of the things we talked about today check out the report etc where do you like to point everyone listening.

[00:30:56] Definitely go to Accenture calm slash tech vision you can read all about our twenty twenty four tech vision and each of the trends that we spent some time discussing today.

[00:31:06] Well as we said very beginning of the podcast there's so many areas of this emerging technology space the pace of technical change is so intimidating for a lot of people but for me today you really simplified this and help anybody listening understand.

[00:31:19] Gemritive AI is potentially in the workplace have to navigate the human by design technologies that we're seeing and also exploring the evolution of knowledge management with AI the human interface with embedded technologies in a way that he's not intimidating and also.

[00:31:35] Shining a light on the importance of innovating with purpose and making sure new solutions are not ethically research but more than anything though you want even a chance to leave us with a cracking book too that I'm going to be checking out so thanks for joining me today awesome was my pleasure thank you so much.

[00:31:51] So as we conclude today's enlightening journey with Adam I think he's clear that the horizon of technology is both thrilling as it is daunting and the twenty twenty four technology vision report from a century doesn't just forecast trends it's.

[00:32:04] Almost painting a vivid picture of a future where technology and humanity converge in unprecedented ways from the potential of generative AI to revolutionize industries and crank on paralleled economic value to the emergence of human by design technology that promise to democratize expertise the future seems ripe with opportunity doesn't it.

[00:32:28] And yet as we stand on the customer of this new era the question of responsible innovation looms large how do we harness these advancements while ensuring that they serve great a good.

[00:32:39] And bridge the gap between technological capability and ethical responsibility so as we ponder these possibilities I invite you all to share your thoughts what excites you about the future of technology how do we navigate the challenges it presents to ensure a future that benefits us all please.

[00:32:58] Please join the conversation help shape this dialogue as we venture into the unknown together and these digital on and these uncharted digital waters and you can do all that by simply sending me an email tech blog writer outlook dot com if you want to come on the show we got a question whatever it is equally you can connect with me on LinkedIn Twitter Instagram just at me or see who's let's keep it going but that's it for today so just a big thank you for listening as always and until next time.

[00:33:25] Don't be a stranger.