Technology trends entail higher corporate social responsibility

Personalized digital offerings with high utility value that are already merging with consumers' everyday lives: this is just one of the important technology trends currently under discussion. At the same time, providers of such offerings are transforming themselves into agile "intelligent companies" through the feedback of acquired data. This is underpinned by a study on which the Technology Vision is based, conducted by the consulting firm Accenture among 6,300 business and IT decision-makers worldwide. According to the study, more than four out of five respondents (84 percent) are of the opinion that, thanks to technology, companies now play an important role in people's everyday lives. Among other things, reference is made here to the growing influence of AI-based voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, which are already integrated into many products and are thus also gaining relevance in more and more situations in daily life.

Providers must assume more responsibility

However, this presents companies with new challenges in the area of tension between future growth opportunities and greater social responsibility resulting from the ubiquity of technology. The more seamlessly technology becomes integrated into our private and professional lives, the more important it becomes for companies to redefine their relationship with customers and business partners and to focus on the responsible use of technology. "Information technology is now an integral part of our lives and is therefore also changing work and society," says Marc Zollinger, Head of Technology at Accenture Switzerland. "The greater the impact of digital innovations on our everyday lives, the more important it becomes for providers of corresponding services and technologies to take responsibility. On the one hand, this means that companies have to solicit more trust from customers and stand up for transparency. On the other hand, customers must become accustomed to sharing personal information if they want to derive maximum benefit from digital services."

The Technology Vision also describes how the relationship between companies and consumers is changing from a one-way street to a highway on which data is exchanged in both directions. Whereas consumers were previously primarily passive users of products and services, they now use their data to contribute to their functioning and continuous further development. This development enables companies to engage in "integrated innovation," but requires a trusting, partnership-based relationship between the players that goes far beyond the purely functional value of products. Shared goals and values will shape the relationship between companies and individual customers much more strongly in the future. This requires the right management in the companies.

The five technology trends for business

To fulfill their social responsibility and build new partnerships in the digital ecosystem, companies should take these five technology trends in particular to heart:

1. AI for all: advancing artificial intelligence (AI) for business and society. The better artificial intelligence works, the greater its influence on people's everyday lives. For companies whose business models are increasingly based on AI, this means fulfilling their social responsibility and defining clear rules about what AI can and cannot do.
2. Augmented reality: the end of distances. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are increasingly blurring the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds. These technologies are thus changing the way people live and work and leveling spatial distances.
3. Data accuracy: the importance of trust. The more companies' business models rely on data, the greater a new form of vulnerability becomes: incorrect, manipulated, and biased data that leads to flawed business insights and biased decisions with a significant impact on society. The best way for companies to meet this challenge is on two tracks, by paying even closer attention to correct data sets while reducing incentives for manipulation.
4. Boundless business: partnership on a grand scale. Companies depend on technology-based partnerships across industries to grow, but their own legacy systems are not built to support such ecosystems of partners. Tomorrow's leading companies will be those that seek and enable partnerships on a large scale today, but design their internal systems and processes early to do so
5. Internet of thought: creating smart environments. Companies have high expectations for intelligent environments created through robotics, AI, and immersive experiences. To bring these intelligent environments to life, companies must not only educate their employees and build new capabilities, but also update their enterprise IT.

"With the rapid spread of new technologies, the role of companies is also changing: They are increasingly transforming themselves from pure suppliers to partners in a comprehensive innovation process, developing new solutions together with customers, employees, research institutions and other companies," continues Marc Zollinger. "Thanks to this networking with a wide range of players and the resulting stronger anchoring in society, trust in companies is also growing. In this way, they are laying the foundation for tomorrow's growth."

More information on this year's study: www.accenture.com/de-de/insight-technology-trends-2018.