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It is highly likely that five years down the road, your company will be working in a completely different way. And that’s something you should already be thinking about. In fact: you should be putting these changes on your agenda right now. Five trends you will definitely need to take into account.

“It’s never easy to make pronouncements about trends,” says Stijn Vander Plaetse, Vice President Innovation at Belgacom. “There’s always an explanation for success stories from the past. But it is impossible to accurately predict the future.” Still, he notices a number of movements that are continuing– despite the current crisis. One trend, according to Stijn Vander Plaetse, is the increasing importance of the network: “David Clark from MIT predicted that in 15 to 20 years, there will be up to 1,000 billion connected devices. That is something that we can already observe. For example many people have a second mobile telephone for private use. They also often have two or more PCs in their home, that they connect through a home network. Then you have the advent of digital television… In the future, the network will quite literally be everywhere.” Users will be able to count on an even more personalized service. In their spare time, for example, a smartphone will be able to offer different applications than during working hours. Via the network, there will also be more and more communication between machines. “The soft drink vending machine is an example. The machines will be able to use the network to transmit information on stock levels to the beverage supplier’s ERP system. The next phase is coming soon: in the very near future, the machines will be able to accept micro-payments via mobile telephone. There are lots of examples of ways in which electronic communication is going to automate manual tasks.”

Innovative business models

A second important trend has to do with innovation in business models. Stijn Vander Plaetse: “Up until the middle of the last century, innovation was the result of the efforts of individuals. Someone with a brilliant idea was behind a business that put that idea into practice. That mechanism led to the first Industrial Revolution. The business processes that were created at that time became automated in the 1960s and 70s. Later, the product marketers took over: they placed the accent on product innovation and specialization. Since the mid-1990s, we have been talking about consumer automation: consumers begin using mobile telephones and the Internet for example and automate their interaction with information and communication. In this way, IT comes to saturate consumers’ lives completely. That leads to new business models. Innovation today is geared towards those business models that increasingly transcend the company’s own boundaries. Senseo, for example, is the result of an innovative idea. Two companies – Philips and Douwe Egberts – joined forces and a completely new approach to the traditional coffeemaker was created. Another example is iTunes: this is a joint effort between Apple and record companies.” Stijn Vander Plaetse points out that innovative business models are based on the connection between the systems of the parties involved. In his view, this demonstrates that technology has an important role to play as facilitator. Many future applications will be the result of electronically exchanging and interconnecting components across multiple companies.

Dematerialization is a great opportunity

The world is going more and more Digital. That is leading to a significant dematerialization (trend 3). Stijn Vander Plaetse: “We are digitizing our entire history, for example. The government is digitizing its archives and will be making them accessible to citizens over the Internet. In the healthcare sector too, the digital approach is an important innovative factor. All this is leading to a greater need for decentralized storage options. After all, patient medical files are found in diverse locations: at the hospital, at the GP’s office, at the specialist’s office… connections between systems need to ensure that the general overview is maintained. Security also becomes extremely important in order to protect the content of the data and to combat data loss.” According to Stijn Vander Plaetse, dematerialization in an important opportunity that can help us to better manage the effects of an aging population: “We can automate more and, in this way, work more efficiently. There are plenty of examples. Think of electronic prescriptions or electronic coupons at the supermarket…”

Digital identity: an important element

In the digital world, more and more processes will be carried out electronically and there are more and more links between systems from various governmental authorities, organizations and companies. In this world, the need arises for a digital identity: trend 4. Stijn Vander Plaetse: “Providing secure access to the systems is crucial. Right now, users have to remember a whole series of passwords. At some point, this is not going to work anymore. A digital identity could be a solution. This type of identity would make it possible to more efficiently organize the security and access control for systems and data, depending on the user’s role, rights and obligations. Systems would then be able to distinguish between someone logging in in a private or professional capacity, and this would be transparently displayed to the user.

Green IT: more than just energy-efficient IT infrastructure

Finally, there is increasing interest in green IT. Stijn Vander Plaetse: “Green IT goes a lot further than optimization of the energy consumption in the datacenter. For example, teleworking is already well established in many companies and is an important factor in increasing efficiency while reducing ecological impact. However, there are many initiatives which – and it’s all thanks to IT – will be contributing to saving energy. With smart meters for electricity, water and gas, the utility companies no longer have to perform on-site readings. Intelligent toll systems on the roads – drivers pay according to the time, the load and the distance – make it possible to optimize travel. And there are so many other applications. In home healthcare, for example. patients will be able to measure their own temperature and blood pressure. This data could then be transmitted electronically, saving the nursing staff a lot of unnecessary house calls.”

Enterprise 2.0

The five trends will have an impact on the way that you work in the future. “Uprooted enterprises have the best chances for the future,” predicts Stijn Vander Plaetse. Uprooted enterprises are the ones making the most of the trends described. They are flexible when it comes to location; they communicate easily with employees, customers, suppliers and partners. Uprooted enterprises use ICT as an enabler and a driver for innovation. They have flexible processes and are highly mobile. This approach leads to greater customer satisfaction and more involvement and satisfaction among employees. And that leads to a general improvement in the operating or functioning of the entire company. “For uprooted enterprises the reliability, flexibility and security of the network is indispensable. A network that goes down temporarily brings the business activity to a standstill. There is also going to be a greater need for bandwidth. Companies will be using bandwidth that they automatically adapt to the needs of the moment,” explains the Vice President Innovation at Belgacom.

When?

The five trends are right outside the door. Stijn Vander Plaetse: “Everything is changing very quickly. Some 78% of Belgacom’s current income comes from activities that didn’t even exist 15 years ago. In 10 years’ time, broadband has become a product for the masses. It took just five years for half of all families to have a digital television at home. And, in the future, this is just going to go faster. Within 3 to 5 years, the five trends outlined above are going to be fully manifested. Adapting the core processes of the company in itself is a process that takes one to two years. If you want to be on board in two years, you should be taking the first steps now. You have got to get these changes onto your agenda because in the next few years, the business world is going to function according to a different structure.”

Executive Summary

Over the next five years, the business world is going to undergo rapid evolution. The development is fueled by five trends: the increasing importance of the network, innovation, dematerialization, the digital identity and green IT. Companies need to prepare to adapt their business models to this evolution.