Deloitte Global TMT Predictions

Deloitte Global TMT Predictions: Machine learning jump-starts business growth, live events and on-demand content attract consumers

• Enterprise machine learning pilots and deployments predicted to double this year, powered by new chips and better software tools

• By 2020, there will likely be over 680 million digital subscriptions, with consumers increasingly willing to pay for content

• Smartphone sales expected to reach 1.85 billion per year by 2023, equivalent to over five million units sold per day

Wellington, New Zealand, 13 DEC 2017 – Deloitte Global forecasts major strides in machine learning for the enterprise, a worldwide appetite for digital subscriptions among consumers, and ongoing smartphone dominance—along with eight additional predictions—as part of the 17th edition of the annual "Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions released today.

Among the findings pertaining to the enterprise, this year’s report indicates that businesses will likely double their use of machine learning technology by the end of 2018. TMT Predictions highlights five key areas that Deloitte Global believes will unlock more intensive use of machine learning in the enterprise by making it easier, cheaper and faster.

The most important key area is the growth in new semiconductor chips that will increase the use of machine learning, enabling applications to use less power, and at the same time become more responsive, flexible and capable.

Deloitte New Zealand partner Grant Frear says we have reached the tipping point where adoption of machine learning in the enterprise is poised to accelerate.

“As with other rapidly developing technologies, New Zealand business leaders, boards and executive teams will need to quickly develop their literacy in the new technology and how it is applied in order not to be left behind,” says Mr Frear.

TMT Predictions includes a number of consumer forecasts as well. Deloitte Global predicts that live broadcast and events will generate over $545 billion in direct revenues in 2018. Despite consumers’ capability to consume content on demand or attend events remotely, live consumption is thriving. And in many cases, live content’s performance has been made more productive and profitable by digital.

Indicating an increasing willingness from consumers to pay for digital content, Deloitte Global also predicts that by the end of 2018, 50 percent of adults in developed countries will have at least two online-only media subscriptions, and by the end of 2020, the average will have doubled to four.

“Digital’s rise has augmented not dented the public’s appetite for media. It will be interesting to see how this trend continues to play out in New Zealand, and how traditional content providers respond, as consumer choice increases and they increasingly disaggregate their subscriptions,” says Mr Frear.

This year’s TMT Predictions also discusses the future of the ubiquitous smartphone.

Smartphone adoption continues to grow. By the end of 2023, more than 90 percent of adults in developed countries are expected to have a smartphone, with ownership among 55-75 year-olds reaching 85 percent. And Deloitte Global predicts that owners will interact with their phones on average 65 times per day in 2023, a 20 percent increase on 2018. This increasing frequency of smartphone usage is likely to spur an ever-greater degree of smartphone-centric content creation and process redesign.

At the same time, Deloitte Global predicts 45 percent of global adult smartphone users and 65 percent of 18-24 year olds will worry that they are using their phones too much for certain activities and may try to limit their usage in 2018.

“As smartphones continue to be a big part of our professional and personal lives, we are seeking to find more of a balance and etiquette, especially in our personal lives, even as we continue to experience more opportunities in this technology. We need to continue these discussions as there are clearly many upsides, but also many downsides, associated with our increased use of smartphones,” concludes Mr Frear.

Additional topics from Deloitte Global’s 2018 TMT Predictions include:

• Augmented reality on the cusp of reality – Over a billion smartphone users will likely create augmented reality (AR) content at least once in 2018, with at least 300 million doing so monthly, and tens of millions weekly, according to Deloitte Global.

• Mobile only wireless home internet – For 2018, Deloitte Global forecasts that one fifth of North American homes will get all of their internet data access via cellular mobile networks. There will be significant variations by country, however. In Brazil, for example, nearly a third of all homes will be mobile only, but only 10 percent in some European countries. The differences between geographies are due to a range of technological, economic and demographic factors.

• An increase in #adlergic – While three quarters of North Americans engage in at least one form of regular adblocking, only about 10 percent of this population engages in blocking ads in four or more ways – the “adlergic” population. Consumers who are young, highly educated, employed, and have higher incomes are more likely to be heavy adblockers.

The complete 2018 TMT Predictions report is available from www.deloitte.com/nz/predictions.

ENDS

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