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Digital disruptors key for business

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Cape Town, 29 Sept 2016
CIOs must build their technology platforms to support digital business, says Steve Prentice, VP and Gartner fellow.
CIOs must build their technology platforms to support digital business, says Steve Prentice, VP and Gartner fellow.

Digital disruptors such as algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), bots and chatbots are transforming businesses.

This is according to Steve Prentice, VP and Gartner fellow, speaking at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2016 in Cape Town.

Gartner defines algorithmic business as the enablement of business value through the action of algorithms on data.

The IT research and advisory firm believes the predominance of algorithms will only increase in the digital age, especially with the growth of the Internet of things.

Prentice said to support the new capabilities and business models of digital and algorithmic business, CIOs must design and deploy their digital business technology platform.

He explained: "Fuelled by data, analytics and AI, algorithmic business will continue to grow and disrupt your business. This growth is unabated as algorithms are feasting on the wealth of data that grows inexorably."

According to Prentice, algorithms, AI, bots and smart things will dominate business interactions during the next few years.

More than 500 000 new devices connect to the Internet every hour, and every one of them simply adds to the inevitable growth of data, he said.

"Algorithms capture the knowledge that turns raw data into valuable insight, and CIOs must use them to drive speed, scale and consistency in their digital business journey.

"Applied to huge datasets, algorithms allow highly accurate, personalised offerings, which in turn can drive revenue and differentiation," he stated.

The pace of digital disruption demands a new approach to IT, Prentice concluded. "CIOs must build their digital business technology platform to support the development of digital business."

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