The world’s biggest technology festivals can be hard to navigate. White has sent two key team members, Davy Rennie & Mathieu Dauner, to SXSW and the Adobe Summit to take a look across the globe at how technology advances will continue to impact our clients and their businesses.
Learn about tomorrow's technology trends from future breakthroughs in GPS tracking, beacons and wearable tech to advances in AI and VR that will blow your mind. Get your full geek on and discover the tech that is really going to be important to you and your business.
5. SXSW HEADLINERS
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016/2017
• Ambient location
• Curation
• Mobile 1st
• Social Storytelling
• Big data + context
• Distribution > Virality
• Creative collaboration
• Humanised tech
• Currency Alternatives
• Body/brain hacks/history
• Integrated interactive
intuition
• Paranoia → Anonymity
• AI & Transhumanism
• VR & Agile Storyworlds
• Streams
• Enforced Equality
• Health & Med-tech
• Artificial Intelligence
• Transportation 2.0
• Gen Z > Gen Y
• Neuroscience
• Chinese startups
• Convergence
• Diversity
• Chatbots
• TV Reimagined
• Fear of Future Robot
• Privacy & Security
• Journalism vs Personal
Publishing
• Trump’s ‘Cyber’ AgendaHugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer @ SXSW
6 Years of Change
6. “A GREAT WAVE OF DISRUPTION -
ANCHORED IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE,
ROBOTICS, SELF-DRIVING CARS, GENOMIC
EDITING, COGNITIVE COMPUTING, THE
INTERNET OF THINGS AND BIG DATA - IS
UNDERWAY.”
Future Trends Report, 2017
32. In 2014, 4/10 businesses said that ‘experience’ was
their top priority. In 2017, 9/10 businesses said that
‘experience’ was the most important priority for their
business ”
- Adobe 2017
“
We look at the last 7 years and we see some interesting things:
Disappointments (beacons: weren’t you going to change everything; Body/brain hacks)
Standards (Mobile 1st, Curation, Distribution via platforms)
Mysteries (Crypto-currencies, big data, AI)
The last 2 years start to tell a different story:
Convergence
A critical mass of emerging technologies are starting to converge, finding advanced uses beyond initial testing and applied research - machine learning
MATURATION
Fringe technologies and trends have matured and their proliferation across new sectors have had significant implications on the way we live (transportation, cities, politics, work)
More tech than ever. More tech trends in 2017 than previous years. SXSW is an amalgam of different tech conversations and trends, making it difficult to discern any one theme between its opposing narratives.
YET, amongst the volume of trends there is an interesting story developing around the number of emergent technologies that are tipping over and scaling into mass markets. Their impending impact will significantly reshape the world around us - specifically how consumers behave and how brands interact with them.
Technology adoption curves are accelerating over time
Frequency of “gamechanging” tech is increasing
So, not only is the amount of tech accelerating, but consumer tastes and behaviours are also matching this pace
More tech than ever. More tech trends in 2017 than previous years. SXSW is an amalgam of different tech conversations and trends, making it difficult to discern any one theme between its opposing narratives.
YET, amongst the volume of trends there is an interesting story developing around the number of emergent technologies that are tipping over and scaling into mass markets. Their impending impact will significantly reshape the world around us - specifically how consumers behave and how brands interact with them.
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Opportunity:
Bots will help tie ecosystems together for brands (serve up content, replace apps)
Strengthen relationship between users and brands (personalisation, convenience)
Brand awareness > Customer service (Burberry, MeCheck from Match.com)
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Increasing Accuracy Is Driving Growth In Voice UI
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
The stories we tell each other and how we experience stories?
The rise of VR & AR will change storytelling:
Linear + Closed → Non-linear and open
New considerations around inputs, participation and context will be opened
Why: Why should you care? Why will it make a difference?
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
The economic effects are more pronounced in companies where design is firmly rooted in both internal and external design investments. With regard to the companies’ position on the Design Ladder, a higher placement on the Design Ladder is associated with a positive effect on gross earnings and a clear positive effect on exports.
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
DON’T WAIT, START (LEARNING) NOW
The best companies embrace change. They are front-footed in nature. Companies must continue to skill up and get involved early which keeps them ahead of the competition and keeps them level with rapidly changing consumer tastes.
If you wait too long to see if the platform has been “proven out”, it can sometimes be too late. Getting in early helps you build the learning curve and teaches you valuable lessons so you can stay ahead of the competition (find out what works for you and your audiences)
In the past, we’ve seen marketers excel at being more experimental, be on the edge with new channels and formats on FB Live, Snapchat, etc
Needed to fix broken incubators (UNICEF identified that first 3 years matter most in the war against Child Mortality)
Asked the right questions:” What are the parts in small towns that everyone has?” (Not, “how can we fix the existing solution?”
Use of Toyota parts because that’s what everyone in the village had (The NeoNurture baby incubator by Design That Matters is made out of car parts.)
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
There are no shortcuts, don’t try and buy them. If your data is a mess, you CRM platform shot, your CMS non existent and you team all over the place, you need to fix it and fast. Because that stuff is all yesterday, the stuff that we are talking about is happening today. You better be ready, you will get rolled over. Fix your BAU. Use it. Move on
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
How we will harness these technologies with new skills and teams
Need for more diversity
Creativity and productivity will be continue to be maximised within environments that promote diverse backgrounds, opinions and approaches to traditional problems
Going to see a lot of new:
Organisational structures
Team skillsets
Collaboration process
Netflix is a good reflection of this new type of teams and skills.
Microservices approach over at Netflix.
One positive—and somewhat unintended—consequence of moving to microservices: team structure and output mirrors the services that are delivered. (00:52)
Microservices allow for quick and independent innovation. "We want our teams and services to be tightly aligned, but loosely coupled," Marsh says. (01:29)
Disney
Exploring new technologies like machine learning, chatbots and invisible interfaces (i.e. Amazon Echo) require Disney to continuously iterate across multiple versions as the technology matures, but the long term benefits outweigh the short-term hiccups that come with experimenting with new technology.
Levi’s
Google ATAP and Levi’s came together to make Project Jacquard — or simply the first Google Trucker Jacket. It’s the first wearable tech that looks wearable yet has product features integrated into the jacket that allows you to interact with maps, messaging and phone calls via gestures with your jacket.
The invisibility of tech in the jacket is a prime example of this trust. Google engineers admit that their first instinct is to make the sensors and conductive yarn highly visible on the garment. Levi’s, staying true to the nature of the garment and the requirements of the wearer, pushed back and fought for the tech to be invisible and stay purposeful to the garment’s design (i.e. help riders be more ‘present’ and not distracted when they rode, while still looking cool).
Levi’s designers embraced processes common to tech in the process and built in testing and iteration phases for the garment, after it had gone into market. Product testing before launch is common for fashion designers, but rarely have they sought out user feedback and user data post-launch to iterate and evolve the product design.
Disney
Exploring new technologies like machine learning, chatbots and invisible interfaces (i.e. Amazon Echo) require Disney to continuously iterate across multiple versions as the technology matures, but the long term benefits outweigh the short-term hiccups that come with experimenting with new technology.
Levi’s
Google ATAP and Levi’s came together to make Project Jacquard — or simply the first Google Trucker Jacket. It’s the first wearable tech that looks wearable yet has product features integrated into the jacket that allows you to interact with maps, messaging and phone calls via gestures with your jacket.
The invisibility of tech in the jacket is a prime example of this trust. Google engineers admit that their first instinct is to make the sensors and conductive yarn highly visible on the garment. Levi’s, staying true to the nature of the garment and the requirements of the wearer, pushed back and fought for the tech to be invisible and stay purposeful to the garment’s design (i.e. help riders be more ‘present’ and not distracted when they rode, while still looking cool).
Levi’s designers embraced processes common to tech in the process and built in testing and iteration phases for the garment, after it had gone into market. Product testing before launch is common for fashion designers, but rarely have they sought out user feedback and user data post-launch to iterate and evolve the product design.
Why. Why should you care. Why will it make a difference
ALL OF THIS MEANS NOTHING WITHOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS, BE THEY INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL. THEY ARE YOU NORTHSTAR, YOUR FOCUS, YOUR EVERYTHING. WORK WITH THEM TO SOLVE CHALLENGES, WORK WITH THEM TO DELIVER VALUE. DON’T BUY TECH FOR TECH SAKE, BY A CAPABILITY, OR ANSWER TO A CHALLNENGE.