2024 Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends

The article outlines the Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2024, focusing on how these innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) can help organizations build and protect themselves while generating value. The trends cover various aspects, including AI as a partner, continuous threat exposure management, sustainable technology, developer-driven self-service, AI-augmented development, industry cloud platforms, intelligent applications, democratized generative AI, augmented connected workforce, and machine customers.

The key themes and recommendations from the article are:

Build and Protect Your Organization:
- Use the identified trends to establish infrastructure, governance, and tools.
- Prioritize investments based on business goals and current organizational positions.
Protect Your Investment:
- Secure benefits from strategic technology decisions.
- Include protective measures in ROI calculations.
Rise of the Builders:
- Empower people and developers to build solutions using appropriate technology.
- Work closely with business stakeholders to determine scope and capability.
Deliver the Value:
- Commit to refining and accelerating value optimization while maintaining operational excellence.
- Facilitate controlled access to rapidly changing digital tools.

The article also provides detailed insights into each trend, offering practical advice on how organizations can implement these technologies. It includes real-world examples of companies that have successfully implemented these trends, such as Fidelity Investments, BP, and Merck.

The Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2024 outlines key innovations in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) that can help organizations build and protect themselves while generating value. These trends are expected to play a significant role in business and technology decisions over the next 36 months. Here's a detailed summary of each trend:

1. AI as Partner: AI Trust, Risk, and Security Management (AITRiSM)

Utilizes AI to manage trust, risk, and security in AI applications.
Enhances bias control in decisions, ensuring fairness in AI-driven applications.
Requires constant testing of AI model explainability through model monitoring.

2. Be Safe: Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

A pragmatic approach to continuously adjust cybersecurity priorities.
Addresses both patchable vulnerabilities and unpatchable exposures.
Validates exposure and remediation priorities through evidence-based security optimizations.

3. Protect the Future: Sustainable Technology

A framework of digital solutions for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) outcomes.
Addresses risks in the natural world, improves human rights, and strengthens business conduct.
Provides insights for improving overall performance and sustainability.

4. Developer-Driven Self-Service: Platform Engineering

Focuses on building and operating self-service internal platforms.
Optimizes the developer experience, accelerates business value delivery, and improves talent retention.
Involves collaboration between platform engineers and end users.

5. Accelerate Creation: AI-Augmented Development

Uses AI technologies such as generative AI and machine learning to aid software engineers.
Integrates with the development environment to produce application code and enhance testing capabilities.
Facilitates increased focus on higher-level activities for software engineers.

6. Tailor Your Tailor’s Work: Industry Cloud Platforms

Addresses industry-relevant business outcomes by combining SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services.
Enables adaptability and agility to respond to industry disruption.
Delivers industry-specific outcomes tailored to organizational needs.

7. Optimize Decision-Making: Intelligent Applications

Augments consumer or business applications with AI and connected data.
Uses generative AI to transform app experiences, making them more intelligent.
Pushes insights within apps, eliminating the need for separate business intelligence tools.

8. Power AND Responsibility: Democratized Generative AI

Democratizes access to generative AI across the organization.
Automates tasks, boosts productivity, and reduces costs.
Provides new opportunities for growth and transforms the way enterprises compete and work.

9. Push the Pioneers: Augmented Connected Workforce

Optimizes human staff value through intelligent technology, workforce analytics, and skill augmentation.
Accelerates the acquisition of new digital skills across all job types.
Reduces time to competency for new hires and enables smarter work through workplace automation.

10. Buyers With Byte(s): Machine Customers

Introduces nonhuman economic actors that purchase goods and services.
Predicts that, by 2028, 15 billion connected products will behave as customers.
Expects machine customers to impact trillions of dollars in purchases by 2030.

The article emphasizes the importance of being deliberate in adopting these trends and highlights the need for protective measures when calculating return on investment (ROI). Real-world examples from companies like Fidelity Investments, BP, and Merck demonstrate successful implementations of these trends. The actionable steps for each trend provide a practical guide for organizations looking to leverage these innovations in the age of AI.