Curt Hall predicts an increase in enterprise adoption of AI and, echoing Andriole’s sentiments, emphasizes “calls for new regulations to help guide and ensure the fair use of the technology.” He also anticipates a demand for greater transparency, fairness, and “explainability” in AI applications and products from developers and end-user organizations.

Autonomous systems are on the rise and, according to Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant San Murugesan, will “transform many different sectors in unimaginable ways.” He describes how technologies such as IoT, drones, robotics, ML, AI, and nano, among others, will extend the capabilities of autonomous systems. Current applications of autonomous systems technol­ogy draw attention to the adoption challenges.

Autonomous systems are on the rise and, according to Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant San Murugesan, will “transform many different sectors in unimaginable ways.” He describes how technologies such as IoT, drones, robotics, ML, AI, and nano, among others, will extend the capabilities of autonomous systems. Current applications of autonomous systems technol­ogy draw attention to the adoption challenges.

Claude Baudoin addresses the issue of trust, or mistrust, in the information we rely on to stay informed or to make decisions. He writes, “This article is not a definitive proposal to achieve the elusive goal of knowing what we can trust, but rather a set of per­spectives and considerations to justify the urgency of addressing this issue.” Some reasons for our untrusting mindsets include “deep fakes,” voting sys­tems breaches, bias in decision algorithms, unknown sources of email, insufficiently secured IoT systems, and robocalls.

Claude Baudoin addresses the issue of trust, or mistrust, in the information we rely on to stay informed or to make decisions. He writes, “This article is not a definitive proposal to achieve the elusive goal of knowing what we can trust, but rather a set of per­spectives and considerations to justify the urgency of addressing this issue.” Some reasons for our untrusting mindsets include “deep fakes,” voting sys­tems breaches, bias in decision algorithms, unknown sources of email, insufficiently secured IoT systems, and robocalls.

To increase the chance for blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) to gain traction and for improved market awareness and adoption of the technology, what should the reference model of the regulatory sandbox dedi­cated for blockchain/DLT technology look like?

To create an organization that can effectively respond to heightened customer centricity and product customization, you need effective and coordinated product development teams. To respond to customer needs quickly, teams need to be autonomous, empowered, self-organizing, and cross-functional. They must take high-level direction from management and then, through intense collaboration, complete work more quickly than their predecessors. In this Advisor, we share our thoughts on putting up guardrails for your teams.

Cybersecurity urgently needs attention from businesses and government, according to Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Paul Clermont. He highlights how several colliding trends — complexity, AI, and inter-connectedness — are compounding long-standing risks. Clermont discusses the tactics necessary to address them but cautions that “compounding the difficulty of these tasks is the need to be able to execute algorithms and procedures in nanoseconds — a tall order that should inspire a bit of conservatism about how much functionality and connectivity we might want versus what we truly need.”

Cybersecurity urgently needs attention from businesses and government, according to Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Paul Clermont. He highlights how several colliding trends — complexity, AI, and inter-connectedness — are compounding long-standing risks. Clermont discusses the tactics necessary to address them but cautions that “compounding the difficulty of these tasks is the need to be able to execute algorithms and procedures in nanoseconds — a tall order that should inspire a bit of conservatism about how much functionality and connectivity we might want versus what we truly need.”

According to Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Whynde Kuehn, “Amid a backdrop of digital trans­formation and a continually shifting landscape of change, business architecture is gaining momentum and relevance.” In her article, she discusses the areas in which business architecture will continue to play a key role and illustrates how three specific scenarios will lead the way to increased relevance and leadership. Kuehn lays out what this might mean to you, along with the steps you need to take to realize these benefits.

According to Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Whynde Kuehn, “Amid a backdrop of digital trans­formation and a continually shifting landscape of change, business architecture is gaining momentum and relevance.” In her article, she discusses the areas in which business architecture will continue to play a key role and illustrates how three specific scenarios will lead the way to increased relevance and leadership. Kuehn lays out what this might mean to you, along with the steps you need to take to realize these benefits.

Steve Andriole discusses the lack of technology regulatory action by the US government. He opens with the assertion that “the proliferation of misinformation on social media, drones flying in protected airspace, and the exploding personal surveillance of Americans are but three examples of the crying need for regulatory action.” Andriole details 10 technology areas in need of attention, and the associated guidelines, policies, and regulations that would go a long way in keeping technology misuse in check.

Steve Andriole discusses the lack of technology regulatory action by the US government. He opens with the assertion that “the proliferation of misinformation on social media, drones flying in protected airspace, and the exploding personal surveillance of Americans are but three examples of the crying need for regulatory action.” Andriole details 10 technology areas in need of attention, and the associated guidelines, policies, and regulations that would go a long way in keeping technology misuse in check.

Thanks to a slew of current and emerging trends, blockchain is now viewed as a mature and accessible technology. Discover the new blockchain-based innovations — such as the growth of global blockchain consortiums, stablecoins, digital currencies, new service offerings from big tech giants, and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms — in this Cutter Consortium webinar with Karolina Marzantowicz.

In this Executive Update we summarize our view of the future transportation and logistics market and outline possible paths forward for incumbents. Our analysis is applicable to industries outside the transportation and logistics market as well.

Cutter Consortium Fellow Stijn Viaene admits that embarking on a digital transformation isn't easy — but there are five keys to success. He breaks down these tips, distilled from his research, via a plan of action that can help organizations on the road to digital transformation.

Digital architecture involves internal stakeholders shifting paradigms from thinking of solutions from within to fully incorporating external stakeholders (customers) in the solution design process. Different organizations leverage various approaches to achieve this paradigm shift, but one of the main drivers of digital architecture is customer centricity. This Advisor highlights this driver as well as some of the other most critical ones.

This issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal (CBTJ) continues the conversation we began in our last CBTJ and focuses on blockchain technology adoption beyond cryptocurrencies and financial services. The authors explore areas such as energy and utilities and government and present real examples of successful DLT implementations. They share their practical experiences in overcoming and addressing some of the known issues with blockchain projects.

In the era of open source projects, which enable deep analysis of code, it is doubtful that we can maintain privacy through the ages. Publicly accessible code facilitates consistent improvements and debugging through the regular scrutiny of accessible data. At the same time, it also increases the possibility of finalizing an attack on the network, causing losses and a reduction in trust. As a result, several companies now focus on analyzing blockchains.

Virtually every organization in a developed part of the world critically depends on IT for running its business processes. Having a dedicated enterprise architecture function responsible for planning all organizational changes involving IT has thus became a necessity for most companies, with the exception of the smallest ones. But how should organizations design their architecture functions? How many architects do organizations need, and what specific positions should they occupy?

Digital competitors have raised the bar and are forcing incumbents from virtually every industry into huge transformation programs. To win this race for digitalization, incumbents are investing vast amounts of resources into multi-year programs that require them to change the engine with the train still rolling. This requires executive teams to manage many challenges and produce multiple results that are either different than expected or diluted.

How should project teams corral the natural but emotional forces exerting pressure on project decision making and processes?

Mike Rosen’s webinar “Architecture for Digital Business” explored how to support your business transformation by taking an architectural approach to strategy. Here are four questions we asked Mike at the end of the webinar that you may also be considering.

Transformation of a company and managing through change are inherently difficult. The inclusion of a digital component in this transformation effort makes the work that much more challenging, even for the sharpest and most visionary of executives. Companies undertaking digital transformation, in our opinion and based on our experience, face four major challenges that we believe design thinking tools can help overcome. In this Advisor, we explore two of these challenges and explain how design thinking can provide solutions.

Transformation of a company and managing through change are inherently difficult. The inclusion of a digital component in this transformation effort makes the work that much more challenging, even for the sharpest and most visionary of executives. Companies undertaking digital transformation, in our opinion and based on our experience, face four major challenges that we believe design thinking tools can help overcome. In this Advisor, we explore two of these challenges and explain how design thinking can provide solutions.