This issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal features five articles discussing the opportunities and challenges in this dawning era of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and digital transformation, as well as (some) solutions to its likely problems.

This Cutter Business Technology Journal issue offers practical advice to help you and your EA practice respond to the immediate digital challenge, and ways to begin thinking of the larger future challenges.

This Cutter Business Technology Journal issue focuses on key topics of interest for financial services organizations, namely equity crowdfunding, legacy systems migration, robo-advisors, test outsourcing, and refining the reconciliation process.

The four articles published in this issue discuss some of the key technologies that will be of significant relevance to the future of financial services and, potentially, other domains. Specifically, they focus on semantic ontologies, next-generation robo-advisors, tools supporting internationalization and localization of legacy systems, and 3D visual analytics.

Technological advances such as augmented reality, virtual reality, cognitive assistants, 3D/4D printing, personalization, conversational interfaces, drones, deep learning, predictive analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, digital currencies, new payment systems, and affective computing play major roles in promoting and enabling the next wave of business innovation. These technologies — combined with new business models facilitated by social/collaborative commerce, shared services, and crowdsourcing — will have a profound influence across the business world. Furthermore, businesses will need to cater to the new expectations and demands of the digitally embedded “selfie” generation of customers, while also serving older generations. This scenario raises a few pertinent questions among business executives and IT professionals: Where is the business world headed? How will businesses get transformed, and what new applications and innovations will emerge? What will evolve as the “new normal”? What new opportunities will arise for the IT industry and technology professionals? In this issue of Cutter Business Technology Journal, we examine these questions and provide perspectives on them from experts in different areas.