Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

Cutter Senior Consultant Paul Clermont updates some predictions he made over the past couple years while adding four more, replete with their implications on our workforce and society. According to Clermont, “While 2018 may or may not be a watershed year for some specific technology or other … the more interesting action will come from the public policy and perception arenas and in the evolution of business models.”

The authors discuss the rise in popularity of a new form of crowdfunding — initial coin offerings (ICOs). They believe the hype surrounding ICOs will continue through 2018 but will level off when crowdfunding platforms and traditional funding players become involved. Ultimately, as the authors suggest, legislative change like that imposed on traditional crowdfunding will need to be extended to cover the ICO market.

The author has more faith in Ethereum’s potential than Bitcoin in 2018. He details some interesting plans in the works to develop smart contract applications on the Ethereum platform as well as a proof-of-stake (POS) mining process that will make Ethereum more efficient and environmentally friendly.

This article introduces Nano (recently rebranded from RaiBlocks), a third-generation cryptocurrency that appears to make up for Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s shortcomings with zero fees, instant transactions, and infinite scalability. He opines that Nano is one of a few third-generation cryptocurrencies that “can offer the technology and functionality needed to facilitate mass adoption and real-world use as an effective currency.”

There has been a flurry of attraction in the past year in securing public cloud service providers. Further validating this trend, the author predicts that “the trend across the globe will be to go ‘all in’ on just a handful of hyperscale public cloud providers.” He further asserts that “this concentration of risk will become a focus of attention for those charged with mitigating ‘black swan’ risks to the global economy.”

This article details four outcome-affecting trends for 2018 (i.e., “trends that impact the ability of a company to leverage emerging technologies in their business”). The authors illustrate how companies can turn these potential trend risks into positive business outcomes through “startup ways of working” and new opportunities in the coming year. In particular, they encourage a return to the principles of the Agile Manifesto and a hard look at the technology foundations.

Cutter Fellow Steve Andriole describes five accelerating trends to watch for in 2018 and predicts which ones will carry the most momentum, using a concrete score on a 1-5 scale. Andriole goes on to recommend paying very close attention to the companies providing the services you deeply depend on, as he warns of upcoming volatility in the technology industry itself.

What we often regard as intractable problems are also ripe for disruption. While intractability is its own momentum, it’s also an invitation to change.