Global business leaders forecast the next era of human-machine partnerships and how they intend to prepare

ROUND ROCK, Texas, Jan. 30, 2018 — (PRNewswire) —

 New summary

• New dawn of immense possibility on the horizon: 82% of business leaders expect their workforce and machines will work as integrated teams within five years
• Leaders divided on what this future means: half (50%) think automated systems to free up time, other half disagree
• Organizations united in need to transform and how, but not moving fast enough: only 27% believe they are leading the way, ingraining digital in everything they do.

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• 3,800 global business leaders forecast the next era of human-machine partnerships – reveal a divided vision of the future: http://del.ly/6005DzJOc #Realize2030 #digitaltransformation

Full story
We're entering the next era of human-machine partnerships with a divided vision of the future, according to global research now available from Dell Technologies. Half of the 3,800 global business leaders surveyed forecast that automated systems will free up their time, while the other 50% believe otherwise. Similarly, 42% believe they'll have more job satisfaction in the future by offloading tasks to machines, while 58% disagree.

The quantitative research conducted by Vanson Bourne follows Dell Technologies' seminal story, " Realizing 2030: The Next Era of Human-Machine Partnerships." That study forecasted that by 2030, emerging technologies will forge human partnerships with machines that are richer and more immersive than ever before, helping us surpass our limitations. Business leaders agree: 82% of respondents expect humans and machines will work as integrated teams within their organization inside of five years.

But leaders are also split by whether the future represents an opportunity or a threat, and torn by the need to mitigate these risks.¹ For instance:

• 48% say the more we depend upon technology, the more we'll have to lose in the event of a cyber-attack; 52% aren't concerned
• 50% of business leaders are calling for clear protocols in the event that autonomous machines fail; other half abstained
• 45% say computers will need to decipher between good and bad commands; 55% don't see a need

"You can understand why the business community is so polarized," comments Jeremy Burton, chief marketing officer, Dell Technologies. "There tends to be two extreme perspectives about the future: the anxiety-driven issue of human obsolescence or the optimistic view that technology will solve our greatest social problems. These differing viewpoints could make it difficult for organizations to prepare for a future that's in flux and would certainly hamper leaders' efforts to push through necessary change."

Given the promise of monumental change—fuelled by exponentially increasing data and the applications, processing power and connectivity to harness it—56% speculate that schools will need to teach how to learn rather than what to learn to prepare students for jobs that don't yet exist. This thinking corroborates IFTF's forecast that 85% of jobs that will exist in 2030 haven't been invented yet.

Beset by barriers

Furthermore, many businesses aren't moving fast enough, and going deep enough, to overcome common barriers to operating as a successful digital business. Only 27% of businesses believe they are leading the way, ingraining digital in all they do. Forty-two percent don't know whether they'll be able to compete over the next decade, and the majority (57%) of businesses are struggling to keep-up with the pace of change.

Main barriers to becoming a successful digital business in 2030 and beyond:
     1. Lack of a digital vision and strategy: 61%
     2. Lack of workforce readiness: 61% 
     3. Technology constraints: 51% 
     4. Time and money constraints: 37%
     5. Law and regulations: 20%

Unified by the need to transform

Leaders may be divided in their view of the future and facing barriers to change, but they're united in the need to transform. In fact, the vast majority of businesses believe they'll be well on their way to transforming within five years, despite the challenges they face.

Likely to achieve within five years:

• Have effective cybersecurity defences in place: 94%
• Deliver their product offering as a service: 90%
• Complete their transition to a software-defined business: 89%
• R&D will drive their organization forward: 85%
• Delivering hyper-connected customer experiences with virtual reality (VR): 80%
• Using AI to pre-empt customer demands: 81%

Burton adds, "We're entering an era of monumental change. Although business leaders harbor contrasting views of the future, they share common ground on the need to transform. Based on the many conversations I have with customers, I believe we're reaching a pivotal moment in time. Businesses can either grasp the mantle, transform their IT, workforce and security and play a defining role in the future or be left behind."

Additional resources

• For more information on the quantitative research report, executive summary and infographic, please visit www.delltechnologies.com/realizing2030
• Blog from Jeremy Burton: 3,800 Business Leaders Declare: It's A Tale of Two Futures
• Additional information on Dell Technologies Realizing 2030 initiative can be found, www.delltechnologies.com/realizing2030
• Find out more about how Dell Technologies is collaboratively solving customers' biggest challenges by visiting Dell Technologies' Annual Report to Customers
• Connect with Dell Technologies on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn
• Tables below show business leaders' forecasts for the future, and how they are divided about technologies' upcoming impact on our lives, work and business in general. ²

About the study
The research was commissioned by Dell Technologies and undertaken by Vanson Bourne, an independent research company, completed in June to August 2017 with 3,800 business leaders from mid-size to large enterprises across 17 countries. The respondents were drawn from 12 industries and key functions impacting the customer experience (from business owners to decision-makers in IT, marketing, customer service, R&D and finance, etc.). The research explores the changing relationship between technology and people, emerging technologies' impact on business and the way we work and how business leaders and CIOs plan to succeed over the next 10 to 15 years.

About Vanson Bourne
Vanson Bourne is an independent specialist in market research for the technology sector. Its reputation for robust and credible research-based analysis is founded upon rigorous research principles and an ability to seek the opinions of senior decision makers across technical and business functions, in all business sectors and all major markets. For more information, visit www.vansonbourne.com.

About Dell Technologies  
Dell Technologies is a unique family of businesses that provides the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect their most important asset, information. The company services customers of all sizes across 180 countries – ranging from 98% of the Fortune 500 to individual consumers – with the industry's most comprehensive and innovative portfolio from the edge to the core to the cloud.

Copyright © 2018 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved.  Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC, Dell EMC and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.  Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.

¹ Business leaders are divided by what the shift into the next era will mean for them, their business and even the world at large.
² Below tables showcase business leaders' forecast for the future, and how they are divided about technologies' upcoming impact on our lives, work and business in general: