AND BEYOND TO 2017
Would you let a digital assistant suggest which clothes to buy? Or artificial intelligence advise you on where to invest? If such
technologies sound decades away, get ready: they’ll be here sooner than you think
by Dexter Brown illustration by John Ueland I
MAGINE A WORLD where you can have anything you can afford, where you don’t have to hunt deals because they hunt you, where you can print replacement parts for office or household items at the local mall or pay for a product with nothing but your smartphone and your
fingerprint. That may seem futuristic, but all that is either already here or coming sooner than you might think. Gartner Inc., a New York-based technology research and
advisory company, recently released its top predictions on how digital innovations will dramatically change the way we shop and do business over the course of the next few years. Gartner’s forecast — along with that from several tech and shopping experts — may not be the utopia you’ve been hoping for, but there is still a lot to get excited about.
PREDICTION 1 In 2016, more than US$2 billion in online
shopping will be performed exclusively by mobile digital assistants. Mobile digital assistants aren’t just those voice-activated
bots on mobile devices; any soſtware or system that per- forms a task can be considered a digital assistant. Gartner says that, very soon, we should be able to ask
them to do complex tasks such as arrange the perfect date night with dinner, movie and an Uber ride. Digital assis- tants can also make smart purchasing decisions for us, as they have access to information that enables them to determine what we would like. However, you may still encounter problems with digital assistants. “You have to know what the soſtware is doing
32 | CPA MAGAZINE | MARCH 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72