Much has been publicized on the innovations likely to gain traction and transform traditional businesses in 2016. Some meticulously researched technology reports are available, also touching upon market dynamics as well as key skills required in the digital age. In the following, I have tried to summarize some main findings, complementing them with my personal view on 2016 as a year of digital transformation.

One can argue there are four major categories to talk about when it comes to progress in digital industries this year: geographies and their specific market dynamics; key technologies; priorities for leaders in technology; and key employee skills required around the globe.

Geographies / Market dynamics

India and China are gaining in technology innovation. Companies there – more than ever before –  are reacting to specific needs within their local markets, delivering bespoke products, product features and, overall, services. Manufacturers such as Xiaomi, building on customer feedback from Asia, are interestingly starting to grow their popularity with international customers.

Of course, Silicon Valley will remain the world’s leading economic hotspot. And we can expect further waves of technology disruption emanating from there in 2016. More than any other technology cluster or hub on the Planet, the Valley today stands for incubators, accelerators, and further key approaches to innovation and quick execution.

At the same time, hubs like Shanghai, Bangalore or Tel Aviv, to name a few, are successfully attracting digital talent, startup-entrepreneurs and – foremost – VC and private equity money. The same is true for Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia or Thailand.

Key technologies

IDC, a leading global provider of market intelligence, have published ten projections for 2016 with „Third Platform“ ranked high on the list. The term „Third Platform“, according to IDC, is to encompasses technologies such as Cloud, Mobile, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), Cognitive Computing, Robotics, Augmented Reality, 3D Printing, and Next-generation Security.

I would agree with the pick as the technologies are enablers or drivers of digital transformation. How powerful and transformative a combination of some of those technologies may be, is simply stunning. In an interview with ZDNet, Ralph de la Vega, CEO and president for AT&T’s mobile and business units, told the following story: „I was in London two months ago. When I opened the Financial Times, the cover story was that black cabbies – the famous black cabs – were shutting down their training school. It takes three years for a cabbie in London to go through that school. They told me an unbelievable figure that in average, they fail the test 12 times before they pass it. They were shutting the school because of Uber. Now, Uber is our customer. It’s Uber’s use of the smartphone, applications, mobile broadband and the cloud built into the smartphone and smart enough apps that they may not be able to do it exactly as good as a cabbie does, but good enough that people are using Uber. So for an institution like that for it to close its doors, it highlights the point that either you accept and embrace these technologies and disrupt yourself – or you will be disrupted by people who use them.“

What Ralph de la Vega is actually talking about is the transformative power of the Internet of Things (IoT). 2016 will be the year revealing what IoT really means to traditional businesses. It will be eye-opening and mind-blowing. For De la Vega IoT is he „next Industrial Revolution“. I could not agree more.

Priorities for leaders in technology

So how do leaders in technology adapt to the challenges triggered by recent developments in digital industries? Gartner have published this year’s list of ten priorities („Technology Priorities for CIOs in 2016“) which I find interesting as it reflects the disruption to come. Certainly, one can discuss the ranking of the topics, one can discuss the topics as such, one can ask the question if this list really reflects the needs in 2016 (which may be different across industries and companies). At least, I haven’t yet found a better one:

• BI/Analytics
• Cloud
• Mobile
• Digitization/Digital Marketing
• Infrastructure & Data Centre
• ERP
• Security
• Industry Specific Applications
• CRM
• Networking/Voice/Data Communications.

Key skills

Finally, how about individual skills required to master the challenges of a digital corporate environment that is constantly changing, at ever faster pace? Here, I wanted to take a different angle. I spotted a report of the „most coveted certificates“, published by Coursera, a leading educational technology company that offers massive open online courses (MOOCs). Coursera works with universities and organizations to make information and courses available online and to offer certifications. The following list from Coursera I found definitely worth sharing:

• Digital Marketing
• Data Science
• Interaction Design
• Business Strategy
• Strategic Business Analysis
• Data Science at Scale
• Genomic Data Science
• Organizational Leadership
• Social Media Marketing
• Strategic Management and Innovation.

This list reflects that change is coming. Ready, steady, go.