Ventana Research has announced its market agenda for 2022, continuing the tradition of reliability in our efforts to educate and guide the technology market. Our assessments are backed by our expertise and independence, as we do not share our market agenda or our research – including analyst and market perspectives or our Value Index – with any external party until it is published. We review and refine our market agenda throughout the year to ensure we offer the expertise and insights organizations rely on to better assess and navigate the direction of the technology industry.
We’re advancing digital business, providing a blueprint for organizations to assess and prioritize investments of resources and time. Business continuity, experience management, governance and risk, performance management and sustainability management need to set the tone for successful integration of applications and technology. In addition, the focus on digital communications, digital payments, digital security and work management defines how the workforce should be equipped for a modern and more engaging experience. Lastly is digital transformation, an evolution we’ve witnessed over the past two decades. Organizations need to further refine the integration of digital business and technology to ensure the readiness and responsiveness capable of sustaining any “black swan” event that could disrupt normal operating conditions.
In addition to these new areas of focus, we’ve made substantive advancements in each business and technology expertise and focus area. Here’s a snapshot of the topics our subject matter experts will explore this year.
Analytics: Responding to the necessity for effective analytics and the nature of operating in real-time, our Analytics expertise area — led by senior vice president and research director David Menninger — helps organizations advance business potential. David’s market assertion is that by 2024, one-third of organizations will adopt natural language processing as a component of improving digital experiences for business professionals who desire conversational methods by reading and talking. Wide adoption is gained by first implementing natural language processing to enable the range of interactions with analytics. But operating the organization in real-time requires streaming analytics as data and events flow across networks, and process mining to ensure insights are aligned to the nature of this technology. Traditional use of analytics in business intelligence is still critical, and embedded analytics can help ensure availability where the workforce operates. Most relevant is the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to assist in the use of analytics in a more intelligent manner, delivering more impactful insights. David’s analyst perspectives provide more detail on our exploration of analytics technologies.
Data: Our Data expertise, led by vice president and research director Matt Aslett, is establishing a focus on the effective impact of data across any requirement of the organization. The fundamentals of Data Management ensure outcomes from processes are optimized through the application of analytics and insights. This effort is facilitated through the use of Data Operations that ensure the science and engineering of data for any purpose. Data Operations is also intertwined with Data Governance to ensure accurate utilization of data. Establishing this commitment requires technology used for Analytic Data Platforms or Operational Data Platforms, and operating in a hybrid computing environment. As Matt asserts, through 2026 — and despite increased demand for hybrid operational and analytic processing — more than three-quarters of data platform use cases will have functional requirements that encourage the use of specialized analytic or operational data platforms. In addition, operating as data flows across the organization requires that Streaming Data and Events technology is architected to meet business requirements. Follow Matt’s analyst perspectives to monitor the evolution of data technology.
Human Capital Management: In the expertise of Human Capital Management, we are continuing our dedicated work and market research in the focus areas of Employee Experience, Learning Management, Payroll Management, Total Compensation Management and Workforce Management as well as the optimal use of Talent Management. This year will be a significant year in managing expectations of the organization and the worker. We assert that by 2024, one-third of corporate human resource functions will formalize their “hybrid workplace” operating practices via company-facing advisory and consultative services designed to allow business areas and teams to thrive. Addressing the needs of the individual and their career requires a focus on skill development that can support the advancement of worker potential. Meeting the demand for talent growth ─ from recruiting and hiring to onboarding ─ will require more effective candidate engagement to ensure organizational growth. But once in an organization, worker career development requires continued investment in coaching, mentoring and performance management. For organizations to navigate the path of HCM requires the use of people analytics and workforce planning to help decision-makers and managers and support diversity, equity and inclusion improvement. Key to the success of these initiatives will be an effective set of technological requirements and a structured vendor evaluation process to ensure the human capital management platform and applications meet future requirements of the organization. I am leading this expertise area as we establish a new leader for our HCM efforts. Steve Goldberg is transitioning to an industry consultant, but you can still read his analyst perspectives on the HCM technology landscape.
Marketing: There has never been a more challenging time for marketers, who need to be digitally effective at every interaction to gain engagement across every process. Vice president and research director Keith Dawson and I continue to lead the effort to advance the effectiveness of marketing organizations. Our Marketing expertise covers fundamental and advanced techniques in Conversational Marketing; Digital Marketing; Intelligent Marketing, designed for optimal engagement; and Product Information Management, focused on product experiences. We are advancing our work in Digital Experience Platforms, which ensure information and interactions are modernized across processes and systems. Keith asserts that by 2025, one-third of marketing organizations will rationalize technology portfolios towards a unified digital experience platform to streamline operations. Advancing the management of marketing is not easy with the processes and volume of data available, which is why the use of Marketing Performance Management can help with planning analytics that align the resources and budgets to reach the desired objectives.
Operations and Supply Chain: Our Operations and Supply Chain expertise will expand in 2022 to further advance insights into digitization every organization can employ to increase resilience to meet the demand for products and services. This must be established through a Continuous Supply Chain that operates with Enterprise Resource Planning, supported through Continuous Planning to work towards mutual outcomes. At the core of the supply chain is the interconnected aspects of product life cycle management that contribute to Product Information Management for sharing across the enterprise and customers, partners and suppliers. Through 2024, supply/demand chain management in over one-half of organizations will remain inadequate to ensure resilience and business continuity, requiring aggressive digital innovation. A continued investment into Supplier Relationship Management addresses what has placed undue pressure on sourcing, fulfillment, invoice reconciliation and payment terms activities. There is also a need to optimize use of assets with Property Technology, targeting substantial opportunities to improve the tenant, landlord and owner relationship.
Our work in 2021 found that organizations remain in transformation to optimize resilience and workforce readiness across all business processes to survive any “black swan” event, like the continuing pandemic. Our belief is that digital business requires technology and innovation necessary to ensure productivity and experiences are working together to deliver on the strategic objectives for every business.
At Ventana Research, we guide organizations to digital effectiveness through our subject matter expertise, market research and industry experience with technology to achieve desired outcomes from current and future investments. Enjoy our market agenda for 2022 and the in-depth perspectives that facilitate the knowledge to utilize technology in the most effective manner. Subscribe to our Ventana Research community at no cost and stay up to date on our 2022 research efforts. Check out our market expertise and focus areas, and access educational resources available exclusively to members.
Regards,
Mark Smith