A to Z of tech predictions in 2024: T-V

More 2024 predictions from industry observers, this time from T-V. Predictions from P-S are at https://www.techtradeasia.com/2024/01/the-to-z-of-tech-predictions-in-2024-p-s.html

T is for trust

The IBM Institute of Business Value released a trend report for 2024 that places trust in the limelight for 2024. "2024 will be the year when business leaders need to balance technology and trust. Of course, building trust into every aspect of an organisation is not a new concept. But it’s become more
challenging with generative AI, global uncertainty, intensifying competition, and the continued rise of ecosystems," the IBV stated in the report. 

"With the demise of Google cookies, now is the time to harness the power of first-party data, along with AI, to help build meaningful connections and trust. Customers who trust brands are more willing to share personal information that helps brands deliver content that truly aligns with customer preferences, ultimately boosting brand confidence and making them more likely to become loyal, repeat customers,” said Jennifer Pearson, SAS Customer Intelligence Product Marketing Manager.

Generative AI could do a great deal in a trusted environment, said BeyondTrust in a list of 2024 predictions. The company took gen AI's flexibility and power to a logical but perhaps shocking conclusion: that dedicated applications for banking, travel, information retrieval and so on could become obsolete, so long as trusted connections can be established using concepts like Zero Trust.

"Questions like ‘what is my bank statement’, ‘please book my trip’, or ‘please retrieve the last 10 sales for my company’ could all become reality. In fact, the applications themselves could become connectors that build trust to a common interface that provides the results, just like a browser," said blog post authors Morey J. Haber, Chief Security Officer, Christopher Hills, Chief Security Strategist, and James Maude, Director of Research of BeyondTrust.

"This is the future of generative AI. Everything we need will be a voice command away using a standard interface. This may force the need for larger mobile device screens to become obsolete because the concept of complex user interfaces for detailed applications will become results-driven and function-specific."

U is for unified data

Unified data strategy

Source: Twilio. Adeniji.

Liz Adeniji, Regional VP of Segment, Asia Pacific & Japan at Twilio said: "The emergence of customer data platforms (CDPs), composable CDPs, data clean rooms, and data warehouses will drive a significant shift in organisational dynamics in 2024.

"Modern data platforms, which are expected to help dissolve traditional silos within business divisions, will serve as a unifying force that will bring diverse teams and functions together under the common language of data.

"As data becomes more integral in driving decision-making and new opportunities, organisations will prioritise developing a unified data strategy. We expect key leaders, including the CTO, CMO Chief Product Officer, and Chief Revenue Officer, to extend beyond their traditional roles and work more closely together to shape the data vision of organisations. This collaborative approach will help foster a more comprehensive perspective of a company and its business practices, facilitating informed decision-making and growth." 

Unified data storage

Source: NetApp.
You.

"Organisations are going to break down silos between different data types with unified data storage — which combines all of a company’s data types across on-premises and cloud environments — to fuel the new era of AI and analytics innovations. As companies dig deeper into analytics to generate business insights, they will find that their existing data storage architectures have separate streams for each type of data, such as customer, product, supplier, and employee data," said You Qinghong, Solutions Engineering Lead, Greater China, ASEAN and South Korea at NetApp.

"They may feel limited by out-of-date analytics platforms, computing models, and data storage systems that don’t give them the flexibility to adapt beyond their original assumptions about data and insights. As a result, we are going to see more organisations rethink their data architectures to consolidate data streams and treat them as a single source.

"Unified data storage will help make enterprise data more easily accessible and unlock hidden connections between different types of data. As a result, organisations will be better equipped to use their data to respond to changes in their operating environment and develop new insights to grow their business."

V is for verticals

Verticals: Finance

Modernisation 

Isabel Fernandez, EVP, Lending at Finastra, said financial institutions will face continued demands from their customers for quicker, more seamless, and personalised lending experiences. "To meet these demands and avoid being on the back foot, institutions need to prioritise modernisation – whether that be adopting a microservices approach, redeploying to the cloud or consuming ‘as a service’," she said. 

"One of my primary beliefs is that finance is open, and ecosystems and networks will be critical
for the success of financial services. We often talk about buy vs build, but for me, collaboration
is essential. By integrating fintech applications into their platforms, banks will benefit from the
latest technology to strengthen anti-fraud measures, access to ESG data and analytics, and
process automation," she added.

AI

“AI is a driving force behind the innovation in fintech, and in 2024, we anticipate a significant increase in its usage," said Nigel Green, CEO of the deVere Group.

“Fintech firms are increasingly leveraging AI to enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and make more informed decisions. From robo-advisors to AI-powered chatbots providing customer support, the integration of AI technologies is reshaping the way financial services are delivered.

“The predictive capabilities of AI also play a vital role in risk management and fraud detection. As financial institutions grapple with the evolving nature of cyberthreats, AI algorithms are becoming indispensable tools in identifying and mitigating potential risks. 

AI is revolutionising lending, said Fernandez. "The power of AI is lowering the barriers to accessing credit for borrowers, including the meaningful reduction in costs. We are already seeing AI used at scale to help assess the overall financial health of individuals and in creating customised loan offerings. In addition, we are in the early stages of applying this technology in customer education and financial literacy initiatives designed to provide tailored content to enhance the
customer experience." 

"Institutions will accelerate the integration of fintech solutions with their platforms in 2024. For
example, applications that use AI, machine learning (ML) and real-time data to ‘read’ documents, extract the information required and offer actionable insights. Similarly, there will be increased focus on automating sanctions screening and anti-money laundering (AML) checks. As the mass adoption of gen AI accelerates, we should expect use cases to include enabling corporates to engage directly with banking systems using natural language to find information, such as working capital solutions that fit their needs. Many of these solutions already exist – banks need to focus on integrating them within an
interoperable solution," said Iain MacLennan, Head of Trade and Supply Chain Finance at Finastra.

"We will see more banks in 2024 choosing platforms that allow them to combine best-of-breed
products, a best-practice approach to security and governance, and to offer a cohesive digital
customer experience. This helps to de-risk the adoption of new technologies, accelerate their
implementation and deployment, and support global production use."

Payments

“The convenience and accessibility of mobile payments have made them increasingly popular, and this trend is set to accelerate in 2024. As smartphones become ubiquitous and digital wallets gain traction, consumers are embracing the simplicity of conducting transactions with just a few taps on their mobile devices," Green noted.

“Fintech companies are likely to invest further in developing user-friendly mobile payment solutions, fostering a cashless society.

“The ease of mobile payments not only caters to the demands of modern consumers but also offers opportunities for financial inclusion by providing individuals in underserved regions access to digital financial services.”  

Barry Rodrigues, EVP, Payments at Finastra said that instant payments will dominate the headlines and board agendas in 2024. "Around the world, more consumers and businesses will continue to demand instant, seamless payment services to manage their cash flow in real-time and improve user journeys," he said.

"Underpinning many instant payment infrastructures is ISO 20022. Banks are required to transition to the new messaging standard before November 2025, but many will implement the necessary changes ahead of time for a competitive advantage. Instant payments underpinned by ISO 20022 give banks access to richer and more structured data sets in real-time, enabling them to better automate processes, improve efficiencies and truly understand their customers to offer them more personalised services." 

Finastra's Arun Kini, MD, Payments, APAC added: "Regulators and financial institutions across the region, especially those in markets like Singapore and Hong Kong, have been quick to recognise the advantages of migrating to a highly structured and data-rich standard like ISO 20022. The impact of this transition could potentially have an outsized impact on product and service innovation in Asia
Pacific, due to the depth and reach of Asia Pacific’s e-commerce ecosystem, as well as the rapid expansion of consumption volumes."

Kini also observed that the expanding capabilities of real-time payment processing, as well as API and cloud-based payment technologies, are empowering the adoption of new business models across the region, at a pace faster than in many other parts of the world. "Novel direct-to-consumer (DTC), buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), peer-to-peer-lending, usage based pricing, social selling and much more are creating an increasingly vibrant digital economy," he added.

Cybersecurity

 “As fintech continues to advance, so do the threats associated with cybercrime. In response, 2024 is expected to witness an intensified focus on cybersecurity within the financial industry," Green shared.

“Fintech firms will increasingly invest in robust security measures, with a particular emphasis on biometric authentication methods such as fingerprint and facial recognition."

"Payments operating in real-time bring increased risks of instant financial crime. Banks will need to invest in technologies such as machine learning (ML) and AI for faster and more accurate sanctions screening, transaction monitoring and fraud detection. Additionally, more institutions will explore the use of gen AI. For example, to produce synthetic data that looks like fraud transactions, which will enable banks to build more robust models to identify new sets of fraud they’ve never seen before," Rodrigues added.

"For banks to truly benefit from the move towards frictionless, instant and data-rich payments – without compromising fraud prevention – investment in payments modernisation will be key. Cloud solutions provide the agility that banks need to quickly transform and scale their operations to cope with increasing payment volumes. With payments as-a-service (PaaS), banks gain additional benefits, such as reduced time to market and value for new services, and at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO)."

Inclusion

“An overarching theme in fintech predictions for 2024 is an increased emphasis on global financial inclusion. Fintech is playing a pivotal role in extending financial services to the unbanked and underbanked populations around the world," Green said.

“In 2024, initiatives focused on financial inclusion are expected to gain momentum, with fintech companies leveraging innovative solutions such as mobile banking, microfinance, and blockchain to bridge the gap. By expanding access to financial services, particularly in developing regions, fintech is poised to contribute to poverty reduction and economic empowerment on a global scale.”

Insurance

Ben Beeson, VP, BlueVoyant said: “Cyber insurance continues to remain the fastest growing risk class in the insurance industry despite its challenges. In 2024, the insurance industry will continue its investment in better data, technology, and people to support its ability to accurately model and underwrite cyber risk. It will also continue to gravitate towards the cybersecurity industry to meet these needs in the form of partnerships and acquisitions.

"In 2023 we saw an uptick in debate about the role of the federal government in the US, (and governments elsewhere), and whether it should provide a backstop to the insurance market against major systemic cyber events. This debate is nothing new and has been happening for the last 10 years. However, in 2024 the debate will continue to gather pace in the face of significant risk to national economies and critical infrastructure.”

Haber, Hills and Maude see cyber insurance becoming more standardised in 2024. The BeyondTrust experts noted that many cyber insurers have introduced “acts of war” across insurance policies and carriers, but said that different carriers weigh risk differently.

"In 2024, expect to see more of a core control or framework-based approach to cyber insurance. This evolution will allow providers to standardise against all threats when it comes to reducing risk and liability related to cyber policies," they said.

Sustainability

"Growing regulatory oversight and surging demand for green financing in the region is putting pressure on lenders to step up their ESG data and reporting capabilities. Initiatives in the region like the ASEAN Taxonomy Version are helping to establish clear standards for assessing the sustainability of lending opportunities, but investing in data and technology behind to enable credit decision making through this lens needs to be done now," said Fernandez.  

*ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance.

Explore

Read more predictions about verticals at https://www.techtradeasia.com/2024/01/a-to-z-of-tech-predictions-in-2024-v.html

Start from the beginning

^Results of a 34-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform and, in India, on its IndiaBus platform, between October 20 and November 3, 2023. For this survey, Ipsos interviewed a total of 25,292 adults aged 18 years and older in India, 18-74 in Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, Turkey, and the US, 20-74 in Thailand, 21-74 in Indonesia and Singapore, and 16-74 in all other countries.