Accenture recently released its Technology Vision 2019 survey results based on 100 respondents in the Dallas area and a total of 6,600 business and IT executives worldwide.

Overall, Dallas tended to trend ahead of the U.S. when it came to emerging technology adoption. The North Texas results found an impressive adoption of such tech, including:

• 67 percent of Dallas execs said their company is already using blockchain, with 40 percent having already adopted blockchain in one or more business units and 27 percent reporting piloting the distributed ledger tech.
• 75 percent said their company already is using artificial intelligence, with 43 percent having already adopted AI and 32 percent reporting piloting AI.
• 61 percent reported already using extended reality—augmented and virtual reality and related techs—with 39 percent already adopting some flavor of the tech and 22 percent piloting extended reality.

As the most-recent technological innovation, 5G is predicted to be a game-changer, with 82 percent of local business leaders stating the newest version of wireless connectivity will revolutionize their industry by driving applications such as drone delivery, driverless vehicles, and faster video transmission. Out of that group, 55 percent predicts significant impact on their industry in one to three years, but only 31 percent believe 5G will be one of the top technologies that will alter jobs in the next three years.

On the job-altering front, 78 percent of Dallas execs said their employees were more digitally mature than their companies, attributing consumer-facing advances such as mobile banking, virtual stylists, and one-click ordering. This means organizations now have a workforce that is waiting for the company to catch up with employees’ digital reality.

Employees are also changing roles and even companies more often leading 75 percent of Dallas area business leaders to say the need to re-skill workers has increased and technology will drive that re-skilling. Fifty-two percent said they’ll be using AI for training and re-skilling, jumping to 83 percent within four years.

Five trends on the forefront

In the full report, Accenture outlines five main trends from its global survey results:

1. DARQ power: Accenture used the shortened acronym “DARQ”—standing for distributed ledger tech (blockchain), AI, extended reality, and quantum computing—to identity the next group of technologies driving change.
2. Get to know me: meaning technology is creating a more personalized and consumer-centric experience.
3. Human+ worker: Without explicitly naming the phenomenon, Accenture alluded to the automated nature of work with its “human-plus” designation. What human-plus does accentuate is automation isn’t necessarily replacing workers, but augmenting their capabilities and automating some tasks, not eliminating complete jobs for the most part.
4. Secure us to secure me: Increased business connections mean more security risk exposure and business leaders need to understand they are working within entire ecosystems and not in business and security isolation.
5. Mymarkets: Today’s consumer expects what they want and when they want it, meaning now for the most part. Businesses have to be ready to offer those products, services, and experiences when the opportunities arise.

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