In 2018, emerging technologies such as AI, automation, data and blockchain have achieved much, but failed to win the big cash prize and become the overall winner. Which of these will become the overall champion in 2019? Ahmed Adly, senior director at cloud computing leader Oracle MENA, lists his predictions for 2019:

Stealth adoption of AI

Artificial intelligence will be key — but only if companies can tame this data athlete, and understand how to apply it within the confines of the business. With Ovum’s ICT Enterprise Insights Survey anticipating that 60 percent of organizations will have an enterprise-wide strategy for AI in 2019, we expect a lot more companies to look for practical ways to bring AI into the business; and a key path will be through having AI embedded into their applications. 

Increase in productivity

One of the key business drivers for AI adoption is its immense power to increase human productivity and business efficiency. A recent Oracle survey of international senior decision-makers showed 42 percent are already looking to AI technology to improve efficiency within their organization. Looking ahead, we predict that by 2025, the productivity gains delivered by AI and augmented experiences could be as high as 50 percent compared to today’s operations. 

Autonomous database

Gartner predicts that by 2022, 90 percent of corporate strategies will explicitly mention information as a critical enterprise asset, with analytics becoming an essential competency. As the levels of data currently at hand are too much for humans to handle, a new approach is needed. Oracle has already taken the next step in extreme automation with the Oracle Autonomous Database.

Trust in blockchain 

From being the new kid on the block, distrusted for its association with bitcoin, blockchain will not only start to become more commonplace in business, it will also become the king of transparency and trust in 2019. The technology is being used to certify the ethical production of extra virgin olive oil, for tracking solar energy usage and to bring a single source of truth into the documentation processes underpinning the global shipping industry. In 2019, we we will see it being used in even more broader contexts — from verifying the authenticity of precious stones and tracking the source of food contaminations to confirming the production of drugs in accordance with industry regulations.