Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2018.  Read them in this 10th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed by Ashley Stirrup, Chief Marketing Officer, Talend

Big Data Fuels the Future

In 2017, data became the new oil, and in 2018 that statement couldn't ring more true. Data is the underlying foundation for the future of machine learning, social media regulations, and government ordinances. In 2018, companies' and governments' ability to collect, transform, and manage data will be the differentiator between technological success and failure, legality and criminality, and virtue and immorality.

Here's what's ahead for big data, machine learning GDPR and more:

GDPR Will Face Company Backlash:
In today's global, digital economy, companies are collecting more data than ever on their customers, and that data is becoming more diverse and complex, from different sources and in different formats. The creation and exchange of data has also increased significantly as Bring-your-own-data (the new BYOD) and enterprise collaboration software have grown to become a mainstay in the modern workplace.

GDPR shows once again how out-of-touch the government is from the tech world, only this time instead of being behind, it's outfront. The GDPR regulations are so far ahead of organization's ability to manage data that most are not ready for it. This inability for organizations to comply with these regulations will force a negotiation.

Ethical Lines Will be Drawn Detailing Data Morality (a.k.a. data virtue):
Consumers are giving companies more information than they're even aware of with every purchase and search. In 2018, data and the ‘morality/virtue' of using that data will come to a crossroads. Organizations collect mass amounts of information on their customers, and while the EU is aggressively moving forward with privacy regulations like GDPR, there is still a lot of grey area when it comes to the ethical implications of third parties gaining this amount of information on its clients.

In 2018, Machine Learning Will be the Ultimate Weapon in the Cloud Wars:
We are one major announcement away from the technology industry being pushed into a machine learning renaissance. 2018 will be a year of search and exploration of machine learning to determine how best to use it, and what things can be automated that you never thought possible before. Cloud will make machine learning pervasive and soon enough, it will be built into every application - used by everyone either directly or indirectly.

Pervasiveness of Flawed Data Will Lead to Machine Learning Instability:
2018 will usher in organizations refining their AI, machine learning and deep learning algorithms to leverage company and third-party data for the improvement of the broader customer experience. However, only 3% of companies are working with acceptably accurate data. Unless companies get a handle on their data and ensuring 100% accuracy, machine learning could be learning from flawed data, resulting in inaccurate analytics and predicted outcomes, leading to poor business decisions.

In 2018, The Transparency of Machine Learning Will Prove Critical:
We need to make the data and machine learning's "thinking" transparent. Companies will emerge that are dedicated to the monitoring of machine learning processes. In the future, machine learning will be used to make decisions directly affecting consumers and it will be imperative that the decision-making process is highly predictive and reviewable.

Social Media Platforms Will Become Regulated by 2020:
Tech companies will undergo serious financial penalties for not removing fake news or banned content. The more data these platforms have, the harder it is for them to discern what's real and what's fake. These social platforms are now viewed as the "new media" and therefore they have a social responsibility to manage their public output. It will be imperative for social media companies to implement a data strategy to maintain credibility among the public and the companies leveraging their sites.

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About the Author

 

Ashley Stirrup joined Talend in 2014 as Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, Ashley is responsible for driving market leadership, global awareness, product management and demand generation. Prior to Talend, Ashley held a number of senior leadership positions in marketing and products at leading cloud and software companies, including ServiceSource, Taleo, Citrix and Siebel Systems.