“Not all trends make it into the bbv Technica Radar”

What is the bbv Technica Radar?

Patrick Labud: We take international trends and adapt them for the Swiss market. The Swiss market has its own specific needs and not all trends have the same impact here as they do in the US or Europe.

Marco Ravicini: Also, by publishing annually, we can take advantage of a certain time lag, since not all trends ultimately succeed and we can then adopt the “strongest” contenders.

How quickly are trends adopted?

PL: That depends on their impact. Given technological developments, we’ve had artificial intelligence on our radar for a number of issues now – and yet we’re still in the early stages here. ChatGPT quickly gained momentum worldwide when it was launched, with the result that the topic became important in a very short time.

MR: When we deem trends to be sufficiently mature for the Swiss market, the time lag compared to the US and Europe plays a role. For example, the EU has been able to position itself vis-à-vis other markets and political systems by enacting various laws (editor’s note: AI Act, Cyber Resilience Act, etc.). This position has become a driving force in recent years, alongside the United States. We can see this with topics like cybersecurity, data management and governance.

Are these also the three topics that will concern us in the near future?

MR: Yes and no. Yes, because they are each a subset of other major issues – and no for precisely this reason.

PL: Generative AI will be sufficient for companies over the next two to three years, at which point at the latest they will need to start making the transition to AI applications. Together with AI, the topics of cybersecurity, data management and data governance are very important.

What is the right approach to this?

PL: In the area of cybersecurity, in particular, a small number of people will undoubtedly be needed in the future to deal exclusively with this topic – at the end of the day, the subject is highly sensitive, especially due to the various hacker attacks and data losses that companies are continually exposed to. This will also impact how IT departments respond. It makes sense, therefore, to have specialists to deal with the topic.

And what about data management?

PL: They say that data is the new gold. That’s only true if the data is accessible and of a quality that allows it to be used meaningfully. You also need to ask the relevant questions to draw insights from the data. What results from this is a data strategy that I have to integrate with the corporate strategy – viewing it separately or not having a data strategy at all is detrimental for businesses in the long term.

Is there anything else to look out for?

MR: The agile topic will continue to be around. For me, this means a commitment to resilience – not the individual frameworks, but the fundamental mindset of agile. Basically it’s about mitigating risk, taking many small risks instead of one big one, which limits the fallout and increases resilience.

PL: Self-organising teams should also be mentioned. They contribute to resilience because they develop products with the user in mind and respond to disruptions without jeopardising the product concept. What we need to avoid entirely are discussions about the conformity of the frameworks used, such as Scrum. It’s not important whether something is Scrum-compliant or not. What matters is that it supports the team and works in accordance with the Agile Manifesto.

What is your recommendation?

MR: Check out the bbv Technica Radar and prepare you and your company for the future.