Hype Cycle for Frontline Worker Technologies, 2020 published by Gartner: abstract

Garner is a leading research and advisory company founded in 1979. The company aims at providing senior managers with up-to-date tips on the most efficient and vibrant business trends and developments which equip senior decision-makers with the right information and tools for creating organizations of tomorrow. Gartner has developed its own methodology to illustrate how a new technology can be potentially viable and beneficial for businesses, how it might evolve over time and be applied in the most beneficial way. Indeed, when a new technology is launched, it is important to differentiate between hype and really promising innovations. Gartner Hype Cycles provide a graphic representation of the maturity and adoption of technologies and applications, and how they are potentially relevant to solving real business problems and exploiting new opportunities.

The research presented in this abstract provides an overview of technologies that might be efficient for frontline workers. The research appeared in July 2020 and takes into account the situation round Covid-19 and its impact on business and technologies that are to enable employees to work remotely. If we may say so, the research was inspired by the pandemic and looks at possible technologies that allow qualified personnel to work away from the office keeping in touch with the team, partners and clients.

The research concentrates on frontline workers who are subdivided into two groups: service and task workers. Service workers primarily spend their time performing client-facing activities. They typically represent the “face” of an organization to customers. Task workers are workers who primarily spend their time performing operational activities. They typically represent the “heart” of an organization. Naturally, both groups need to stay in touch with the organization and with clients despite Covid-19 limitations and new technologies provide this option. The Hype Cycle contains technologies designed primarily for task workers, but it also includes some technologies designed for both service and task workers. The research concentrates on 30 technologies disclosing their business benefits and viability. One of the most important research tables measures new technologies in terms of their benefit and the time period required for mainstream adoption.

Each of the 30 technologies from the table above is analyzed separately according to the following plan: expert name, technology definition, position and adoption speed justification, user advice, business impact, benefit rating, market penetration, maturity, sample vendors and recommended reading. It is clear from the table that at present the most beneficial and quick to be adopted are Cloud Office, Lone Worker Protection and Social Distancing Technologies. These technologies are analyzed by Gavin Tay, Leif-Olof Wallin and Nick Jones respectively. The potential benefit is to a great extend dictated by the current spread of Covid-19 all over the world and the necessity of social distancing to stop the virus spread. At the same time the research concentrates on technologies that have transformational benefit which enables new ways of doing business across industries that will result in major shifts in industry dynamics. Here the quickest to be adopted is Speech Recognition described by Anthony Mullen.

The Hype Cycle itself is illustrated by the following graph

Each of the phases on the graph is described in the research Appendixes. It is said that Plateau of Productivity is the most important phase as “the real-world benefits of the technology are demonstrated and accepted. Tools and methodologies are increasingly stable as they enter their second and third generations. Growing numbers of organizations feel comfortable with the reduced level of risk; the rapid growth phase of adoption begins”. And the graph illustrates that Cloud Office and Speech Recognition have the strongest business potential for frontline workers. The full research requires 98 min. for reading but taking into account the transformed business environment the reading can help you choose the right technologies for organizing efficient remote personnel performance.