Accenture’s Technology Vision report for 2021 has listed technology
architecture as one of five key emerging technology trends to watch, one that
companies – including those in the broadcast industry – must address over the next three years.
According to Accenture, companies are entering an era where they will have
to compete on their architecture. “Business strategies and technology
strategies are becoming inseparable — even indistinguishable,” the company
stated in the 2021 edition of its Technology Vision report, Leaders
Wanted: Masters of Change at a Moment of Truth.
Accenture said that building and wielding the most competitive
technology infrastructure, or stack, means thinking about technology
differently. Accenture research shows that 89% of executives believe that their
organisation’s ability to generate business value will increasingly be based on
the limitations and opportunities of their technology architecture.
One of the related case studies that Accenture shared in the report
involves ITV, a UK media company which migrated in 2019 from a mixture of
legacy systems, on-premise data centres, and ageing software to cloud microservices.
While the company benefited from the typical efficiency and cost
savings of this digital transformation, ITV went one step further by using its
newly-developed microservices and hyper-automation capabilities to build a
direct-to-consumer video platform, BritBox, in under nine months.
By aligning its technology strategy with its business strategy, ITV is
now distributing its original content to over one million subscribers, and
delivering unique consumer engagement experiences, such as interactive competitions
and online pay features, Accenture said.
Britbox was launched in the UK in November 2019, and in Australia in
November 2020.