The "Fourth Industrial Revolution" was first introduced at the 2015 World Economic Forum and then was the theme of the 2016 Forum in Davos, Switzerland. That same year the Forum announced the opening of its Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco.
Fast forward three years and a quick Amazon search (it still sells books, right?) reveals more than 500 books on the topic. There's plenty to say about it, but you can boil it down to this: 4IR (c'mon, you know it needed a cooler name than The Fourth Industrial Revolution) will be marked by breakthroughs in emerging technologies in fields such as robotics, AI, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, IOT, fifth-generation wireless technologies, 3D printing and fully autonomous vehicles.
Did you get all that? Basically, 4IR delivers, or will deliver, on nearly everything The Matrix promised. OK, maybe not, but I think you get the idea.
So what's a consultant to do? Glad you asked because our business writer, Eric Krell, takes a crack at that very question in this issue's cover story. In it, Krell outlines the opportunities this brave new world brings for consulting firms—and there are plenty. The opportunities are wrapped up, of course, in all the challenges 4IR brings to clients, including: the need to develop new business models; the need for a new mindset; the need for new skills; and, the need for continual cybersecurity upgrades.
These are all in the consulting wheelhouse of client services and this is probably only scratching the surface. Firms focused on helping solve these technology challenges will be well positioned for success.
The big challenge for the firms, meanwhile, will be finding and developing enough talent to meet the 4IR demand. Talent experts already put the number of unfilled IT jobs at close to a million. And that number increases exponentially when you consider all the additional capabilities 4IR will require.
Joseph Kornik Publisher & Editor-in-Chief jkornik@alm.com
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