As poet Robert Burns mused, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. In January 2020, most of us had plans—thoughtful road maps to guide our organizations, our technology, and our lives through the months to follow. And then COVID-19 punched the entire world in the mouth, rendering useless many of these best-laid plans. Seemingly overnight, a strange, historic event disrupted our assumptions and forced us, with a shocking degree of urgency, to become more adaptable and responsive than we had thought possible. 

Mindful that the pandemic’s impact continues to ripple across societies, markets, and lives, we present Tech Trends 2021. The theme of this year’s report is resilience. To us, this means a stubborn determination to adapt and thrive in the face of change. We have seen countless, inspiring examples of resilience this past year as organizations and entire sectors assessed their circumstances, revised their strategic plans, and marched toward the future. 

We anticipate that for most, the future they find will differ markedly from the realities of January 2020. The COVID-19 crisis has driven change in an important and unexpected way. A growing number of organizations across sectors are accelerating their digital transformation efforts not only to make their operations nimbler and more efficient but to respond to dramatic fluctuations in demand and customer expectation. For example, while many supply chain leaders were confident of their ability to function during disruptions, we found out, as Warren Buffett once quipped, who was swimming naked when the tide went out. Likewise, executive-level planning discussions about the future of work had been just that: about the future. The pandemic crashed comfortable schedules from years into weeks.

With that background, this year’s Tech Trends report discusses the opportunities, strategies, and technologies that will drive new plans during the next 18 to 24 months and beyond: