This week, Gartner published their annual update on the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, as they have done for years now. What struck me was the observation that there seems to be a pattern now: Gartner sees a trend towards human-centric technology, which they had mentioned last year and dubbed digital humanism the year before.

Personally, I think it’s an important shift for an industry that has been talking about user-centred design and customer centricity for decades. What may look like just a change of wording, in fact has broad implications for digital business. Gartner writes:

Technology will continue to become more human-centric to the point where it will introduce transparency between people, businesses and things.

Transparency is the key part here. From its humble beginnings, the internet was a machine that made relationships more transparent – relationships between people, businesses and things, to reiterate the Gartner quote. This trend is truly empowering people, shifting the balance of power away from the business world and freeing us from the tyranny of stuff.

Even the Big Four (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) reign on power that has been granted by the users. Sooner or later, it will be taken away.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash