By Nisheeth Srivastava, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer – India, Capgemini
Technology and innovation are essential drivers of businesses globally. In 2025, organisations will begin their artificial intelligence (AI) pivot to achieve scalability and build AI-resilient businesses in the years to come. The future trajectory of technology and innovation will be guided by agility, adaptability, and the ability to convert promising concepts into deployable reality.
A few trends to watch out for in 2025 are:
Promise of AI Agents
Artificial intelligence (AI) augmenting human capabilities is a well-known fact. AI agents are a significant step away from simple, rule-based systems to intelligent, autonomous agents. They are empowered with knowledge and skills to evaluate a situation and take actions independently without human intervention. These agents will act as workforce enablers, facilitating human-machine collaboration and increasing productivity across organisations. That said, the deployment of AI agents must be harmonious with governance. As they perform and operate autonomously, organisations must set parameters to govern what AI agents can access with regard to business processes and data.
Gen AI-powered Intelligence
As organisations embrace new ways of connectivity, interactions, and creations, they are combining data with AI. Generative AI (Gen AI) is fuelling this combination further. The focus on Gen AI will shift from efficiency and automation-oriented use cases to long-term goals of creating new business models, generating revenue streams, and driving productivity gains. While pursuing these goals, organisations must keep in mind that AI and Gen AI are not without risks. With Gen AI’s intelligence becoming a key source of value creation, enterprises need to responsibly and ethically implement the technology. Investments in Gen AI will move beyond proof-of-concept projects. Offerings with Gen AI capabilities will carry an associated price premium, which will continue to evolve through 2025.
Conscious Computing
Organisations have stepped up efforts to monitor their carbon footprint caused by compute-intensive applications such as AI training, simulation, optimisation, and media rendering. Conscious computing will be at the forefront of businesses, allowing them to become more energy-efficient. Compute technologies, such as optical, neuromorphic, and novel accelerators, are expected to emerge in the long-term for special purpose tasks, such as AI and optimisation, offering substantial energy savings. Businesses will flock to technology service providers who help them navigate the hurdles and, at the same time, fuel innovation and sustainable performance at scale.
Strengthening Cybersecurity
Frontier technologies such as Gen AI are driving businesses to the next era of digital transformation. Simultaneously, tech-enabled hyperconnectivity is on the rise among consumers. This dual situation mandates robust and resilient cybersecurity systems. And to build such systems, organisations are expected to increase their cybersecurity spending in 2025. The Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G/6G are granting Internet access to underserved pockets, allowing more interactions among devices. Bigger digital networks imply greater vulnerabilities, which organisations, regulators, lawmakers, cybersecurity professionals, and governments need to tackle together. Using quantum technologies, lawmakers across the world have started implementing quantum-safe cryptography and key distribution measures to secure public digital infrastructure from future incursions.
The Quantum Advantage
Research and experimentation in quantum computing have progressed in the recent years. In 2025, the technology is expected to reap tangible benefits in practical application as real-world use cases evolve. Areas reliant on complex problem-solving, such as climate modelling, supply chain optimisation, drug discovery, material science, industrial data analysis, and more, will be transformed with quantum power. The technology holds the potential to optimise energy distribution and storage in smart grids, allowing for more efficient integration of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. The disruptive impact of quantum technology will be felt across diverse sectors—agriculture, manufacturing, banking and finance, defence and cybersecurity, automotive, telecom, and more.
