Digital disruption is the flip side of digital opportunity. Established companies and startups alike enlist new technologies in the fight to dislodge incumbents, protect entrenched positions, or re-invent entire industries and business activities.

To help business and IT executives evaluate emerging technologies and their potential impact on the digital transformation of their organizations, Forrester recently published “Top Technologies for Digital Predators, 2017,” a detailed analysis of 15 emerging technologies with a wide range of disruptive potential and time-to-impact. Here’s my summary description of the 5 technologies with the highest potential to create competitive advantage, change markets, or alter the business landscape altogether:

Intelligent Agents

AI solutions that can interact with their users, learn their behavior and understand their needs, and even make decisions on their behalf. Today’s prototypes include Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, Google Now and Google Home, and Apple’s Siri. The landscape for this emerging technology is expanding rapidly to include a wide range of chatbots, virtual agents, robotic process automation, and other digital assistants. Personalized, high-quality experiences promise to increase customer loyalty and reduce customer attrition. As minders of internal processes, Intelligent Agents also promise to reduce costs, improve productivity and optimize all types of business activities. Example of current use: Artificial Intelligence From Salesforce Partner DigitalGenius To Boost KLM Customer Service.

Read the rest of the article at Forbes.com