When people talk about emerging technology, they often focus on one or two buzzwords they’ve picked up in conversation or seen in headlines. But emerging tech has been shaping our world for decades—just think back to when the internet went mainstream during the dot-com era. For those who lived through it, like me, the excitement was electric and contagious—until the bubble burst, delivering a hard lesson in the realities of the tech hype cycle. That collapse was painful for many, except for a few like Amazon, Google, and eBay, who not only survived but emerged as industry leaders.
Today, emerging technology is moving faster and hitting harder. It’s no longer just exciting it’s transformative, disruptive, and unavoidable. Executives who’ve long relied on leveraging traditional business practices for decades are now trying to figure out how to navigate this new era of digital transformation. Some are learning the hard way that success in this new era means embracing innovation early or risk becoming the next Blackberry or Kodak.
Blockchain: The First Wave of Disruption
My journey into the new emerging tech space era started in 2017 with Blockchain technology. I had the fortune of working for some large software companies early in my career like Oracle and SAP in the education consulting and user adoption space and saw then how hard it was for executives to really prepare their organization for new software changes. I learned about Blockchain after reading a book called “The Blockchain Revolution” By Don Topscott, and after that I was hooked. It was the first time I heard the term “Disruptive Technology” used. The thing about Blockchain that I thought was impactful was that it was a technology that provided trust when there wasn’t any. It could permanently record a transaction in a digital ledger that could be shared with anyone and not be concerned the data could be manipulated or changed.
At that time Bitcoin was the buzzword when it came to Blockchain and still is for many. After I learned more about the underlying technology that runs Bitcoin called Blockchain, and the disruption it would have on companies’ businesses models and the cultures of some countries on a global level, I wanted to learn more. I remember thinking at that time I was late to the game and missed the train on being a part of this new technology. What I learned very painfully, was that I was in the early adoption phase of that small 13.5% that embraced new emerging technology. I was able to witness first-hand how Blockchain was ignored by executives who were not educated early on about the value it could bring. Having this early insight allowed me to see how this new technology was more disruptive than other technologies before it. Blockchain forced leaders to reconsider long-standing business models in the pursuit to try and adopt an unfamiliar technology. To this day Blockchain is still ignored by many due to misconceptions that arose during the hype cycle between 2019 to 2021.
AI’s Sudden Rise and Executive Challenges
As the hype from Blockchain started to die down, between 2021and 2022, other emerging technology started to make traction like IoT Internet of Things, Digital Twins and AR/VR, but nothing that was being label as a disruptive emerging tech. That next big disruptive emerging tech hit on November 30th, 2022, when ChatGPT went live. For many people especially executives it felt like being punched in the mouth as no one had this on their radars. Even though AI has been around for decades and was being used casually in various ways by companies and average users through platforms like Google or Siri, AI was not easily accessible to use on your own. What ChatGPT provided to the average user for the first time, was access to use a Generative AI platform for what they personally wanted to use to get answers to information and data they normally wouldn’t have access too. It was mind blowing for a lot of people, including myself, and scary for executives’ teams who were not prepared to try and embrace another new disruptive emergency technology. Generative AI is still causing challenges for executives of organizations, as they try to understand how to implement it into their organizations at this very moment. If you look at the lessons that could have been learned by executive teams from Blockchain, it tends to come down to the willingness to get the basic education of the technology and not rely on others on their teams to understand it before them. This seems to be one of the key factors in why 70-80% of digital transformation initiatives end in failure as executives are often not fully knowledgeable in the right business cases to use the technology to lead their teams in adopting it.
We’ve had various technologies converge to provide greater value before, but now for the first time we have two disruptive emerging technologies with Blockchain and AI that when combined have the potential to be a very powerful combination that organizations can take advantage of. We have AI who can analyze large amounts of data at a speed never seen before, and Blockchain to secure those data transactions in an immutable ledger proving the ability to share data with confidence. Industries currently leveraging this emerging tech convergence include logistics, financing and pharmaceutical sectors. We are witnessing emerging technologies moving faster and faster and some executive teams are still not adjusting their outdated mindsets of, “I’ll see what other companies do before adopting it”.
Quantum Computing: The Next Frontier
With many of us still focused on AI and trying to adjust to its rapid advancements, like Agentic AI agents that can learn tasks on their own and improve organizational efficiency, there is now another emerging technology on the horizon, Quantum. Many of us that are in the emerging technology sector are now hearing the whispers of Quantum computing on the rise and moving faster than many are aware of. Quantum came on my radar in April of 2024 through a suggestion of my CEO who started having conversations with other executives in the Quantum space. I like many others, when the topic of Quantum came up, was like that is decades away. It wasn’t until I began researching global efforts around Quantum, led by countries like the US, UK, Australia, India, Germany, and China, that I realized the scale of investment, with billions committed by each nation. This clearly validated that Quantum is an emerging technology executives must have on their radar. The challenge with that is how can executives start preparing now for this new emerging technology that many say will change the world on a level we have never seen before.
Quantum will provide the ability to solve problems almost as fast as we can think them. A simplified way to explain how Quantum works is currently if you walked into a library that has over 100 billion books and you had to personally look for one specific book, it could take you decades if not longer. Quantum is like walking into the library with 100 billion versions of yourself and each version chooses a book at the same time, and you find the book on the first try. The ability to get answers this quick is going to help industries solve some of their most complex problems they might have thought was ever possible.
This also raises a critical point about cybersecurity in the Quantum era. As Quantum computing advances, it poses a threat to current encryption standards used across industries. Executives must begin understanding and exploring Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) a new wave of encryption methods designed to be resistant to Quantum attacks. Governments and global institutions are already shifting toward PQC, and organizations that do not prepare now may face serious data vulnerabilities in the near future.
How Executives Should Prepare
Executives should begin quantum preparedness by studying early adopters such as JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, Volkswagen Group, BMW Group, Cleveland Clinic, and Merck. Many of these companies have been focused on Quantum for over a decade. And they should follow how software giants like IBM, Google, and Microsoft are all full steam ahead on Quantum. Technology leaders like Bill Gates have helped shift perception. In an interview earlier this year, he stated that “useful quantum computers could be available within the next three to five years,” shedding light for many doubters on just how close we are to realizing Quantum’s potential. If executives learned anything from the fast rise of Blockchain, and AI, which they are still adjusting too, they have a chance now to slowly get acclimated to what Quantum will bring before it runs them over like a bullet train.
Quantum brings in what I believe, and others, the powerhouse of converging emerging technologies. AI is at a stage it will need Quantum to help it scale and analyze data faster. It will allow Blockchain the ability to record transactions faster than it possibly can now and bring together a complete technology solution that will change how the world does business and solve problems moving forward that will forever change our future.
As executives work to navigate the convergence of emerging technologies, they must recognize that this is now a team sport. Preparing for what’s ahead requires collaboration, openness to new ideas, and a break from outdated mindsets. Executives must embrace a true visionary mindset and be more proactively involved than ever in selecting emerging technologies to ensure their organizations are ready. More importantly, executives must lead the way in building strong workforce readiness initiatives. This includes ensuring their employees receive the upskilling they need while fostering better cross-functional collaboration. These efforts lay the foundation for a culture of innovation that drives successful digital transformation.
With Generative AI, executives now have a clear and accessible path to begin understanding emerging technologies. They can more easily engage with global adoption trends to gain the strategic insight needed to prepare both their organizations and themselves for this next wave of technological advancement.
