Artificial intelligence, blockchain, technological connectivity and quantum computing are four areas that will radically transform business and society over the coming years.

These were the some of the key themes identified by IBM Managing Partner, IBM Global Business Services, Australia and New Zealand - Dee McGrath, speaking at the IMAP InvestTech2017 conference in Sydney.

“The financial services industry is faced with many challenges, including compliance and behavioural issues. Artificial intelligence and the rapid development of algorithmic learning are changing the way we approach business,” McGrath said.

“Increasingly, computers are becoming self-altering and self-learning, able to program themselves. This means that the next generation of clients will be shaped by artificial intelligence, providing them with a better experience and enabling us to understand them much better than we do today.”

She also added that the industry is transforming with the adoption and roll out of blockchain technology and IoT - the Internet of Things.

The Internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity that enable these objects to connect and exchange data.

“Forty-two per cent of companies are now using IoT to proactively drive business results and deliver targeted, focused customer insights to leverage IoT data to develop new products,” McGrath said. “This technology connectivity will only increase as we become more tied to the world around us.”

 Looking to the future, McGrath identified the rise of quantum computing, which replicates the way our brain’s neural pathways work. She said quantum computing will be instrumental in developing the next generation of technology.

“Quantum computers are incredibly powerful machines that take a new approach to processing information,” McGrath said. “By harnessing the brain’s natural behaviour, quantum computing can run new types of algorithms to process information more holistically. They may one day lead to revolutionary breakthroughs in areas such as cures for disease and the discovery of new drugs, the optimisation of complex manmade systems, and artificial intelligence.”

While still very much in its infancy, McGrath said quantum computing will revolutionise many industries, like medical science, by opening doors that were thought would remain locked.

“Watch this space,” she said. “There’s more to come over the next five years."