Dive Brief:

• Mastering "event-driven IT" and an event-centric digital business strategy will be a priority for the majority of global enterprise CIOs by 2020, according to research released Monday by Gartner Inc.

• Event-driven architecture (EDA) will become an essential skill in supporting digital transformation by 2018, Gartner added, so development teams must begin developing EDA competency now.

• "A convergence of events generates a business opportunity, and real-time analytics of those events, as well as current data and wider context data, can be used to influence a decision and generate a successful business outcome,” said Anne Thomas, VP and analyst at Gartner, in a statement. 

Dive Insight:

It’s all about quick and agile responses to customer demands and market changes. In other words, IT and business leaders need to see changes coming early so they can respond with new products or services before their competitors do.

But to make it all work companies need to digitize business processes. Only then can they leverage advanced technologies like artificial intelligence to keep up with shifting market dynamics and demands. 

Companies that stick by their legacy applications will be at a disadvantage over companies that master event-driven IT, responding to real-world threats and efficiency demands.

Digital transformation isn't going anywhere. A recent survey released by Quickbase indicated digital transformation is now a priority for an overwhelming 97% of the C-level respondents. As companies look to modernize, spending on digitial transformation is also expected to skyrocket, reaching $1.2 trillion by 2017, according to IDC.