Pressure to act on new technology
Boards and leaders ask about the latest developments, but the team lacks time to evaluate them properly.
01 / Advance Technology
Emerging Technology Solutions
Every year brings new models, platforms, devices and techniques that promise a great deal. Some will matter to your organisation and most will not, at least not yet. We help you tell the difference, test what looks promising and adopt what proves itself.
At a glance
- Service
- Emerging Technology Solutions
- Pillar
- Advance Technology
- Typical starting point
- Technology scan against defined use cases
- Typical first phase
- 3 to 6 weeks for an assessment
- Key technologies
- Artificial Intelligence, Edge AI, Multimodal AI
Durations depend on scope, data readiness and integration needs.
What is Emerging Technology Solutions?
Short answer
Emerging technology solutions is a service that identifies, evaluates, trials and implements technologies that are new or rapidly maturing, such as new classes of AI models, edge computing, spatial computing or advanced sensors, by testing them against specific organisational use cases and adoption criteria before significant investment.
Technology decisions are often made in one of two unhelpful ways. Either an organisation waits until a technology is completely mainstream and loses ground, or it adopts early because of enthusiasm and then struggles to make the technology useful.
Our emerging technology work sits between those extremes. We start with the problems and opportunities that matter to you, scan for technologies that could address them, assess their maturity honestly and design small, measurable trials. Technologies that pass are engineered into production. Those that do not are documented so the question can be revisited when things change.
Business problems
What problems does Emerging Technology Solutions solve?
These are the situations where organisations most often find this service worthwhile.
Vendor claims that are hard to verify
Suppliers present impressive demonstrations that may not reflect your data, scale or constraints.
Pilots with no path forward
Experiments are started without criteria for success, so they neither scale nor stop.
Missed opportunities
Competitors adopt useful capabilities first because nobody was tracking them against real needs.
Use cases
Where can Emerging Technology Solutions be used?
Representative applications. The right use case depends on your processes, data and constraints.
| Area | Example application |
|---|---|
| Strategy and planning | A technology radar mapping relevant technologies to business priorities with adopt, trial, assess or hold positions. |
| AI model selection | Evaluating new foundation models, open-weight models or specialised models for a defined set of tasks. |
| Operations | Assessing sensors, computer vision, robotics or edge devices for inspection, monitoring or safety. |
| Customer experience | Testing voice interfaces, multilingual AI or new digital channels with real users. |
| Product development | Evaluating new platforms or components that could change a product roadmap. |
| Infrastructure | Assessing new compute options, hosting models or data platforms for cost and capability. |
Who should consider it
- Leadership teams building a technology roadmap
- Innovation and digital teams with more ideas than capacity
- Organisations evaluating vendor proposals for new technology
- Product companies deciding what to build next
How AARHIT approaches it
How we deliver Emerging Technology Solutions
Each stage ends with something you can review, so decisions are made on evidence rather than on promises.
Stage 1 of 6
Priorities and use cases
We gather the business priorities, pain points and opportunities that technology should serve.
Output: a list of use cases with value and urgency ratings.
Stage 2 of 6
Technology scan
Relevant technologies are identified from research, open-source communities, vendors and industry practice.
Output: a longlist mapped to use cases.
Stage 3 of 6
Maturity and fit assessment
Each candidate is assessed for maturity, fit, data needs, integration, total cost, risk and reversibility.
Output: a scored shortlist with a technology radar.
Stage 4 of 6
Trial design
For the most promising options we design bounded trials with success criteria, data, timeline and budget.
Output: trial plans ready for approval.
Stage 5 of 6
Trial execution
Trials run on real data and conditions, with results measured against the agreed criteria.
Output: trial report and a recommendation to adopt, extend or stop.
Stage 6 of 6
Adoption roadmap
Technologies that pass are planned into engineering work, with skills, platforms and governance addressed.
Output: an adoption roadmap and an updated radar.
Technology
What technologies are involved?
We choose tools on fit, cost, security and your existing estate. These are typical options, not fixed commitments.
Learn more about the underlying technologies
| Layer | Typical options |
|---|---|
| AI and models | New foundation models, small language models, vision language models, speech models |
| Edge and devices | Edge AI accelerators, smart cameras, industrial IoT sensors, wearables |
| Data and compute | Lakehouse platforms, vector databases, serverless GPUs, confidential computing |
| Interfaces | Voice, multilingual and multimodal interfaces, spatial computing |
| Evaluation tooling | Benchmark suites, cost models and pilot measurement frameworks |
Outcomes
Potential business outcomes
Targets are agreed with you during scoping and measured against a baseline. We do not quote improvement figures before we have seen your process and data.
- Clear, documented positions on the technologies that matter to you
- Fewer stalled pilots and wasted experiments
- Faster, better-informed adoption of useful technology
- Independent evidence to compare against vendor claims
How long does implementation generally take?
Typical timeline
A focused assessment of several technologies against defined use cases typically takes 3 to 6 weeks. Individual trials usually run 6 to 12 weeks. Many organisations then refresh their technology radar every six months.
What determines complexity?
- Breadth of technologies and use cases in scope
- Availability of data for realistic trials
- Need for hardware procurement or installation
- Number of vendors to evaluate
- Stakeholder alignment on priorities
Implementation
Implementation considerations and risks
Most difficulties in this kind of work are predictable. Planning for them early keeps delivery on track.
Maturity changes quickly
A technology rejected today may be ready in a year. Assessments should be dated and revisited.
Include total cost
Licences are often a small part of the cost. Integration, skills, infrastructure and change management usually dominate.
Check the exit route
Prefer approaches that can be reversed or replaced if the technology or vendor does not work out.
| Risk to consider | How we manage it |
|---|---|
| Adopting too early | Maturity assessment, bounded trials and reversible architecture choices. |
| Adopting too late | A regularly updated radar linked to business priorities. |
| Vendor lock-in | Open standards, abstraction layers and exit planning during assessment. |
| Trials that never conclude | Fixed timelines and success criteria agreed before trials start. |
FAQ
Questions about Emerging Technology Solutions
What is a technology radar?
A technology radar is a visual and written summary of relevant technologies, each placed in a position such as adopt, trial, assess or hold for your organisation, with the reasoning behind each placement.
How do you assess whether a technology is mature enough?
We look at evidence of production use, community and vendor support, availability of skills, stability of standards and APIs, known limitations and how quickly the technology is changing.
Are you independent of technology vendors?
Yes. We do not resell products, so our assessments are based on fit, evidence and total cost for your situation.
Can you help us respond to a specific vendor proposal?
Yes. We can review a proposal, test key claims on your data where possible and identify the questions and risks to raise before you commit.
What happens after an assessment?
You receive a recommendation for each technology. Where a trial or adoption is recommended, we can design and run it, or support your team in doing so.
Next step
Considering Emerging Technology Solutions for your organisation?
Share the process, product or decision you have in mind. We will ask the right questions, outline options and suggest a sensible first step.