They call it the Fourth Industrial Revolution - the explosion of technology enabling the Internet of Things, Big Data and other digital expansion already changing the world, with the internet set to play the ubiquitous role in our lives that electricity does today.
New technologies and innovation are merging the physical, digital, and biological worlds in ways that will transform mankind and the way we do business. Information will become a new global currency, with a marketplace valued at trillions of dollars up for grabs for businesses which can identify, gather, collate, distribute and/or use such data.
KPMG's lead partner in IT Strategy and Performance, Mike Clarke, says the Fourth Industrial Revolution was a term coined by World Economic Forum founder and executive chairman Professor Klaus Schwab ahead of January's WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
It ranks what is happening now (in fields like artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, robotics, driverless cars, 3-D printing, biotechnology energy storage and quantum computing) as the fourth revolution of its kind behind the advent of the steam engine, electricity and then digital technology, computing and industrial automation.
Now, says Clarke, as the planet fills with humans with small computers with advanced processing and storage capabilities (otherwise known as mobile phones), huge business opportunities are arising.
So far companies like Uber and AirBnb have claimed much of the early ground in the fourth revolution. They are digital businesses famed as 'disruptors' for re-modelling traditional transport and accommodations industries with cloud-based services giving customers what they want. Also increasingly well-known are machine-to-machine automated processes like the smart washing machine that measures detergent use and orders more when it calculates stocks are low.
But how do you harness a revolution? The world's media are full of warnings traditional businesses could crash and burn in the face of the digital revolution - and that even disruptive businesses may have a life span of only a few years. Clarke says KPMG advocates six main building blocks companies need to make sure they are in a position to benefit - and not become a casualty.
1.Streamline - "You have to get under the hood of your technology activities, work out strategically what you are trying to do and how you can do it. Purpose before action is still important - especially when many traditional industries are set up with a structure and hierarchy designed for product manufacture, distribution and marketing, a construct that may not suit the digital revolution.
"The challenge is also that the technology of today doesn't go away while you are building the technology of tomorrow," he says. "The best organisations run their business while they are re-inventing it."
2. Service - "Then you have to make sure you deliver quality IT service. Internally, you have to deliver your IT capability in the way you would expect to deliver it externally.
"If, for example, you are at home using the internet to buy products and services, you are being presented with quality user experiences. But, if you need a new mouse at work and you are forced to navigate bureaucratic and frustrating channels, that is not a quality user experience. Your staff and internal capability has to measure up to the service delivery your external customers are seeking, otherwise it won't work."
3.Data security - "With so much data flashing around the internet, cyber-security is critical. But, in business terms, it is so much more than protecting privacy. Business will still operate on that highly desirable concept: trust. Cyber-security is an enabler of that trust."
4. Innovation to grow and compete - "The IT organisation will become an internal partner, delivering new products and channels to new customers, sometimes on a global scale. It could be the same service completely re-imagined for digital delivery."
5.The art of looking forward - "In the fourth revolution, there will be an astonishing amount of data available as the Internet of Things, the cloud, digital innovation, social media and mobile usage all works together. Companies will collaborate with partners, suppliers and customers as we get the answers to questions that we didn't even know to ask.
"The old days of putting together a report on the last 12 months and making assumptions based on that are gone; now there will be so much data, companies will be able to map out predictive patterns based on what their various sources of data are telling them."
An example is the health industry where masses of information can be transmitted to medical providers from various sources - including the patient's wrist. That information can be shared with various medical specialists, leading to better chances of early detection of disease. But organisations have to be enabled to collect, translate, distribute and protect such masses of information and then use them to form new revenue streams.
6.Scale & Pace - "Corporates are large quantums - they just can't change their business in a day. We have the methodology to make meaningful change to IT development to meet the pace of the new age. It means building a wall brick by brick rather than trying to build the wall all at once.
"We help organisations plan for and manage their innovations while maintaining their existing business advantages - helping them to manage their disruptive technology, their analytics, new products and building their agility so they can move with pace and skill."