We are amidst the 4th Industrial Revolution, and the evolution of tech is in competition with the speed of light. With the advent of new-age technology, we are about three innovations away from fully transitioning into cyborgs. By 2022, 70 percent of enterprises will be experimenting with immersive technologies for consumer and enterprise use, and 25 percent will have them deployed in production, according to Gartner. Additionally, low-code application development will be responsible for more than 65 percent of application development activity by 2024. Companies and individuals that don’t keep up with some of the major tech trends run the risk of being left behind as consumers have adjusted to the tech way of doing business. Understanding the key trends will allow people and businesses to prepare and grasp the opportunities in this new age. In 2020, there are five top tech trends to expect including:
Service AI
AI refers to computer systems built to mimic human intelligence and perform tasks such as recognition of images, speech or patterns and decision making. AI’s do these tasks faster and more accurately than humans. Most companies have started to explore how they can use AI to improve the customer experience and to streamline their business operations. This will proceed in 2020, and keeping in mind that individuals will progressively wind up being used to working close by AIs, designing and deploying AI-based systems will stay a costly recommendation for most of the organizations. Consequently, a significant number of AI applications will continue to be done through providers of as-a-service platforms, which allow us to simply feed in data and pay for the algorithms or compute resources as we use them.
Currently, these platforms, provided by the likes of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, tend to be somewhat broad in scope, with (often expensive) custom-engineering required to apply them to the specific tasks an organization may require. During 2020, we will see wider adoption and a growing pool of providers that are likely to start offering more tailored applications and services for specific or specialized tasks. This will mean no company will have any excuses left not to use AI.
AI is one part of what is referred to broadly as automation, and automation is a hot topic because of potential job loss. Experts say automation will eliminate 73 million more jobs by 2030. However, automation is creating jobs as well as eliminating them, especially in the field of AI; Pundits predict that jobs in AI will number 23 million by 2020. Proliferation in this area, and a move to more specific AI tasks being offered on subscription, is a likely development in 2020.
5G Network
This next generation of wireless network technology will also be an enabler across a myriad of industries and applications, and in all likelihood spur all-new use cases as well. With some of the biggest names in telecommunications, like Qualcomm, AT&T, Verizon, Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei making sure that global 5G deployments stay on pace, and the world’s best Android handset makers already releasing 5G phones, 5G will hit the ground running in 2020 and that means plucking lightning-fast internet straight from cellular networks. Qualcomm specifically is on the forefront of 5G technologies, with end-to-end silicon solutions from 5G client handset devices like Samsung’s Galaxy S10 and Note 10 series, to base station and fixed wireless customer premise solutions and You can expect more of this in the near future.
While there have been some, seemingly unfounded concerns over what 5G could be doing to our bodies, the tidal wave is continuing to roll. The increased bandwidth will provide faster internet speeds with a simpler setup process. As if that’s not enough, 5G networks will also facilitate the use of drones and driverless cars, allowing them to rapidly communicate with any other smart vehicles in their vicinity, an essential feature of futuristic smart cities.
The advent of 5G will be driven by the Edge Computing and Massive Machine Type Communication. The fast data transmission promised by 5G will only play a minor role. The less publicly discussed technical features of the network will be much more important: very low latency, extremely high reliability with low energy consumption at low transmission rates, and the ability to address many more devices than today per radio cell. 5G quite literally has the potential to transform not only internet broadband service, but it will also enable new applications and use cases, from connected smart devices in the IoT, to autonomous vehicles, smart cities and connected factories; the list goes on.
Waverly Ambassador Translator
Many people all over the world have the misfortune of being cursed with mono-lingualism and this poses several problems. Imagine missing your flight because you couldn’t read the foreign language displayed on the screen. Don’t fret. For those who want to travel regardless of language boundaries—or easily converse with people who speak different languages in their own neighborhood—Waverly Labs invented an audio device that translates on the spot. With a number of game-changing features, the Ambassador’s over-the-ear design makes it as versatile as it is shareable. Enjoy seamless pairing, simple sharing and adaptable settings for natural and professional-grade live translations across the globe. The earbuds have smooth sharing with guests by pairing multiple Ambassadors to one smartphone. Its hygienic over-the-ear design allows for seamless sharing, longer battery life, and uncompromised signal quality. It also has an advanced microphone array to naturally interpret to people around you with high clarity, translate and understand dozens of languages or dialects with guests and groups.
There are many situations in which to use it, but perhaps the most useful setup is to attach one to your ear, hand the other to someone who doesn’t speak the same language to strap onto their own head, and talk away. The correct translation will play in both of your ears. The technology is still in the Indiegogo stage, but it might be worth it to you to get your hands on an early version.
Blockchain moves beyond Crypto
Blockchain, which is already appearing in experimental and small-scope projects, will be fully scalable by 2023. Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger, an expanding chronologically ordered list of cryptographically signed, irrevocable transactional records shared by all participants in a network.
Blockchain was overhyped and thus always going to be a bust in 2019 following the bitcoin craze. However, 2020 will finally see scale for some meaningful use cases for blockchain beyond cryptocurrency. For instance, one of the most problematic results of the internet age has been identity security. As diligent as many individuals and organizations are in maintaining their online identities and securing private information, there are always nefarious actors looking to steal and profit off of these digital items. Blockchain technology has already demonstrated the potential for transforming the way that online identity management takes place.
Blockchain offers a tremendous level of security, thanks to independent verification processes that take place throughout member computers on a blockchain network. In digital currency cases, this verification is used to approve transactions before they are added to the chain. This mechanism could just as easily be applied to other types of verification procedures, including identity verification and many other applications as well. Amazon Web Services is democratizing blockchain technology with their subscription based blockchain-as-a-service platform. And they are not alone on this effort. Many other global leaders are also playing in this space, including Samsung, Microsoft, IBM and China’s Alibaba. What’s more, we are beginning to see more use cases for the technology beyond payments and cryptocurrencies. Look to how blockchain will be used in food safety, intellectual property and royalties, and real estate/asset management for instance. 2020 could be the start of the true rise of Blockchain.
Extended Reality
Extended Reality (XR) is a catch-all term encapsulating Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), and everything in between. Although AR and VR offer a wide range of revolutionary experiences, the same underlying technologies are powering XR. XR is used to create more immersive digital experiences. Virtual reality (VR) provides a fully digitally immersive experience where you enter a computer-generated world using headsets that blend out the real world. Augmented reality (AR) overlays digital objects onto the real world via smartphone screens or displays (think Snapchat filters). Mixed reality (MR) is an extension of AR, that means users can interact with digital objects placed in the real world (think playing a holographic piano that you have placed into your room via an AR headset). These technologies have been around for a few years now but have largely been confined to the world of entertainment – with Oculus Rift and Vive headsets providing the current state-of-the-art in videogames, and smartphone features such as camera filters and Pokémon Go-style games providing the most visible examples of AR.
From 2020, expect all of that to change as businesses get to grips with the wealth of exciting possibilities offered by both current forms of XR. Virtual and augmented reality will become increasingly prevalent for training and simulation, as well as offering new ways to interact with customers. By 2025 the healthcare revenue from augmented and virtual reality is projected to reach $5B. In fact, technology insiders actually expect to see the most advancements of AR technology in the healthcare industry. You may have noticed that AR has already made its way into hospitals and doctors’ offices. The Accuvein scanner is one great example of this. The AR tool projects where valves and veins are so that healthcare professionals can find a patient’s vein more easily when doing Intravenous therapy placements.
In the real estate industry, VR allows potential home buyers to tour properties through a headset before the property is even finished being built. This benefit both the potential buyers but also the property management companies who are able to sell well before a place is ready. Simultaneously AR technologies allow those building the properties to envision how a certain type of cabinet would look like before they are ever installed. With all these advances to be seen in the near future, this young but blossoming industry truly is one to keep an eye on.
It will suffice to conclude that Technology is now on the cusp of moving beyond augmentation that replaces a human capability into augmentation that creates superhuman capabilities. The trends are structured around the idea of “people-centric smart spaces,” which means considering how these technologies will affect people (i.e., customers, employees) and the places that they live in (i.e., home, office, car). According to Brian Burke, Gartner Research VP, “these trends have a profound impact on the people and the spaces they inhabit. Rather than building a technology stack and then exploring the potential applications, organizations must consider the business and human context first.”