Fiction yesterday; reality today: 5 tech trends that boomed in 2019 | RSK BSL

Fiction yesterday; reality today: 5 tech trends that boomed in 2019 | RSK BSL

Imagine if this becomes your reality:

It’s morning. You have just woken up, and the curtains of your room adjusted themselves automatically, letting the morning light enter your room, while soft music starts playing. As you brush your teeth, you see the to-do list and events’ list for the day on the mirror: an event to not miss is your friend’s birthday this evening. As you are browsing through your to-do list while flossing your teeth, the water heater has been doing its job. After a refreshing shower, you head to the mirror in your room (AR), where you see a 3-D version of yourself trying clothes that are in your closet. After finding the perfect pair, you command the AI to toss that shirt.

While getting ready, you got 5 leads on your website, and the AI-based customer service bot you implemented is making conversions easier. That’s when a delivery drone arrives with the gift you ordered for your friend. It was easy to place the order with Siri, without clicking on the “pay” button (automation.) And, yes, the payment was 100% secure, thanks to blockchain. Finally, as your event list is connected to the Uber app, your cab has already been booked and will be arriving at your door within 5 minutes!

Seamless, isn’t it?

Oh, and all of this is very much realistic too!

In 2019, the world saw noteworthy developments in technology, with some techs becoming mainstream for the first time. Here are 5 such tech trends:

Tech Trend #1 – Artificial Intelligence (AI)

For years, people have been talking about how smart computers are becoming; how technology can solve mathematical problems faster and beat you at chess. These days, people have been talking about how human-like computers are becoming. And that’s what AI is: the tech that makes machines intelligent and human-like. AI acts as an information source, diagnostic tool, and a consultant, as and when needed.

Here’s an example you may find familiar: consider ‘JARVIS’ from Marvel’s Iron Man — an advanced computer program that automates the protagonist’s Malibu estate. The most striking feature is how the ingenious AI creation, JARVIS, somehow anticipates danger and sticks around Mr Tony Stark, ready to save the world.

Where’s AI headed to next?

In 2019, the global AI market grew up to 154% across marketing, sales, and customer service roles. By September 2019, 23% of businesses had incorporated AI into their process and product/service offering. At the same time, 63% of businesses say, they would use AI to reduce costs, whereas 61% of executives agree to using AI to identify opportunities in data to gain a competitive edge.

Tech Trend #2 – Augmented Reality (AR)

Remember 2016, when almost everyone around you — children and adults alike — were walking around with their phones, trying to “catch” virtual creatures? Yes, we are referring to “Pokémon Go”, a game that got even non-gamers addicted to this craze. If you think about it, Pokémon Go was nothing but an AR tech given in the hands of the common people. It successfully created an interactive experience between the player’s devices and the outside world. This meant, for the first time, gamers were required to go out and experience the real world, instead of sitting on a chair with remote controls.

AR is making similar wonders In the corporate world too. AR is helping executives in reimagining product presentation, sales, marketing, customer service, and almost every other business process to provide a personalised experience. By combining 3D vision, sound, sense of touch, location, and even smell, AR has also paved its way into training methods for doctors, nurses, teachers, and police officers.

What is AR up to now?

The above chart shows the popularity and future of A.R.

The above chart shows the popularity and future of A.R.

Tech Trend #3 – Blockchain

Do you want to avoid paying transaction fees to your bank while shopping online?

Do you want to minimise the chances of failed transactions while banking?

That’s what blockchain can do for you: help you achieve a seamless, secure, and cost-saving transaction. Simply put, blockchain is a simple yet ingenious way of passing information from A to B in a fully automated and safe manner. This distributed, decentralised, and public ledger technology restricts any changes or modifications, hence reducing the chances of financial frauds. As of now, sectors like Finance and Banking have the highest distribution of blockchain market value. However, industries such as e-commerce, real estate, healthcare, and legal are also rapidly embracing blockchain to combat counterfeit products and hectic paperwork.

What is the current scenario of blockchain technology?

In 2019, blockchain’s market capitalisation went up from 1.48 billion USD in 2013 to 144.96 billion USD in 2019. By the end of June 2019, numbers of blockchain wallet users crossed the 40 billion mark.

Oh, and it is also interesting to note that the underlying technology of blockchain may be hard to grasp for even the best of tech enthusiasts. Why? Mainly because the sophisticated hashing algorithm makes it difficult to alter the contents of the blocks, thereby securing every node of transaction. We hope understanding blockchain at the deeper level will soon become as seamless as the technology itself!

Trend #4 – Automation

Automation minimises human assistance and maximises value for businesses. This technology is mainly used by businesses to automate repetitive tasks, in order to achieve efficient and higher productivity. These days, even the smallest of tasks can be automated, such as scheduling this blog post for publishing.

In fact, automation is likely to improve the efficiency of organisations by saving 20-30% of the business’s annual revenue. Automation is already being used in marketing, sales, social media, cloud computing, email, and advertising activities.

How’s automation doing?

51% of companies use marketing automation. Of these, 80% of marketing automation users reported an increase in leads, whereas 77% said their conversion went up.

Single-channel vs Omnichannel marketing automation.

(Source: https://instapage.com/blog/automation-statistics)

Tech Trend #5 – IoT (Internet of things)

You are flying in a plane. During takeoff, you get a warning light combined with a mild vibration in your seat. The IoT sensor has detected you have not yet straightened the seat and informs you to make the seat upright.

And some time later, you want to use the washroom. Instead of getting up and checking the availability, you just click the icon on the hand rest to know which bathroom is free.

That’s IoT. IoT is aimed at connecting people, devices, content and services to transform our lives and involve discipline in almost every aspect of our community. In factories, manufacturers are installing IoT devices to reduce downtime, improve productivity, and maintain efficiency of production.

What’s the future of IoT?

The graph below shows the number of connected devices until 2019, and also predicts the number by 2025.

Graph showing the number of connected devices in billion

Certainly, tech is going to be all pervasive, it is going to govern our lives and control our emotions too. Let’s use tech to make ourselves more humane. Let’s use tech to save the earth.

So, are you ready for the tectonic tech shift coming your way?

Are you ready to master and leverage the developments in tech?

To find out how we can help you implement any of these technologies, please click on contact us page