Technologies are changing the modern world of work like no other influencing factor. Accordingly, companies need to monitor current developments closely. Innovative technology unleashes the enormous potential for optimization, particularly when it comes to increasing efficiency.
In addition, the constantly changing customer needs require a continuous adjustment of one’s business models. This means that companies have to drive the digitization of their own business by introducing innovative technologies. Find out which trend technologies will be particularly relevant in the coming year.
Big Data – Data Is Still the Gold Of The 21st Century.
Data will continue to play a central role in the business environment in the coming year. Due to the already partially completed digital transformation and the Internet of Things, the data volume produced daily is growing at a breathtaking pace. As the amount of data grows, the value of the data automatically increases exponentially.
Because the information is, in turn, the basis for a multitude of modern and digital services that secure valuable competitive advantages for companies, companies must take this development into account. Responsible collection of customer data and handling of the data, in the same way, are essential.
For companies, however, it is primarily about the findings that result from the data collected. Big data analysis plays a key role here. Companies have to say goodbye to subjective, often gut-feeling decisions and rely on the results of modern tools for data analysis and data validation.
This is the only way to identify challenges and opportunities and develop suitable solutions. All industries have to face this development. Professional data collection and evaluation remain one of the cornerstones of digital transformation.
The Triumph Of Machine Learning And AI Algorithms
In addition to big data and analytics, artificial intelligence is one of the pillars of digital transformation. AI tools such as machine learning have a significant impact on data analysis. They support companies in identifying patterns and help to gain knowledge from the flood of data. Accordingly, these technologies form the basis for extensive, innovative data analysis and change essential factors in any data analysis: simplicity, speed and scalability.
In particular, speed and scalability are essential requirements for analyzing large data sets and enabling the comprehensive analysis of complex data sets. Above all, the advances in hardware and optimized algorithms can be cited as reasons for the achievable advances. In addition, these analyzes can be scaled more easily with the help of cloud technologies. Due to the enormous pace of development of other AI-based tools, further improvements can be expected in the coming year.
Blockchain Technology – More Than Just Cryptocurrencies
Blockchain technology is still equated with Bitcoin by many. The blockchain, as the underlying technology of the popular cryptocurrency, has much more potential. After all, the blockchain is a decentralized and distributed register that stores processed business transactions in blocks. All verified blocks are arranged in a chain and distributed to the network. Accordingly, a blockchain is formed – the blockchain.
The technology is currently gaining popularity, and more and more companies are testing its use in pilot projects. Initial projects show that the blockchain offers real added value in the area of supply chain management.
Above all, the traceability and the fair conditions for business partners are an added value. But other areas, such as the finance and insurance sector, the energy sector or the mobility sector, can also benefit from the potential of the technology in the coming year.
The currently best-known application scenario besides the BitCoin currency is smart contracts (German: intelligent contracts). Smart contracts contain if-then rules. When a condition specified in the contract is met, selected activities to realize the will of the agreement are carried out automatically.
At the same time, all contractual partners are informed of status changes in real-time. With a correctly programmed smart contract, there is no room for interpretation for the terms of the agreement, and they are safe from hackers thanks to cryptographic encryption methods.
Also Read : What Is A Blockchain? The Explanation For Beginners
Robotic Process Automation Is Becoming Intelligent
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been the focus of German companies for some time. However, the technology has so far been mainly limited to repetitive and standardized processes. However, it is primarily AI that influences this status quo.
With Cognitive Process Automation or Intelligent Process, Automation intelligent algorithms enable the processing of unstructured data and thus also the automation of entirely new, more complex processes.
By expanding RPA to include artificial intelligence (AI) functions such as optical character recognition (OCR), natural language processing (NLP) or machine learning, robots can make increasingly intelligent decisions and thus relieve people. The providers of modern RPA solutions have also recognized this trend and adapted the possibilities of the software.
Intelligent Language Assistants Are Conquering New Areas Of Application
With Siri, Apple has established voice assistants in the everyday life of end-users. But the market is now highly competitive, and voice assistants have become a standard. The technical advances in this area are correspondingly significant. While intelligent assistants were very limited just a few years ago, they now have the potential for use in the corporate environment.
Companies can now use voice assistants to improve their services. Computer voices are already part of a company’s customer service today. In the future, however, this voice assistant will ensure that customers are routed efficiently, and that initial general issues are dealt with beforehand. The use of AI also expands linguistic skills and enables complex questions to be answered.
The Internet Of Things Is Conquering Everyday Life.
The auction of the 5G frequencies took place in 2019. The future network ensures better transmission rates and acts as a booster for the Internet of Things (IoT). The range of devices available that are already connected to the Internet and providing companies with a flood of data is enormous.
The increased network flexibility combined with the integration of artificial intelligence will catapult machine-to-machine communication to a whole new level, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Experts at the world’s leading research and consulting company Gartner expect more than 20 billion devices worldwide to be connected to the IoT as early as next year.
The future of the IoT is promising, not least because of the multitude of new use cases – smart keyword city, smart home, autonomous driving – and is rapidly developing from a technology experiment to a strategic imperative. The IoT has long been reserved for industrial applications.
The immense amount of data from IoT networks enables better tracking, monitoring, prediction, management and control of a wide variety of systems in a wide variety of industries. Artificial Intelligence will be the task to prepare vast volumes of data for meaningful and efficient use.
Hyper Automation – The Interaction Of Automation Technologies
Hyper Automation is the advancement of automation. Accordingly, this topic also deals with the automation of tasks and processes. Nevertheless, different technologies such as AI, machine learning and automation tools are used in hyper-automation to enable extensive automation of a process.
The basis for hyper-automation is the robot-supported process automation through RPA. However, the sole use of RPA does not correspond to hyper-automation. Instead, several technologies and tools must be used simultaneously to map particularly complex processes automatically.
Cybersecurity Requires Artificial Intelligence.
The continuous advancement of the Internet age means that more and more companies are using AI algorithms to gain productivity advantages. However, cybersecurity is also playing an increasingly important role, so that the use of AI also provides direct added value here. AI offers enormous opportunities, especially in the context of cybersecurity.
While the manual identification of risk and the manual reaction and elimination are often too slow, algorithms can quickly identify anomalies. Quick countermeasures to protect IT systems and data can also be initiated by AI algorithms. Accordingly, the focus in the coming year should be on improving IT security.
Virtual And Augmented Reality Are Finding Their Way Into The World Of Work.
More companies are discovering possible uses for virtual reality. The two technologies, augmented and virtual reality, combine the real and the digital world. The level of maturity of the technology has already developed enormously over the past three years. The possible uses of the technology are pervasive in the industry. Employees can already use digital functions to maintain or repair machines.
In augmented reality, the reality that we view through cameras on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) or special intelligent glasses (e.g. Microsoft HoloLens) is enriched with digital information and interactive elements.
With smart glasses that display step-by-step instructions in the technician’s field of vision, the time it takes the technician to diagnose and rectify errors can be cut in half. The technologies also support the industry in developing new products and allow engineers to create digital prototypes.
Virtual reality provides companies with valuable services for training, product development and presentation or real estate marketing. The 3D visualization makes the activity, product or real estate project look natural to the viewer.
AR and VR can also improve workplace safety and the documentation of safety-relevant processes. Ultimately, companies can use the technology to enhance location-independent collaboration between employees – such as working together on a product.
Intelligent Chatbots Support Customer Dialogue.
Voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Home are already showing the potential of intelligent assistants in everyday life. While current chatbots evaluate the written input of customers and try to provide a suitable answer, future versions can also assess the linguistic concerns of customers. Accordingly, service-oriented sectors can communicate more efficiently with customers and deal with their problems as quickly as possible.
In addition, such bots enable incoming customer concerns to be classified and avoid unnecessary forwarding to the wrong departments. As a result, customers benefit from improved service, and companies benefit from lower costs.
Sometimes chatbots take care of complete customer concerns themselves and explain the course of a process to users. Through chatbots, the incoming data can also be structured and prepared for the use of other technologies, such as RPA.
From The Server To The Cloud
Cloud computing is already a mega-trend in the IT world. More and more companies are relying on cloud solutions and are saying goodbye to their servers. In addition to better scalability, this also reduces maintenance costs for your servers. Nonetheless, the next significant revolution is already looming with the distributed clouds.
Such a distributed cloud distributes public cloud services to different locations, ensuring a fast, reliable connection in real-time. The distributed cloud speeds up communication for global services because it uses the distributed service model to provide lower latency and improve the performance of cloud services.
Increasing Transparency In The IT World
Ultimately, transparency and traceability will also play a significant role in the IT trends of the coming year. Rapid technological progress promotes a crisis of confidence that can be counteracted by increasing transparency. As a result, the integration of data must become more transparent.
Digital ethics only work if the executing system also offers sufficient clarity. Established black box models based on individual programming are not designed for the necessary transparency. Instead, companies will have to deal with standard software, automated documentation routines and intuitive structures in the coming year.
Also Read : Robotic Process Automation: 5 Use Cases With Great Potential
