To deliver quality products ordered by customers is one thing; to offer solutions that stay on the edge of new technology and seem taken right from the future is another one. Flagships of markets go even further: they create the upcoming trends and reap the rich benefits before moving to another milestone of this fast-developing digital world.
If you plan to keep abreast of competitors and to build products that are far above expectations of customers, take a closer look at the following developing trends and decide which of them suits best your business niche. We at JatApp, in our turn, will help develop and integrate these technologies into your business processes so that your products created additional value for customers and blended smoothly into the global digitalized environment.
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
This powerful technology is only gaining momentum, and AI is a kind of an umbrella term for a set of separate branches that are developed and applied in various spheres of life. AI as such is a capacity of machines to imitate human intelligence and reasoning processes and to accomplish tasks that require this kind of intelligence.
Since AI relies on sophisticated hardware, machine-backed databases and clear algorithms of decision-making, it is more accurate and faster in performing millions of tasks at once, and so is valuable across multiple industries. AI’s functions such as image recognition, speech recognition, analysis of datasets, decision-making based on a complex analysis of big data provide the foundation for such mundane tasks as car navigation or online car-sharing and for such crucial steps as the landing of Mars rovers or selecting the most efficient cancer treatment in a given patient.
Now AI is only gaining traction in all industries and fields from healthcare and automotive to finance, banking, marketing, gaming, and military.
2. Machine Learning
Machine Learning is precisely what its name says: it is a machine’s ability to learn independently. This tech trend is a branch of AI since it is a self-induced development of the pre-programmed intelligence of a machine. In particular, for a machine, learning means selecting the most optimal solutions, applying them in the future, finding patterns and translating them into new algorithms that will be used for problem-solving. Machine Learning includes subcategories of deep learning, neural networks and NLP (natural language processing).
Each of the categories has its particularities and challenges, yet its potential in business and industries is immense. Data analytics and its elaboration, data mining, processing and distribution into patterns – these automated and efficiently performed tasks are invaluable everywhere, from medicine and banking to security, transportation, energy sector, and government bodies. Marketing, ad placement, web search, communications, entertainment, public utilities, network security – these are but few areas where machine learning is and will be warmly welcomed.
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3. Robotics (Process Automation)
Like Machine learning, Robotics Process Automation (RPA) replaces human toil with its digital analog. Along with iron forging or yarn spinning, lots of technical monotonous menial or non-menial tasks can be half-automated, thus freeing the human mind for more creative purposes. It means that while a worker does a part of the task that cannot be outsourced, the algorithm does the other boring but necessary part, and does it with super-human precision and speed.
In the digital sphere, payment transactions processing, emailing and generating notifications, sending alerts or setting schedules, uploading and accumulating bulks of data for further processing – they all rely on RPA. From pizza delivery to self-driving vehicles to medical services to emergency rescues – practically every imaginable job can be semi (or fully) automated, and RPA is what enables this process.
4. Edge Computing As A Branch Of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing implies ‘cloud’ as a fully remote environment where data is stored and processed. Yet this remoteness creates problems with speed of processing, data exchange and limits of bandwidth available. Some processes need real-time data from a user’s sensors, and these bits of data change too fast to be transmitted to the cloud and back. So the need in some intermediary computing node arises, and these nodes are set ‘on the edge’ between the cloud and a user’s device. This is the principle of distributed computing. These nodes are usually located closer to a user, so even if the Internet connection fails the computations will be performed offline. If clouds work with big data, so to say, then these nodes operate with real-time data like a small independent datacenter.
Edge computing can find its application everywhere where Robotics Process Automation or AI is involved. So from home products that are united into the network of IoT to healthcare, telemedicine, traffic regulation, TV streaming, and events management, edge computing is the future technology that ensures smooth operations without delays or major breakdowns.
5. Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is a whole new environment simulated by machines, and Augmented Reality (AR) refers to real-life where just some aspects of it are enhanced by digital features. VR is often accessed through full gear including a helmet and gloves, while AR requires a smartphone (Pokemon Go) or a pair of glasses. VR is primarily applied in gaming, although simulation sets can be created for training pilots, seamen or other military people (VirtualShip is one such application). AR can be used practically everywhere. Both categories are potentially beneficial for entertaining, teaching, practical training on simulation sets, marketing, art, security purposes, and what’s not.
4. Blockchain Technology
Blockchain is often used in conjunction with the name of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but money is only a single case of application of this technology. Blockchain is about validation and value created through calculations performed by anonymous users across the globe. Bits of data created by solving simple tasks are joined together, into a chain of blocks, and no one can change this sequence, one can only add to it. So money with Blockchain value cannot be counterfeited. Besides, Blockchain is a decentralized concept, where everyone contributes by creating these bits of data that are stacked together, and a single actor cannot lay hands on all blocks and chains thus monopolizing them.
This advanced level of security and validation makes Blockchain sought after in finance (think distributive ledgers) and banking, in contractual matters (smart contracts), in gaming, in the design of supply chains in retail, and in areas that require extra strong security level, including validation of citizens’ votes.
6. Internet of Things (IoT)
Remember the girl who posted a tweet via the WiFi connected fridge in her house? Yes, this is the bright example of how IoT works and how great and unpredictable its application can be. Household appliances and industrial systems are now produced with inbuilt computer modules and WiFi connection features. Thus, these items can either be connected to local networks for better interactions and maintenance or can access the Internet and be managed by an owner from any point in the world. This feature enables the harmonious and safe functioning of the house and its premises, more efficient plant care without human presence, a more streamlined process of car maintenance, faster and better shopping experience in huge malls, better organization of testing service and treatment in hospitals, and many more.
Facilities in automatized manufacturing and agriculture, childcare, pet care, home security, territory surveillance, smart gadgets, retail, entertainment, possibly even the equipment in medical establishments can be united into networks that interact and make needed decisions. If you do not have IoT elements in your business, it is high time to draw upon their usefulness.
7. The Last But Not The Least: Cybersecurity
When describing the above-mentioned technologies, we assume the best scenarios where their positive potential is used and undesired consequences are ruled out. To eliminate the hacks, theft or intrusions threats, cybersecurity measures and systems are designed, deployed and maintained 24/7. You do not want your Blockchain ledger being stolen or smart home system being tampered with by some shady hacker. This is why cybersecurity develops in parallel with emerging technologies, and older methods of providing protection give way to newer ones that better reflect the changing reality. As you can imagine, cybersecurity is relevant in all spheres of human activity, whether business-related or not. Even now as you read this text, you use protected social media accounts, interact with protected websites and employ a protected computer or tablet. From passwords to your fitness bracelet and Alexa the Assistant to medical databases and customers’ lists and electronic contracts storages, each digital unit or database requires thorough and modern protection, and cybersecurity provides it. Its relevance is so high that demand for such specialists grows three times faster than in any other mentioned field, and this need in people who can devise and deploy security systems will only increase. So if you have any data you need to protect, you definitely need this technology, too.
These are the tech trends to look for in 2020 and beyond. If you integrate them into your business now, you will outperform potential competitors and streamline multiple processes, thus boosting productivity. To do so, you do not need to gather an in-house team of software architects and developers.
JetApp can help you establish an outsourced on-demand team that will design and create the optimal digital solution tailored for your business model and values. Contact us now and learn how to tap into the pool of outsourced talents in any of the listed technology branches, and see your ideas implemented by our experienced developers with high speed and attention to details.