5 Technology Trends to Watch Out for in the Future

5 Technology Trends to Watch Out for in the Future The year 2018 is filled with plenty of technology trends that provide home automation and a breakthrough in smart home appliances. Apple Home Kit and Amazon’s Echo lead the list among the conversational interface development while Cloud environments have become much more affordable for the average home user.With so many technologies available, it can get confusing and we are here to point you in the right direction and take you into a deeper journey of understanding how These 5 technology trends can shape your everyday life.5 TECHNOLOGY TRENDS THAT WILL RESHAPE THE FUTUREThe future is a remarkable thing to look forward to. With driverless cars and robotic employees making their debut, it’s only about time that we’ll be zooming through the sky in our own flying limousine.But before we welcome flying cars and space travel, there are emerging technologies around the globe today that are making a global impact.From safeguarding digital identities to linking a home through a virtual environment.Here is the list of the 5 technological trends that are going to make the biggest impact in the immediate future and why you should bother knowing about them.#1. Virtual RealityWhat is Virtual Reality?Arguably, Virtual Reality has been the biggest name in the technological world in the last decade.What was introduced as a next-gen gaming and entertainment system, Virtual Reality has begun to take over homes, healthcare, education, automotive, and the travel sector in a much larger way than previously imagined.So, what is Virtual Reality or VR?In plain and simple terms, VR is a simulated environment created by computer technology. The user with the aid of a VR device enters this simulated environment and begins to immerse themselves and interact with a 3D generated environment.The experience aims to provide the user with a convincing and fully visualized world instead of simply watching a video on a screen.For example â€" Let’s say you love watching animated movies and wished you could jump into the fantasy and explore the magical world without having to simply view it off a screen. It’s a cool dream, isn’t it? Virtual Reality makes that vision into a reality, instead of simply viewing a movie, you can jump into it and experience a full 3D view of the movie.Although VR was a distant dream in the 90’s due to the limitations of technology, today, every home can experience this type of technology, thanks to the wonders of innovation. Oculus Rift was the big name that brought the hype of Virtual Reality into mainstream media, since then they’ve been many other devices such as â€" HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, and Samsung Gear VR.Virtual Reality Impacting Global MarketsNow onto the big question â€"How exactly is VR affecting other markets apart from the entertainment industry? Let’s have a look.VR Healthcare â€" Performing a surgery is a serious threat to the patient’s life if done wrong. Imagine being able to examine the patient’s body with out utilizing invasive methods and getting a full diagnosis before a surgery is conducted. With the help of VR, doctors can create a realistic representation of the patient’s body and conduct various experiments before a final call is taken. This way there are lesser causalities with the utilization of VR-based tech.Have a look at how VR will revolutionize healthcare in this detailed video. VR Education â€" Not all schools are able to procure expensive lab-related equipment and hence, this can be a real downfall in teaching students valuable insight on how to conduct or manipulate experiments. VR helps in creating a 3D assembled environment where students can immerse themselves and fully recreate the same results as you would in an actual laboratory.Want to know how it feels like in a VR classroom? Check out the video below VR Travel â€" Wouldn’t it be great if you could see and feel your room before you book it for your travel vacation? What about checking out the room space an d the amenities provided? The hotel industry has heavily invested in VR tech to ensure their guests have a smoother option to book their rooms without having to regret on arrival.A first-hand video experience on how VR travel will be. VR Automotive â€" Being able to sit inside a car without having to visit a showroom and examine the interiors is something that is a reality today, thanks to VR. Ford Motors is one of the first automobile companies to adopt this technology and other automobile companies are following suit.Take a first-hand look at how VR is changing the automotive industry in this fascinating video. VR Real Estate â€" Real estate agents don’t have to spend an awful number of hours waiting for their clients to show up or lose deals due to having different clients booked at the same time. With VR, it’s possible to view a home and its interiors without having to physically relocate yourself to the location, saving yourself precious time when looking to buy a home. Onl y visit the place, if you like what you see in the VR simulated version.To experience home-buying in the future with the help of VR, check out this video demo to see the places VR is going.With the above examples, it’s clear VR is here to stay, and it has revolutionized the way people live their everyday life. Convenience is a big factor when it comes to adopting VR tech. #2. Internet of ThingsUnderstanding the Internet of ThingsInternet of Things or popularly known as IoT is a leading technology that helps integrate devices and send data back and forth between them. The integration is done via devices such as digital machines, mechanical devices, physical objects, etc.IoT helps in negating the need for human-to-human interaction and without the need for computer programming to conduct operations.Internet of things comes with a host of features. A list of them can be found below.Tracking capabilitiesAll IoT enabled devices will have wireless communication capabilities and automate d localization. Anything within the global map can be instantly tracked and it becomes possible to identify its location. All physical objects secured by IoT technology will be anti-theft in the future.Worried if your package from Amazon isn’t going to be on time? Now with IoT embedded technology, your mail can become a smart object meaning you’ll be able to track it in real-time. Worried if your loved one has reached a location or not? Fret not, with IoT tracking you’ll be able to track and find out if they’ve reached their destination.Another great example is outfitting your pet dog with an IoT integrated collar, you’ll be able to pinpoint your pet’s location if he ever gets lost. Simply switch on the GPS tracker on your smartphone and voila! Your pet’s location is provided in real-time.Self-organization capabilitiesSmart objects or physical objects embedded in IoT technology can self-automate themselves to react to different situations. All forms of self-discovery a nd data-sharing will be automatic with IoT.For example, you’ve just bought a brand-new car with IoT integration. Problems such as low-tire pressure, brake failure, bad pathing, etc. are monitored in real-time instead of the archaic indication system. Now, you can simply consult the car beforehand to know if there are any issues before you take it out for a spin.If there’s an emergency or a vehicle crash, the car will automatically send an SOS message to the nearest available person or emergency service. The aim of IoT’s self-automation feature is to minimize as much human intervention as possible.In fact, the next time you switch on your television, the “smart” TV will immediately change to your preferred channel based on your viewing history.Energy SavingIoT devices are pro-energy saving devices which is great for the environment. Every device will shut off or hibernate depending on your preference if it doesn’t detect usage.Also, research is underway to power all IoT d evices directly by solar energy. As solar energy happens to be the greatest renewable energy on the planet, its inclusion in IoT enabled devices will add a new layer of convenience for the entire world.The next time you go on a vacation, don’t worry about switching off power to your home. Your home is smart enough to power off on its own and will switch back the energy when you’re back home.ScalabilityThe biggest reason IoT is such a big name in the technological field is due to its scalability. Every IoT enabled object is future-ready and will play a prominent role in the way data is transferred in the future.   With every object in a home being transformed into a smart object, the possibilities are endless.The best part about IoT is that data is automatically shared between devices and human intervention is completely nullified. With added cognitive behavioral analysis to IoT, the way objects interact in the future could be something out of a sci-fi movie set.Imagine having an AI voice from your light bulb tell you that it’s time to change the batteries. Imagine having your computer update you on the hardware issue that’s been causing a slow startup. Yes, with IoT the scalability and limits are endless. List of Top Companies heavily invested in the future IoTHere’s a list of companies that have utilized and invested in IoT.IBM â€" IBM has spent over $3 billion dollars and has over 1,400 employees working in IoT alone. Much of their money has gone into revolutionizing predictive analytics and to gain data on their customers and their product choices.Google â€" The search giant has been a crucial promoter of IoT and believes it to be the biggest technology trend of the future. Google recently announced “Brillo” â€" an operating system for the Internet of Things. Brillo will have a common integration using the “Weave” language to connect all devices into one universal platform.Microsoft â€" With Microsoft joining the IoT community by announcin g their Windows 10 to be IoT ready, many tech-savvy individuals were pleasantly pleasedIoT is one of the most powerful forms of technology that is only limited by an extremely crucial factor that we will discuss in our 3rd technology trend â€" Cyber Security.#3. Cyber SecurityQuite possibly the most important technological trend on this list. Without cybersecurity, the rest of the names on this list would be technological wrecks. Security attacks such as ransomware and malware are some of the biggest threats to companies worldwide.According to a study published by Accenture, cybercrime costs 11.7 million per company per annum, this figure was a 62% rise from the last 5 years, which demonstrates that cybercrime is increasing at an exponential rate every year. The United States and Germany were among the countries with the highest amount of cyber threats detected.That’s why cybersecurity is the fastest growing technological trend with over $1 trillion predicted investments from 2017 to 2021, worldwide.Due to the significant rise in cybercrime and the loss of valuable information, no company is taking chances and have deployed the latest cyber security trends available in the world today.The top 3 cybersecurity trends are â€"1. AI-powered LearningLeading the list is Machine or AI learning software that tends to protect users by learning from past attacks and creating a security barrier. According to a report by Webroot, almost 87% of cybersecurity professionals in the United States use AI learning as their preferred choice of cybersecurity. These professionals believe that without AI security, companies won’t be able to keep their data safe as all existing security software will become obsolete to future attacks.The way AI learning works is â€" after a cyber threat is flagged by the system, the AI learning triggers a breach warning to the system’s parameters.The AI learning then gathers data on how the attack was executed and prepares countermeasures agains t similar attacks. This type of countermeasure nullifies any future attack from malicious software and protects data from all future attacks of the same type.Here are the key takeaways from AI learning revealed by Webroot’s findings â€"91% of cybersecurity professionals are concerned about hackers using AI learning to launch an attack on companies97% of all cybersecurity professionals in the U.S. will switch to AI machine learning as their preferred security type99% of U.S. cybersecurity professionals believe that AI learning will reduce false positive rates and heighten threat-detection rates 2. GDPRGeneral Data Protection Regulation or GDPR is a data protection reform that was passed out by the European Union to ensure Europe is ready for the next generation of digital threats. GDPR is basically a set of rules defined by the European Union to give its citizens more control over their personal data.Data such as credit cards, social security numbers, contact details, photos, soci al-media data, and other data that identifies a person are part of the GDPR.Once GDPR is enabled, all organizations that seek to collect personal data will have to go through strict verification processes so that data won’t be misused for exploitation and other malicious intent.GDPR will dictate terms to businesses and organizations to immediately report data breaches that involve unauthorized access. This way every citizen is notified if their personal information has been stolen. Some of the important terms are as follows.The GDPR strictly maintains the rule that a company must have a one-on-one correspondence with the victim in question and not just open a press release regarding a data breach.The company must convey the breach to the victim within 72 hours of being aware of it.For non-compliance, a fine of 10 million euros or 4% of a company’s annual gross turnover is considered.The maximum fine is reported to be set at 20 million euros.With GDPR live, citizens can breathe a sigh of relief from constantly worrying about their data being stolen.More companies will invest an additional budget on data security to safeguard citizens’ data due to the large fines set by the GDPR rules.This ensures a massive cybersecurity trend that’s been implemented in the right direction.3. Deception TechnologyDeception technology has recently made the list of cybersecurity trends and is sure to make a big impact in the years to come. The way this security technology works is by creating an entire database of fake credentials within a company’s network.Once created, cybercriminals who enter the network will be forced to access the fake credentials triggered by the company’s network.This makes it impossible for cybercriminals to access verified credentials and it also gives ample amount of time for the company that’s being attacked to launch countermeasures against the security lapse.Here are 4 ways deception technology is changing the entire cybersecurity mapPost -breach DefenseImmediately upon being attacked, the user’s device alerts the user that there is an attack being performed.The deception technology then launches a defensive barrier to stop attacks that come from drive-by downloads, wireless connectivity, spear phishing, and many other forms of security lapses. Minimal human investmentDeception technology maximizes the accuracy at detecting threats with no security personnel needed to monitor real-time threats. This allows for accessibility by nearly anyone in the future to gain the protection of deceptive technologies to safeguard their business.Due to the way deception technology works, there aren’t any false positives detected which reduces the unnecessary alerts sent to the user. Lures attackers into a trapUnlike other cybersecurity trends, deception technology lures attackers into a real-life version of your business and creates decoys to ensure your company’s network remains untouched.The attackers feel like they are hack ing into your mainframe and stealing information and will spend several hours downloading data which is completely fake and setup by deception technology as a defense barrier. Learns on the goWhile traditional security is all about limiting attacks to the network. Deceptive technology allows the attack to go through the generated network and learns the behavior of the attack.It allows the fake network to capture real-time data on the manner of the attack to update its security system in the long run. The scalability of this kind of security is limitless for the future.4. Cloud ComputingThe biggest reason cloud computing was celebrated in the last decade is due to its optimal resource utilization and cost-effectiveness. Before we get into the technical stuff behind cloud computing.Let’s get to the basic question that you’re looking for â€"What really is cloud computing? Let’s say you wanted to install a computer program, where would you ideally do it? On your computer or an ext ernal hard disk or maybe a server that is being hosted in your office, right?What if we told you, that a technology exists where you can install a program once and forget about it for the rest of your life.You can access it â€" on any device, at any place and at any time.No storage space needed! No reinstallations needed! All backed up on a cloud.NO! We don’t mean the white floating cotton in the sky!Cloud computing is a technology that allows you to outsource everything from software to applications to an outside party. Basically, all you need to do is concentrate on your business and website without worrying about the IT aspects of it.All this is taken care by cloud computing professionals at the backend for a small fee of course.Interested in knowing why you should be on cloud computing? Here are 3 big reasons â€" Because it’s cheaper!Cloud computing is extremely cost-effective than buying your own set of hosting servers or utilizing a set of dedicated servers.If you’re a p rivate business owner with not much use for heavy data, pooling your data along with others on a cloud service will save you tons of money along the way.It’s also effortless and always on. You don’t have to worry about hiring engineers to check your servers during a crash.If you still aren’t convinced, let’s bring out the numbers.A single hosted network on a desktop will cost you anywhere from $100-$200 per month. Add to this the additional cost of data migration, ongoing storage, and maintained and now the total price of cloud computing will cost u at about $400 dollars per month at the least.Compare this to a $10000+ investment to hosting your own self-hosted server along with the issue of managing all the hardware and infrastructure by yourself. You’ll end up wasting more time in maintaining your servers and establishing additional items such as â€" load balancer, firewall, cooling, power ratios, racks, etc.Add to this the licensing costs of products such as SQL Windows Server which will run you anywhere from $7000 to $52000 depending on the number of servers. Let’s just say, not only do you need to have a technical brain for all of it, but it will run you to the ground in terms of pricing. Better resource managementVirtualization allows you to utilize significantly higher CPU utilization. Virtualization is a term used in computer hardware to create a virtual environment of an existing network, hardware, application, or storage device for accessibility. In the case of cloud computing, you’ll virtualize many servers without worrying about power usage, rack space, and a decrease in performance.At any given time, your servers will be up and running. You could even create copies and allocate resources as you see fit and necessary. This is incredibly useful for business owners and companies looking for convenience. Increased securityYour data is always backed by adequate security software such as firewalls, anti-virus software, and other physical s ecurity factors. At any time, you can call your cloud hosting platform for assistance and get instant updates on your security levels.The best part about a private cloud is you’ll have full information on where your servers are and it’s completely safe due to the security administration behind it. Cloud computing servers utilize the world’s best security trends to secure user dataNow that we’ve got the information behind cloud computing and its usefulness. Let’s learn the different type of cloud computing services that exist.IaaSInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS)is all about providing access and management control over IT resources. IaaS comes with networking features, virtual and dedicated hardware, data storage space and great flexibility in controlling your IT resources. IaaS users are responsible for managing their own data, middleware, and applications including Operating Systems. SaaSSoftware as a Service (SaaS) deals with end-user applications. With a SaaS subscript ion model, the entire infrastructure and services are managed by the backend team, leaving you free to access your software. SaaS is also the largest cloud market on the list. SaaS applications can be accessed directly from the web browser. Examples of SaaS are web-based email services and customer relationship management applications.PaaSPlatform as a Service (PaaS) is focused on applications and other development options. Developers gain the ability to build various development testing frameworks and the ability to launch applications in a convenient and effortless manner. Using the software components of PaaS, users can build various applications.#5. Automated Customer ServiceAny automated consumer support service provided by a chatbot, help center, or artificial intelligence is termed as automated customer support.Automation is the future and without humans to manage every small task like grocery shopping and billing counters, that’s where we benefit from automated customer se rvice.In short, customer service automation helps in providing a streamlined service without errors. The biggest question is â€" Will this affect thousands of jobs worldwide? Yes and No.While there will be quite the backlash by employees with automation customer service taking the driver’s seat soon. We need to realize that human personnel are always needed in different sectors.In fact, according to reports by MGI, by 2030, over 75 million people and 375 million will have to shift to different departments to avail jobs.Note that the report never mentioned unemployment but sternly mentions a transfer to a different department. It means there isn’t a lack of jobs due to automated customer service being implemented just a rearrangement of human personnel into newer sectors.Now that we’ve got the bad parts out of the way. Let’s look at the good parts of why automated customer service is the next technology trend that will pave a new way into the future of consumerism.Here are 3 big benefits due to customer service automation Refined processInstead of having human employees type out the same responses to the customer queries every week, automating customer responses with scripted responses will help clear the helpdesk queries in a seamless fashion. In this way, the most important and urgent tickets can be attended to, while the general inquiries can be diverted to another automated department.By introducing automated FAQ sections, customers can be greeted by chatbots and general enquires can be answered 24/7, 365 days a year without having to spend wages by employing two shifts of employees for the customer help desk. Lower costsIt goes without saying, when you’ve just started a business, hiring employees to answer customer grievances can push your total investment up by a notch. Instead, automation services are available on a subscription basis with a nominal price every month.The best part about a subscription automated customer service model is that yo u get the CRM software options as well as the automated phone system if you choose to avail them.If you think your business is ready to expand, simply change your plan to accommodate the right amount of automated customer support that suits your business. Higher customer satisfaction rateIf you’ve ever called the customer support number for any product, only to be disconnected due to a bad connection and had to go through the same process all over again, you’d be frustrated. Automated customer service eliminates the need to go through multiple customer support representatives.Predictive analytics and call recording form to create an exceptional support system to the customer that resumes conversation of the query at exactly where the call was dropped.If a customer is in a hurry, he or she can drop the call and resume the dialogue at exactly where they left off. This type of customer support is extremely customer-friendly and will be highly effective in converting customers from a frustrated loT into a satisfactory loT.Here are some facts to know when setting up an automated service customer support â€"39% of tech-savvy individuals first visit the FAQ page before making a purchase72% of customers blame bad customer service experience on repeating queries to human representativesThe most important factor for customers is “Short response times” with a 75% general vote indexThe least important factor for customers is “Multiple channel availability” with a 28% general vote index83% of people prefer talking to a customer representative before making an online purchaseAll these facts are sourced by Aircall.DID YOU KNOW OF THESE TECHNOLOGICAL PREDICTIONS?Now that you’ve learned the top technological trends to look out for. Here are some fun predictions prophesied by pioneers of digital technology around the world.10% of all cars in the U.S. will be driverless by 2026 90% of the world’s population will have a supercomputer in their pocket by 202385% of the world’s population will be introduced to unlimited and free data storage by 2019The first AI machine will join a company’s board by 2026The U.S. will have its very own robotic pharmacist by 2021By 2025, mobile phones will begin to be implanted into humans5% of the entire world’s consumer products will consist of 3D printed onesWe don’t know if these predictions will ever come true but it’s a great world to be living in to witness and marvel at the technological innovations above.Now, that we’ve come to the end, we hope you’ve learned a host of information on the different technologies shaping the world.