Content gets Smarter, are you ready?
We live in very exciting times. The world is going digital and digital transformation is at the top of every person’s agenda. Perhaps not since the advent of the Internet has technology played such a critical role in the transformation of business and home users alike.
While doing some research for this blog post, I came across a study from the McKinsey Global Institute that explores the twelve most disruptive technologies, which McKinsey thinks, will transform life, businesses and the global economy through 2025. At the very top of this list of potentially disruptive technologies were among others:
- The mobile Internet
- Automation of Knowledge Work
- The Internet of Things (IoT)
- Cloud technology
One could argue that these four technologies are at the very core of the digital era that is right upon us. I would also argue that each of these four will play, or already plays a critical role in the evolution of the use of the internet in the upcoming year, and will influence our lifestyle on a large magnitude. Let’s take the top 4 key Technologies one by one:
Mobile Internet
In just a few years, Internet-enabled portable devices have gone from a luxury for a few to a way of life for more than one billion people who own smartphones and tablets. In the United States, an estimated 30 percent of Web browsing and 40 percent of social media use are done on mobile devices; by 2018, wireless Web use is expected to exceed wired use. Ubiquitous connectivity and an explosive proliferation of apps are enabling users to go about their daily routines with new ways of knowing, perceiving, and even interacting with the physical world. The technology of the mobile Internet is evolving rapidly, with intuitive interfaces and new formats, including wearable devices. The mobile Internet also has applications across businesses and the public sector, enabling more efficient delivery of many services and creating opportunities to increase workforce productivity. In developing economies, the mobile Internet could bring billions of people into the connected world.
Automation of Knowledge Work
Advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural user interfaces (e.g., voice recognition) are making it possible to automate many knowledge worker tasks that have long been regarded as impossible or impractical for machines to perform. For instance, some computers can answer “unstructured” questions (i.e., those posed in ordinary language, rather than precisely written as software queries), so employees or customers without specialized training can get information on their own. This opens up possibilities for sweeping change in how knowledge work is organized and performed. Sophisticated analytics tools can be used to augment the talents of highly skilled employees, and as more knowledge worker tasks can be done by machine, it is also possible that some types of jobs could become fully automated.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things—embedding sensors and actuators in machines and other physical objects to bring them into the connected world—is spreading rapidly. From monitoring the flow of products through a factory to measuring the moisture in a field of crops to tracking the flow of water through utility pipes, the Internet of Things allows businesses and public-sector organizations to manage assets, optimize performance, and create new business models. With remote monitoring, the Internet of Things also has great potential to improve the health of patients with chronic illnesses and attack a major cause of rising health-care costs. The IoT can also impact people’s life with connected homes, which will allow you to control every aspect of your home though interconnected devices.
Cloud Technologies
With cloud technology, any computer application or service can be delivered over a network or the Internet, with minimal or no local software or processing power required. In order to do this, IT resources (such as computation and storage) are made available on an as-needed basis—when extra capacity is needed it is seamlessly added, without requiring up-front investment in new hardware or programming. The cloud is enabling the explosive growth of Internet-based services, from search to streaming media to offline storage of personal data (photos, books, music), as well as the background processing capabilities that enable mobile Internet devices to do things like respond to spoken commands to ask for directions. The cloud can also improve the economics of IT for companies and governments, as well as provide greater flexibility and responsiveness. Finally, the cloud can enable entirely new business models, including all kinds of pay-as you-go service models.
Each of these 4 mentioned technology branches are very likely to transform the way we think, work and live. Mobile technology has proven that our world is now interconnected and that each single individual on the planet can benefit of this “connectedness”.
Are you ready for smarter content?
