Content gets Smarter, are you ready?
Content evolves at a steady rate; can we keep up with the high pace of digital evolution? New technology has continuously changed how we exchange and perceive information. We demand that our communication is more precise, to-the-point, with new low thresholds for noise or disturbances. Flash-like content delivery is now not only typical but expected. How machine-like we need to be to take advantage and survive this demanding reality?
We live in fascinating times, no need to look at the news lines for confirmation. 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 transforming business. And now, it also changes how we spend time in our own homes.
While researching this blog post, I came across disruptive technologies that can transform life, businesses, and the global economy in the next decade.
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 say that all four play or will plays a critical role in the evolution of the internet. It will influence our lifestyle on a heavy 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 reserved for a chosen few to new ways of life for more than one billion people. In the United States, half of the time users spend online is on mobile devices. Ubiquitous connectivity and explosive proliferation of apps enable users to go about their daily routines with new ways of knowing, perceiving, and interacting with the physical world. We see how mobile internet mixes well with successful business models.
Mobile internet tech evolves rapidly, emerging with more intuitive interfaces and new convenient formats. Wearable devices are now a familiar sight.
The mobile internet also has applications across businesses and the public sector, enabling more efficient delivery of bundles of services and creating opportunities to increase workforce productivity.
In developing economies, the mobile internet brings billions of people into one connected environment, which we all quickly accepted as part of our new reality.
Automation of Knowledge Work
Recent breakthrough in AI, machine learning, or natural user interfaces like voice commands enables task automation for knowledge workers, previously though impossible or impractical for the AI.
For instance, some computers can give answers to “unstructured” questions — these are questions more understandable by humans, rather than software queries, which come precisely written to the last comma. Therefore, employees or customers can get information on their own, without specialized training or help. This condition opens up possibilities for sweeping change in how we organize knowledge work and perform upon it.
Sophisticated analytics tools can augment the talents of highly skilled employees. As machines can handle more knowledge worker tasks, some jobs will inevitably become fully automated. Even if AI does not take over a job entirely, its contribution is substantial. For example, the quality of online customer service would be considerably low without support tools like live chatbots. Would the restaurant industry be the same after the introduction of an AI-driven autonomous kitchen assistant?
We will have to adapt to opportunities that better match our human needs and be smart when delegating to the machines.
Knowledge work can be used within the company to create new ways that employees can engage and perform. The emergence of the online talent market has improved the quality of professionals like business analysts, finances, accounting. Every sphere of the work spectrum can benefit from the automation of knowledge work.
Because humans have profoundly different needs than robots, AI is bound to take over repetitive and mundane tasks still assigned to people. Employees will deservedly take on a path that better challenges their human skills and knowledge.
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. Internet of Things empowers companies and organizations from the public-sector to manage assets, optimize performance, and create new business models.
IoT helps monitor the flow of products through a factory, measure the moisture in a field of crops, or track water flow through utility pipes.
Thanks to remote monitoring, the Internet of Things also has excellent potential to improve chronic illness patients and attack a major cause of rising healthcare issues.
The IoT can also impact people’s lives with connected homes, allowing them to control every aspect of their home devices through the power of interconnectivity.
With the Covid-19 induced new working rules, the demand for sharper and more innovative technologies has increased more than ever.
Remote management and remote monitoring are just some methods that find application in more than just eCommerce or healthcare. Machines can now flawlessly communicate with other devices and go far beyond the comfort of an intelligent home system.
There’s maybe too much control already infused within IoT with the potential for flawless remote management of devices. Is this heightened level of control a good thing or the infamous road to hell paved by good intentions? This topic required more attention, so I published my explorations in a different article. Feel free to glance at it.
Cloud Technologies
With cloud technology, any computer application or service travels through networks or the internet without the need for local software or processing power. IT resources like data storage are made available on an as-needed basis. When extra capacity is necessary, it is seamlessly added without requiring up-front investment in new hardware or programming.
Cloud technology enables the explosive growth of Internet-based services, from search to streaming media to offline storage of personal data (photos, books, music) and the background processing capabilities that enable mobile Internet devices to do things like responding to spoken commands for directions.
Cloud computing has always been central to enterprise-level companies. However, we learned from the pandemic that cloud tech is now a preferred tool that sustains businesses and helps them cope with the extreme situations we all have seen with our own eyes. Remote teams and how to best manage them has quickly become a necessary practice for everyone who plans to remain relevant.
Apart from companies, the cloud also improves government-managed projects. It has the universal flexibility and responsiveness needed for trusty and sought-out cloud-based solutions.
Finally, the cloud can support brand new business models, including all kinds of pay-as-you-go services.
Conclusion
These mentioned technologies are on our radar for some time now. They are liable candidates for changing our thinking, work, and the way we live.
Advances in mobile technology serve as a humble reminder that our world works best when tightly interconnected. Everyone on this planet benefits from this increased connectedness. The minimum requirement to remain in the loop and gain the benefits – be an active participant.
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