What IT technologies will thrive in 2021? We’ll see, but these 10 tech trends will shape the nearest future for sure. Check, what you should have in mind in the following months.

There are at least these three reasons to pay more attention to future technological trends.

  • your competitors will make use of these trends. If you don’t want to fall behind, you must know what’s going on;
  • to be more agile – understanding upcoming changes allows you to react to turbulences in the tech and business environment;
  • to keep your business profitable you need to adapt to changes and make use of the most innovative technologies.

The following list of trends will help you keep an eye on events and technologies that will shape our business future.

We narrowed the list of IT trends to 10 points. As you’ll see some of these trends influence each other. It means that you can benefit from the synergy by working on them together. Let’s see, what technologies and social issues will change our lives in 2021.

1. Autonomous drones, Robotics, Drones, Vehicle Automation, Connected Vehicles, etc.

Autonomous or semi-autonomous drones and vehicles will be used everywhere, where it’s too dangerous or too expensive for people to go (e.g. drones for Search And Rescue). Despite dramatic information about accidents involving self-driving cars, future autonomous vehicles will cause fewer collisions than people. Moreover, flying and underwater drones will enhance the rise of new services and maybe even industries.

2. Silver Society

While societies of Europe, North America, and other developed regions continue to get older, many products and services are designed for younger generations. This needs to change, and designers should pay attention to the needs of the elderly, as they’re those who will be a big part of society and will have money to spend. The value of Silver Economy is estimated to reach €5.7 trillion by 2025. And it will affect not only MedTech business but technology in general. The question to ask is, how convenient it’ll be for the elderly to use your device or service?

3. Voice-as-UI

Voice User Interface has become more popular with Alexa from Amazon and Apple’s Siri – two most popular virtual assistants. The market revenue is supposed to reach $35.5 billion by 2025. Why? Every year more people get access to voice interfaces and find them convenient. Finally, you don’t need to type your questions on a small touchscreen or look for a button hidden somewhere on the website. It also brings back the Silver Society trend. Interacting with devices with voice is comfortable and useful for young and healthy users, but it’s even more important for the elderly and people with disabilities.

4. Business models digital transformation

When COVID-19 hit the global economy, companies had to change the way they did their businesses. In a way, the pandemic boosted digital transformation among many organizations that had to re-engineer their business processes. The most popular paths include cloud migration, pivot to e-commerce, and automation. Mostly, digital transformation is used as a way to enhance business efficiency. Usually, it involves lowering costs and boosting performance. However, more mature companies can employ new technological solutions to increase product or service quality and therefore, the customer’s satisfaction. Business model digital transformation gives even more opportunities. With smart cloud solutions and automation, you can make your business more flexible and increase its adaptability to change with data-driven decision-making.

5. Digital and remote education

Again, this trend got new energy with the pandemic. Schools, universities, and training companies moved their services to the Internet. For many, it was a massive leap in thinking about education. But now, the change can’t be stopped. Hence, the need for new and better digital solutions (products and services) enhancing the transformation toward remote education.

6. Growth of XaaS market

XaaS is an acronym for Anything-as-a-Service. A couple of years ago Software-as-a-Service was something new and innovative. Today we experience many more ideas of “things” that can be offered as-a-service. Infrastructure-as-a-Service is very common among cloud solutions providers. Platform-as-a-Service is another one, where a customer gets access to more applications that work on a cloud. More XaaS solutions include Security-as-a-Service or Device-as-a-Service. The future of XaaS is unknown, but we’ll definitely see more and more ideas emerging.

7. 5G and enhanced connectivity

The development of 5G Internet connectivity is essential for many other technologies. Self-driving cars need to exchange plenty of information, and remote workers need a much better connection to stay in touch with their colleagues. Moreover, new digital companies can make use of enhanced connectivity and aggregate user’s data to boost the customer experience. Implementation of 5G will also enhance the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). The market and need for various sensors, gauges will flourish as computing clouds will collect data from them for analysis and enhanced decision-making. And these are just four challenges. The amount of data people and their devices exchange will grow. Without 5G we won’t be able to introduce new, better solutions, but also it’ll become impossible to keep the level of services we’re accustomed to.

8. Increase of cyber-security expenses

As more businesses move to the web, also more companies realize the need to secure their systems. According to Gartner, Information security is expected to reach $123.8 billion in 2020. That applies to financial institutions, but also to all e-commerce enterprises, and companies that rely on digital technologies. No matter if you deal with remote work, autonomous vehicles, or extended reality, you’ll need to pay more attention to cyber-security.

9. Remote work-related challenges

Challenges connected to remote work may affect most of us. Future technological solutions need to tackle multiple problems. How to keep everyone connected. Will the technical infrastructure withstand a growing number of simultaneous users? How to prevent burnout and help employees keep a healthy division between professional and personal lives? How to make sure that customers receive at least the same quality of services? Companies have realized that they can operate with remote workers but now, they need to find their ways to do it efficiently.

10. Remote medical services

Recent events showed that we certainly need to create new means of delivering medical services remotely. Our smart devices are now in use, but new software solutions are needed to enhance the effectiveness of remote healthcare. Furthermore, the growth of the silver society trend will increase the need for better remote medical services as well.

First of all, keep your eye on them and look for opportunities to incorporate them into your business. If you need professional support from experienced tech specialists, you can schedule a free IT Consultation.

Read also: 7 Technology Trends Changing Logistics in 2021.

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