Hot Technology Trends and Predictions for 2019
Present technological innovations can just as easily be deemed obsolete relics in a year or so. Therefore, keeping abreast of evolving technologies, most especially those implicated in the digital Web-based sphere, can be pretty challenging. 2019 is going to carry the distinctive flourish of a digital and mobile multimedia information era that began sometime 2016, 2017 and 2018. From the rise of counterfeit reality, whose most notable form is fake news, to a gradual shifting away from traditional mobile apps, 2019 has these top technological trends to offer.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Assistants
The days of the traditional mobile app are numbered and dwindling. AI, whose most popular iterations today are in the form of bots, chatbots, and machine-learning “smart” electronics, is going to be pervasive and disruptive in the coming years. Gartner, Inc. estimates that by 2021, more than half of enterprises will have their annual spending on bots and chatbots exceed their spending on developing mobile apps.
There’s an excellent reason for this proliferation: bots can be deployed to handle automated tasks, freeing up the workforce for dealing with roles that resist automation and thus potentially increasing both employee and customer engagement. This impact is most evident in data from the State of the Marketing Report released by CRM developer Salesforce, which shows that top-performing marketing groups have been found to be more than twice as likely to leverage AI in their marketing campaigns compared to underperforming groups.
Another critical AI-related Gartner prediction involves how this emerging digital technological trend will affect job prospects. Through 2019, AI is expected to create 2.3 million jobs and will get rid of only 1.8 million jobs. When used appropriately, AI can improve productivity and help in creating new industries.
From 2018 and thereafter, more and more people will turn to intelligent devices. This consumer demand for AI-powered devices is partly driven by the extreme personalization possible with current developments in machine-learning algorithms. Examples of AI-powered systems include the workings of smart wearables such as Samsung Gear IconX and Xperia Ear.
Internet of Things (IoT)
Semi-autonomous intelligent devices, which are often equipped with sensors and configured based on analytics, are shaping the technological sphere. They represent the early incarnations of future IoT trends. By 2025, IoT will grow to include 75 billion devices, according to a study by IHS Markit, a business consultancy firm.
In a nutshell, IoT is reflective of a thoroughly interconnected world woven through intelligent devices meticulously customized according to their respective users’ preferences. 2018 piles on Big-Data-driven e-commerce strategies, as well as networked smart wearables in healthcare solutions and services.
This intense interconnectedness, of course, is expected to breed sophisticated malware that can move from one networked gadget to another. Quick patching of vulnerabilities in the global infrastructure of the internet becomes a race against the clock. Every time, cyber-security experts must outpace and outperform malicious hackers seeking to target system loopholes and vulnerabilities.
Fake News
The fake news era is only in its nascent phase. It is going to get worse. By 2022, Gartner estimates that most people in developed nations would have consumed more fake content than factual information. Social media plays a massive role in deploying chunks of false news and misinformation at an accelerated and often potentially explosive pace.
Additionally, by 2020, there will be such a phenomenon called “digital distrust,” according to a Gartner study. Digital distrust results from AI’s capability in detecting fake content being overwhelmed by the proliferation and relentless spread of fraudulent information. It won’t be long before web-based platforms, social media sites, and mobile device interfaces teem with machine-generated audio files, documents, images, and videos that are convincing enough but do not represent reality.
Blockchain
Blockchain, which subverts the current centralized mode of transacting currencies, will generate $1 billion regarding business value to the banking industry towards the end of 2020, according to the results of a Gartner study. Cryptocurrencies are most definitely going to see diverse applications beyond the initial hype that surrounds them.
Ultra-lightweight and Smart Electronics
In 2018, there will be more ultra-thin television, smartphone, and tablet screens with stunningly vivid and crisp resolution. This trend in consumer electronics, which is not going to go away anytime soon, is fast approaching smart machine-learning iterations. For example, newer drones will be much faster than their old-model counterparts, and they will come with 4K cameras. Overall, the future of consumer electronics features a class of devices that are lightweight, highly portable, web-connected, and energy efficient.
The technological landscape of 2018 is pretty much an interesting blend of user wariness toward fake multimedia content and intelligent machines running smart analytics. Mobile, in all sense of the word, is also going strong. Think mobile video consumption and ultra-small smart wearables.
