2020 was a unique year in ways more than one. With 100% remote work a reality, IT companies have been working round the clock to provide better cloud services, better software for communication and data sharing, and more efficient methods of conducting business. Businesses, on the other hand, have been pushing for better digital transformation services and overall efficient ways of managing a remote workforce while keeping productivity at a high. This has given software developers a shot at giving technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and augmented reality a real chance. In this article, we will go over the tech buzzwords of 2021 to demonstrate what tools and technologies businesses should be watching closely this year.
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency and blockchain have changed the face of financial technology as we know it and will always be a favorite in any technology buzzwords list.
Transactions and investments in the form of decentralized digital money seem to be the future of finance now. However, just hearing this buzzword isn’t enough- businesses must explore this option thoroughly. Here’s why we think cryptocurrency could help your company achieve a massive leap:
Raising seed funding
Fast, cheap, secure transactions
Similar investment opportunities for all
Getting investors on board has always been the toughest part of a startup journey. But courtesy of cryptocurrency, startups can raise a decent amount of money in the form of Bitcoins, and that too very quickly.
Transactions are about to become cheaper and quicker as cryptocurrency is decentralized. The days of waiting around in banks for lengthy transactions will soon be behind us, making Bitcoin a favorite in the world of “Time is Money.” It even assists in processing payments faster, leading to a smooth user experience while conducting transactions on your portal, and that too, at a much lesser cost to the company than regular centralized payment methods.
Angel investors like Warren Buffet are always on the lookout for promising startups to invest in, but no one will be ready to provide such investment opportunities to the regular retail investor. With a decentralized method to go about it, all of us have the same chance as Warren Buffet to get rich on promising ventures.
Big Data
Personalization is key if you want a potential customer to stop and look at your brand. Sending the same mass messages to every customer and potential customer will only land your mails permanently in the spam folder.
The only way to get accurate data regarding potential customers from their Internet usage and behavior? Big Data analytics.
Though this technology buzzword has been around for a while, not many know its far-reaching benefits.
If you’re curious about how it can benefit your business, look no further, as we’ve compiled the benefits Big Data holds for both large and small businesses in a nutshell.
Marketing
Reduce load on HR personnel
Data Sharing
For a successful marketing campaign in 2021, companies will have to prove to the customers how their products sync with customer needs and preferences. The only way to cater to thousands of customers and millions of preferences is Big Data – it will help you fill up your CRM with relevant data so that your PPC and email marketing campaigns are effective
Employees can make or break an organization, so it is always advisable to hire people that cater perfectly to your business demands. Unfortunately, just an interview or a resume check cannot guarantee if the person is the best for the job. Big Data can step in here to match the person’s skill sets, qualifications, location preferences, and experience with the pointers for the required role and send in only the truly qualified candidates for an interview with the HR personnel.
The very first question startup founders have to answer when they conceive an idea “Is it going to solve any particular problem?” But how can they be certain of the usefulness of their product without accurate data? And why would customers give their data to strangers who do not have any previous product to show their credibility?
Again, big data to the rescue!
With data sharing, explicit consent can be obtained from customers for data they share willingly, and then that data can be licensed to companies to significantly reduce their R&D time.
Edge Computing
With the advent of cloud services, computation on our devices has been reduced to a minimum and most of the work is done in the Microsoft, Amazon, Google, or IBM servers. However, centralization has reached its peak and now, companies are looking for more cost-effective communication between client and server.
Enter edge computing.
The “edge” refers to your device and “edge computing” means running most processes on the device itself to reduce latency(delay in information relay) and large bandwidth use. Because of these two reasons, edge computing can prove to be a game-changer for companies. Let us take a look at how.
Cost-efficient operations
Better security
Smart manufacturing
For cloud storage, data needs to first travel to the central server. By eliminating this functionality, edge computing saves on the operation cost of sending data to the central server on one hand. On the other hand, due to a reduction in the number of computations in the cloud, central servers need not be so vast, so storage needs are reduced.
Most of the operations in the cloud require actionable data, which arrives serially from the server. However, this makes the whole organization vulnerable in case of a cyber attack. By distributing the data into different pipelines, companies can make sure the whole organization is not affected by a hacking attempt.
Smart manufacturing is a technology buzzword in itself, and edge computing can help us realize it with success. Since edge computing enables real-time analysis, we can use it to monitor the manufacturing floor. This will give us a quick identification of the processes going wrong before even the whole product has been manufactured.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality projects digital data and images onto real-world objects. This holds so many exciting possibilities for businesses that the AR might be a technology buzzword for many years to come. It is even projected to grow to about $50 billion by 2024. It holds the key to substantial strides in workforce enablement, manufacturing, and consumer experience and 2021 seems to be the year for giant leaps in the field.
Enhanced consumer experience
Possibilities in education
Manufacture and modeling
Retail stores are bearing the brunt of the COVID outbreak, forcing businesses to jump onto the online store brigade. Augmented Reality gives businesses a chance to enhance the consumer experience in online stores by giving them a real-life view of products.
AR giant Marxent, recently helped Harley-Davidson create an iOS app where buyers would be able to try out the height of bikes virtually.
Instead of the textbooks and PDFs we have gotten accustomed to, augmented reality could give us a multisensory educational experience. Currently, it is finding immense applications in medical schools, in conjuring virtual cadavers – something that can make the remote learning of medicine easier.
With the help of AR, businesses needn’t even create the complete prototype of a product! They can just point the parts to their specific locations, creating a perfect image of the final product. Managers can also remotely monitor the whole process and the progress with real-time analysis, making the whole process efficient overall.
XaaS (Everything as a Service)
The benefits of SaaS (Software as a Service) are now common knowledge. PaaS (Platform as a Service) model is also being adopted now. You may even have heard of IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).
But have you heard of XaaS?
Everything as a Service (XaaS) refers to all the tools and technologies we can access directly from the internet or cloud. The only difference between adopting a XaaS model and simply selling the tools is the payment structure and method of delivery.
Instead of an upfront payment, you pay for it as a service for long-term consumption. And instead of simply selling the tool or technology, the company will be providing the technology as a service for enterprise consumption.
SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS are the most well-known divisions of XaaS. But XaaS is much more than just these- there is also CaaS (Communications as a Service), StaaS(Storage as a Service), DBaaS(Database as a Service), and many more all forming well planned technology investments.
But what are the benefits of such a model?
Simpler payment model
Provides more agility to companies
Better security
Rather than purchasing all the software, companies can now simply subscribe to these as services. Whenever they feel their need for a certain software has ended, they can end the subscription.
Now that companies are not buying software, they have resources freed up for better innovation and higher value projects. They become more agile and can conduct most operations digitally, as their technologies are coming in as services over the web.
Hackers tend to go for small businesses because even a small attack can bring down the whole company. With XaaS, all resources are distributed on different servers and hence, there is very little left for the hackers to access. This makes sure that even if they do get their hands on the data, it won’t be enough to bring the company to its knees
Artificial Intelligence
Tech Buzzwords of 2021 list would never be complete without AI. AI and ML till a couple of years back were simply fads for developers or technologies only the very best of Silicon Valley could venture into or explore. But courtesy of COVID and its radicalization of the way IT companies conduct their day-to-day business, more and more companies are giving AI and ML a serious thought. AI brings forth many exciting possibilities for businesses, a few of which we’ve elucidated for you.
Real-time interaction with customers
Outcome Prediction
Streamlined hiring process
Rather than purchasing all the software, companies can now simply subscribe to these as services. Whenever they feel their need for a certain software has ended, they can end the subscription.Natural Language Processing is a must-have for any business that needs to constantly interact with customers, for example, food delivery apps, airline companies, or eCommerce apps. AI can be used to send personalized notifications to customers and even interact with them on a real-time basis. The chatbots we see now are all AI applications and can be further improved with developments in NLP.
If all the required data is provided, AI is capable of predicting outcomes – be it sales, clinical trials, or the stock market. This can be crucial for companies as they can gauge demand and then manufacture only when required. This will help efficiently maintain the inventory and cut costs.The banking and finance industry will also be heavily investing in AI and ML as these might prove instrumental in predicting stock and currency fluctuations.
However, the best application of AI will probably be in healthcare, where it can be used to predict clinical trial outcomes, epidemic threats, and even how a person will respond to treatment.
The IT world is brimming with young talent, but jobs are still a fraction of the number of candidates. In such highly competitive areas, AI can help select the best of the candidates for personal interviews with decision-makers. This reduces the time and effort of HR personnel greatly.
Recently, Pepsico hired a robot Vera to fill 250 posts. Vera screened 1500 candidates and selected 250 in less than half a day. An HR team would have taken 2 months.
SpaceX just bought a huge amount of Bitcoin.
Google has been experimenting with edge computing
Harley Davidson has implemented AR in its online stores.
With this article, we have explained in detail why these 6 tech buzzwords need to be implemented for your business to rise to greater heights.
For top-of-the-crop digital transformation services, or more information regarding the technologies that are set to shape the landscape of 2021, drop Radixweb a call or an email!
