The times have truly changed, with so
many successful examples of digitally
led organizations giving traditional
businesses a run for their money.
There’s an interesting observation doing
rounds on various social media sites, which
says that today, the world’s largest taxi
service, Uber, owns no taxis; the world’s largest
accommodation provider, Airbnb, owns
no real estate; the largest phone company,
Skype, owns no telecom infrastructure; the
world’s most valuable retailer, Alibaba, has
no inventory; the most popular media owner,
Facebook creates no content; and the world’s
largest movie house, Netflix owns no cinemas!
We all know these examples and use their
(or other Indian companies’) services very
regularly. They’ve clearly proven how to do
business digitally successfully, by using all
the hot technologies we have been talking of
over the past few years—social media, mobility,
analytics, cloud computing, and IoT.
The good thing about all this is that today,
any organization, large or small, has access to
affordable technology, and can make it big if
they have an innovative business idea. Here
are a few technology trends that could be
leveraged this year
Mobility:
This one technology dominates
all others, thanks to its spread. There are
several key trends to leverage in this space.
One of them is mobile payments, and we’ve
given an example of that in this issue. The
other is to use the mobile platform for various
on-demand services. You could today
for instance, order grocery by taking a snap
of your list and sending it by WhatsApp to
a vendor. Now that’s really on-demand!
Likewise, you could ask for medical advice
from your doctor, book a movie ticket, ask
for a plumber or electrician, and so on. It’s
one technology that any business can and
should leverage.
Rise of IoT and Sensors:
This is another
tech to watch out for. According to Gartner,
there will be 6.4 billion connected things
in 2016, with 5.5 million new ones getting
connected every day. These will get into just
about every object you can think of, including
what you wear, even clothes! Imagine going
to a store with payment enabled clothing or
any other wearable device. Companies like
MasterCard and Visa have already demonstrated
this and are making every gadget,
wearable, and accessory payment enabled.
According to research firm Tractica, there
will be $501 billion of wearable payment
transactions by 2020. You’ll have to see how
it impacts your industry. If you’re from banking
or retail, you’ll have to integrate these
payment methods. Google Pay and Apple
Pay have already tied up with MasterCard
and Visa programs for enabling payments
through various devices. Wearable electronics
market is expected to reach USD 70 billion
by 2025 from the current 20 USD billion, and
healthcare will be the dominant sector, according
to IDTechEx.
3D Printing: Future of Mfg.:
I covered
why this technology is the future of
manufacturing in my last column. In
short, this technology has the potential
to allow every company to do localized
manufacturing. As a result, PWC estimates
that 40% of air and shipping cargo is under
threat. 3D bio-printing has the potential
to reshape healthcare, while nano printing
could fuel e-textiles. According to research
firm Canalysis, 3D printing could become a
$16.2 billion industry by 2018.
Security becomes more critical:
Amidstall
these technologies, technology will play a
crucial role, because in a connected world,
the number of doors for security threats
to come in will grow multi-fold. It will be
important therefore, to safeguard all doors
and have more intelligent security solutions
in place.
Rise of Next-Gen Traffic:
More mobile
devices, IoT sensors, wearables, home
security systems and appliances, vending
machines, etc. will drive traditional
networks to the breaking point. What will be
required is to re-think network design and
management strategies.
These are just a few key technologies
to watch out for this year. We’ve talked
about some of them specifically for small
and mid-sized businesses in our cover story.
What’s important is to understand these
technologies well before others, else your
industry might also get disrupted soon.
Maybe the world’s largest banker won’t have
any branches, healthcare providers may not
have any hospitals, and manufacturers may
not have large factories. The possibilities are
endless. You must understand trends ahead
of time, integrate new technologies with
traditional ones, and be more agile in setting
up prototypes of new solutions
Take the risk before someone else does
and disrupts your business!
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