The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world to make huge technological leaps to cope with sudden and exceptional circumstances. Organizations everywhere had to transfer most of their activity to the digital space. With the New Year looming on the horizon it seems that the pursuit of IT modernization will not end anytime soon.
In this article, we are discussing the top 10 technology trends that organizations will face in 2021 and the challenges that come with them.
- 5G Technology Will Become Mainstream
We have been talking about 5G technology for years, and from 2021, it will become prevalent across the country. The new technology will reward users with better connectivity, more bandwidth, and a whole new level of digital collaboration. Any organization that will want to avoid being left behind will have to upgrade from 4G to 5G, and the earlier, the better.
- The Imminent Rise of APIs
Application programming interfaces (APIs) are the elements that will help organizations build their performance and collaborations on a scalable system for storing and managing data. Cloud technology set the trend a few years ago, and APIs are taking it to the next level.
- Greater focus on cybersecurity
With all technological advancement comes the downside of a higher risk of cybercrime. As more and more employees work from home, the task of keeping a company’s network security becomes more difficult, if not impossible. Regardless of the industry in which they activate, organizations will have to enhance their cybersecurity protections.
- XaaS (Everything-as-a-Service)
‘As-a-Service’ (aaS) has steadily become the standard of cloud technology services. More and more companies are now looking into the next level of ‘-aaS’, which is XaaS (Everything-as-a-Service). The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) should accelerate the demand for cloud-based services that include absolutely everything necessary to a company of any kind through a single gateway.
- Widespread Use of Automation
More and more organizations have to cut costs to survive the financial blow caused by the pandemic, so their attention turns towards automation. Robotics technology has come a long way in the past decade. Instead of becoming our overlords, as many 80s Sci-Fi movies tried to predict, robots could replace/augment humans and help companies, if not entire industries survive the economic crisis.
- Work from Home
One of the most visible effects of the pandemic in almost every organization’s functionality is the transfer from a crowded office to flexible ‘work from home’. Most employees have embraced the possibility of working from the comfort of their living rooms in their pajamas. Employers also save a bit of money on renting offices and parking spots. However, 2021 might bring a challenge for most organizations as temporary IT systems must be replaced with long-term IT solutions and business-level internet for key employees.
- AIaaS (Artificial Intelligence-as-a-Service)
AI is evolving at breakneck speed. However, smaller organizations cannot afford to deploy the remarkable advances in data processing, face and speech recognition, deep learning, and analytics on their own. Of course, the implementation costs are not small, but if they want to get with the times, many companies will have to consider incorporating AIaaS (Artificial Intelligence-as-a-Service) starting with 2021.
- Quantum Computing
Quantum computing hasn’t made too many headlines in 2020, but it should make a sensational return in 2021. Some of the biggest names in the industry like Splunk and Quantum Computing Inc, Honeywell and Microsoft, as well as AWS and IonQ have been investing significant resources in this technology, which may become crucial in the fight against the pandemic. With quantum computing, organizations can access, screen, and analyze colossal amounts of data at lightning speed and from multiple sources, which can considerably enhance the management data regarding the evolution of the pandemic.
- Improvements in Customer Experience
Having the best product or service in your niche will not bring the greatest profits in 2021. The youngest generations of consumers put a higher price on comfort, loyalty, and integration with smart technology. The consistent improvements in chatbot technology will help many organizations customize their communication to offer a better customer experience.
- Greater Investment in Security
Besides bigger investments in customer experience, another trend in 2021 will be to update security solutions for clients and website visitors. The ever-increasing importance of user data accentuates the imminent investment in data security, which should diminish the risk of breaches of data protection systems.
At Technical Action Group we are excited by offering our clients the newest technologies on the horizon. Speak to a TAG representative to learn more about the technologies discussed, and how you can use them for your organization.
