2017 Tech Trends For Business
Here is The ROI Reports top 10 technology trends for business in 2017:
10.) 3-D Printing
From prototyping production items to building replacement parts on demand, 3-D printing is here to stay. Businesses will need to ensure database infrastructure can handle the design repositories.
Every maintenance department and office will own a 3-D Printer.
9.) Image Recognition
Though already a tech world mainstay, businesses will be interfacing with the central visual recognition data of Amazon, Google, and IBM.
Visual sensors will give immediate feedback on everything: lighting control operation to whether the landscaping is up to par.
8.) Digital Interfaces
Application Program Interfaces (“APIs”) create full integration between software packages. These integrations give companies complete interconnection between departments, eliminating information silos.
If your software platform doesn’t allow open API’s, ditch it in 2017!
7.) Everything Mobile
On-boarding, continual training, maintenance procedures, reporting, etc. Knowledge needs to be readily available, mobile, and secured. With 5G networks just a few years out, companies need to have their foundation established today.
If it isn’t mobile, it is of no use!
6.) Cloud-Based
This and #7 go hand in hand. Every major computing company from Amazon to ZOHO have invested long on cloud models. Highly available, redundant, business resiliency, best in class security, and extreme overhead cost reduction are just a few of the countless benefits.
Bare metal environments are dinosaurs. It is a bold, new cloud-based world.
5.) PCI Compliance
Security is the largest concern with cloud-basing. There are many solutions that have passed PCI Compliance testing. Even the epitome of cloud-based solutions, Kubernetes, has been implemented with PCI compliance success. Outside of credit card processing, PCI is rarely seen as a standard. This is changing.
PCI DSS Standards will be the norm for all bytes of data within a platform from asset GPS coordinates to thermostat temperature settings.
4.) Virtual Reality
We’ve all seen the Oculus Rift goggles and watched the roller-coaster grandma on the news:
When used in conjunction with training and site-familiarization data, this becomes the ultimate onboarding tool. Think of how this could make any department more efficient through virtual hands-on experience.
Virtual Reality training and 360 degree documentation of assets will take business management to the next gen level.
3.) Augmented Reality
Google Glass was introduced in 2013. Though they ran into legislation and privacy issues, this tech is being used by the largest enterprise corporations. Boeing used APX Labs to lower installation error rates with huge success. The ability to have data streamed directly to a visor window will empower even entry-level workers with complete Organizational Intelligence.
Business productivity will increase exponentially using Augmented Reality environments.
2.) Big Data
One of the big buzzwords for the past 5 years, yet one of the least understood. We create so much data in business and don’t even think about it. Have you ever scratched out “the best thought” on a Post-it only needing to recreate it because the note was lost? This happens every day in operating a business. Solutions such as Evernote digitize these moments. Now we are understanding that all of these micro-data moments are important and require management. This data glut is only going to increase with IoT devices flooding the market.
Storing, categorizing, sorting, and querying micro-data is on the rise with IoT. Businesses need big data management solutions right away.
1.) Artificial Intelligence
Machine learning will deliver the largest productivity increase in 2017. The AI systems feed the Augmented Reality devices with proactive data. Since an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, AI algorithms are processing Big Data at humanly impossible speeds to find the trending patterns. Asset tools, such as FARAH (Fixed Asset Revenue Accrual Heuristic), will take the market by storm, creating “mechanical advantage” for maintenance and finance departments. AI uses computers to do what they do best, process and compute data instantly in order to flag a potential problem.
If platforms don’t actively use AI machine learning, then they are perpetuating Real Ignorance.
Feel free to comment or add suggestions to grow the list. I wish you all the profits in the world in 2017, and always remember: “the lack of money is the root of all evil.”
