Haris Ahmed of Chicago: Top 3 Technology Trends to Embrace
Haris Ahmed, a Chicago consultant from Pragmatium Consulting, Inc. put together this blog with the goal of reaching out to organizational leaders who are in need of assistance improve their operations.
The past decade has seen the business landscape change in such rapid fashion that many businesses find themselves trapped in their old ways of thinking and doing. Besides geo-political and geo-economic events whose effects reverberate throughout the world, one type of change that has disrupted practically every facet of daily living is technological change. Compared to the rituals of daily living, however, businesses are more pressured to adapt to technological changes, even to those that are seemingly outside of their industry. This is because best practices of market leaders are often visible and familiar to consumers, hence the expectations on other market players are greater. With that said, whether you’re in retail, real estate, or any other industry for that matter, here are some of the biggest technology trends to watch out for.
#1: Internet of Things – Soon, every imaginable device will be interconnected, and the data provided by these objects will transform the way we live and work. The Internet of Things has already found wide application among the transportation, manufacturing, and healthcare sectors, and by 2021, it is expected to become a $123 billion industry, a hefty sum which should catch the attention of business leaders and entrepreneurs. While there’s still a lot of work left to be done in terms of infrastructure and security, IoT is seen to pave the way for an industrial revolution that is characterized by data-driven decisions and solutions.
#2: Augmented reality – Without a doubt, Pokémon Go has been the biggest success story of augmented reality thus far. Beyond nostalgia and fulfillment of childhood dreams of becoming a Pokémon trainer, however, the hit game by Niantic has also been found to have substantial implications on physical activity. In a study done by Althoff et al., mobile apps that combine game play and physical activity like Pokémon Go were found to have led to short-term activity increases. They noted that Pokémon Go alone added a total of 144 billion steps to US physical activity across men and women of all ages, a feat which should pique the interest of business leaders on how they can seamlessly integrate this technology to customers’ experiences.
#3: Artificial intelligence – Artificial intelligence started last year on a high note, thanks to Google’s AlphaGo system which beat Go world-champion Lee Sedol in 4 of 5 matches. The historic victory has led to a resurgence in the belief that artificial intelligence will one day be able to solve complex problems in real-life situations. Without getting ahead of ourselves however, AI appears to be well on its way to cracking more codes of ground-breaking technologies. Google, for instance, has also come up with a system that can generate natural-sounding speech and music. Called WaveNet, this neural network can potentially pave the way for smooth-talking robots in the near future.
For more from Haris Ahmed, a Chicago consultant and leadership expert, stay tuned to this page.