Three Technology Trends to Look Out For in 2021
2020 has been a bit of a strange one, to say the least. The big elephant in the room, that has completely changed everyone’s lives, is COVID-19. Both our personal and professional lives have been deeply affected. Nearly every aspect of the global economy, from travel to hospitality was impacted, with even the technology industry seeing huge layoffs and scaling back on ambitious projects.
However, with the economy recovering, and businesses having quickly adapted, 2021 is looking a lot more promising than what we could have imagined just a few months ago. Though the next 12 months will throw a lot of challenges, below we’ve listed three technology trends we expect to see as companies begin to shift back into a growth mindset, and life begins to return to normality.
💻 Continued expansion of remote working
Zoom, a company started back in 2011, suddenly became a household name back in March as people scrambled to adapt to working from home. After years of debate around remote working, suddenly everyone was thrust into this new way of working and had to quickly make it work for them.
As individuals, the lack of commute, more flexible working hours, and more time with loved ones helped ease this transition. However, within a few weeks the challenge of ‘Zoom fatigue’ started creeping up in conversations, as people began to feel far more drained than ever. But working remotely in the midst of a pandemic, when life outside of your work has been restricted due to lockdowns, is nothing like remote work in a normal world.
As a business, the advantages of a remote workforce present an incredible opportunity to scale out your operations. Now, you’re not restricted to just the city your office was based in when looking for new talent. Plus, as EY pointed out, remote workers are less likely to take short absences due to illnesses, and can have a positive impact on the remuneration system and provide insights into HR opportunities.
Expect as vaccine rollout is more widespread, and we begin to return to something that looks a bit more ‘normal’, for more people to adopt a hybrid approach to the office, with a week split between working remotely and making the journey into the office. Or to spend the majority of your working time remote, using an office just for team meetings
Until then, here’s an article with some advice around how to combat the current challenges of working remotely in these strange times: https://www.cipd.co.uk/Community/blogs/b/the_people_profession_now_and_for_the_future/posts/covid-19-how-to-reduce-stress-and-maintain-a-work-life-balance-while-working-from-home
📱 Further 5G connectivity
The next-generation technology boasts anywhere from 10 to 100 times the speed of 4G, and is expected to fuel transformative new technologies, not just for consumers but also for businesses, infrastructure and defence applications.
After a PR disaster at the beginning of the year from Covid conspiracy theorists trying to link it up with the virus, Apple’s unveiling of their iPhone 12 line-up supporting 5G connectivity turned the conversation back to its benefits, specifically around is ability to provide faster download and upload speeds, speeding up everything from loading websites to downloading TV shows.
“Whatever we do now with our smartphones we’ll be able to do faster and better,” Ian Fogg, from OpenSignal, says.
“Think of smart glasses featuring augmented reality, mobile virtual reality, much higher quality video, the internet of things making cities smarter.
“But what’s really exciting is all the new services that will be built that we can’t foresee”.
More than half of all phones bought in China in the past three months work with 5G networks, and 60% of all phones sold in western Europe and North America in 2021 are expected to support 5G, growing to 85% in 2024, according to a report.
So, expect to start quickly seeing the benefits of this new technology this year.
🤖 Wider AI adoption
The benefits of AI to reduce operational costs, increase efficiency, grow revenue and improve customer experience have long been shouted about, but as R&D investments ramp up this year, expect wider AI adoption across a range of businesses.
“As the grip of the pandemic continues to affect the ability of the enterprise to operate, AI in many guises will become increasingly important as businesses seek to understand their COVID-affected data sets and continue to automate day-to-day tasks,” Wayne Butterfield, director of ISG Automation, says.
Two areas we think will see the biggest adoption are in data mining and automation.
Data mining allows you to quickly obtain relevant findings during the processing of big data, providing you with previously undiscovered insights that can help give you an advantage in the marketplace.
Automation provides a wealth of opportunity, helping free up employees from repetitive tasks and instead focus their efforts on more challenging and rewarding activities, to help you scale your business, and make your workforce more excited and engaged in their work.
Plus, with process automation, the reduction of error, and the technology’s capabilities boosting customer experience and sales, you cannot just save money on expensive processes, but actually dramatically increase revenue.
McKinsey & Co released their Global AI Survey in November 2019 that found that 63% of responding executives reported revenue increases due to AI, with 44% citing reduced costs as a result of the adoption of the technology. Already so many businesses have jumped on the possibilities of AI adoption, and expect this to further increase throughout 2021.
Looking ahead
Of course, there’s so much more we could have spoken about here. Expect conversations around digital nomadism, work/life balance, and a host of other topics to become more widespread as the year goes on. Despite the challenges of this year, which will follow us into 2021, 2020 also showed us just how resilient we are in the face of adversity. Whether it be the support shown towards the NHS, or the countless amount of fundraising for charities and people affected by the crisis, or even all the stories of people helping vulnerable people in their communities in numerous ways, we have shown that, as a nation, we have shown that we will go the extra mile to help and support those in need.
Here at Excelledia, we’re trying to do our part, by offering out our business and technology talent to support Northern Irish startups and SMEs in building out prototypes or helping to pivot your product for free. It’s a small step, but one we hope will help better our community in a little way.
If you are a startup or SME who needs some support, or want to discuss your idea with us, contact conall@excelledia.com and we’d love to help you.
From all of us here, we wish you a happy holiday season, and an exciting 2021.
