Technologies that will dominate 2018

If implemented the right way, technology can change the face of how a business can flourish within a set period of time.

Technology has made a pivotal impact on businesses and how they are run today. Starting from the business language, to how we deal with our clients, everything has changed so much that it makes one wonder what will we do without these cutting-edge technologies, especially when we are living in an extremely competitive environment.

If implemented the right way, technology can change the face of how a business can flourish within a set period of time. It’s more like being a game-changer, seeking to disrupt the otherwise old traditions and patterns of the business model.

Looking at the various forms where technology played an important role in a business or an organisation, I believe there are few trends that will thrive in 2018, developing, increasing and proliferating the technology landscape.

Let’s take a closer look at the top five new exciting trends that I am excited about in 2018:

1) Smart Fusion of AI & ML - It is the combination of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) that makes them so amazing. Of course, these technologies have been around for a while and have been implemented separately but to realise their true power, it is important that both these technologies are combined and used together. 2018 will form a ground-breaking and successful path which would be full of innovation to help sort business processes and operations making the function more effectively.

2) Data Augmentation - 2018 will witness the biggest technology movement, using Data Analytics, converging the two most important worlds, reality and virtual. With this convergence, it will help a host of industries including IoT, HigherEd, Security, SaaS, IT to predict what’s required and what’s not, making them ready for augmenting a customer’s experience. Data analytics will help personalise, plan, increase accuracy and speed throughout the product’s lifecycle.

3) Blockchain adoption - One of the most sought-after technology, Blockchain saw an increase in adoption by financial institutions, with an aggregate value of 4X (almost above $100 billion) in 2017. It’s predicted that Blockchain will go through mainstream adoption in the coming five to 10 years and will be great to track data in automotive and healthcare, also to be used by education institutions to secure students’ data. 2018 will also see enterprises leveraging Blockchain to decentralise storage to make data more secure. Let's wait and see how this unfolds.

4) Edge Computing -  It is the direct development of the Internet of Things (IoT), increasing analytical and computing power that is not traditionally used or integrated with machines. It is expected to grow in the IoT, making machines more intelligent, enabling them to compute, learn and analyse on their own.

5) Mobility - Most of the traffic has migrated from computers to mobile devices and will keep growing for the next few years and is expected to increase eightfold by 2020. With e-commerce, the mobility trend has and is changing the face of online transactions, which are now carried out using mobile devices. This traffic will significantly rise in 2018, satisfying consumers with an easy outlet, converting traffic into sales and providing better customer experience.

The bottomline is...

There is a constant change in the world of technology, transforming the business ecosystems. 2017 has witnessed multiple levels of changes that it’s not easy to limit the technology market to top five trends.

But looking at the growth rate at how they have been developing various industries starting from healthcare to education to finance to retail etc., these technologies will continue to dominate the tech domain in 2018.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)