Emerging technology is one of the most thrilling areas of the IT field – especially because many other areas of the field could seem a bit – err – boring to the uninitiated! In 2021, emerging technology is set to be as thrilling as ever, with LG’s self-emptying vacuums, myriad foldable/rollable phones and Samsung’s wine-pouring home robot leading the way in CES debuts.
Exciting as these go-go-gadgets are, they’re not exactly realistic or useful in a business IT sense – but if you dig a little deeper than the attention-grabbing CES innovation showcase, you’ll find plenty to get excited about in future tech for everyday SMEs. It may not be emerging tech per se, but it’s tech that’s transcending big business and moving from novelty to everyday functionality. We’d call that ‘rising tech’, and at Xenex, that’s our focus.
Here are our top three picks for functional rising technologies in 2021.
Messenger Bots
You may have already used a messenger bot sometime in the last few years. It’s not exactly an ‘emerging’ technology, but it’s certainly a significant rising one. Big telecommunications businesses like Telstra have been shepherding customer enquiries toward their chatbot system for a while now, presumably because it automates a part of the customer journey and therefore makes for more efficient service. Facebook Messenger bots for business are particularly popular, with the number of active bots doubling from 2018-2019. But with businesses increasingly relying on social media to operate, we’d expect a greater need for business privacy and security protocols in IT moving forward.
5G Networks
No, it doesn’t cause COVID – but it does cause super-fast WiFi. If you haven’t heard about it, 5G is the ‘fifth generation’ in mobile wireless network technology and is projected to be 10-20 times faster than a standard 4G connection. 5G can reach a download speed of 500-1500 Mbps, which is virtually an instant download. This is perhaps the most important emerging technology for businesses – in fact, it’s being rolled out across Australia as you read this and you won’t need to lift a finger! 5G towers are only about the size of a mini-fridge, so they can be deployed everywhere without much fuss and are set to improve network connectivity in regional areas too. This of course makes business infinitely easier in remote scenarios and makes remote IT support more of a possibility too.
Business Automation
More of a trend than a technology, automation has become a tech goal for businesses around the world. The underlying theory is the more menial tasks that can be automated, the more time you and your staff have to spend on important work.
According to a Forbes article on technology and the changing face of business, ‘time and effort that used to be spent on repetitive tasks is being reallocated to higher-level work. At the same time, companies are increasingly looking for prospective hires who have the ability to work alongside machines. Business leaders must collaborate with their staff to understand how roles are changing as AI takes on more of the workload.’ It’s not only job roles that will be changing as automation continues to rise, though – the hardware and software that supports automation will need to be implemented, managed and adjusted as time goes on. That signals a big role for managed IT service providers in the future.
If you’re looking to up your business tech game, Xenex can help – we offer full scale managed IT services both onsite in Perth and remotely across the globe. With a managed IT service, you won’t need to stay on top of emerging business tech trends at all. That’s our job!
Reach out to Xenex today to chat about managed IT, or browse our service pages to see what else we have to offer small and medium business owners.
