Upcoming Trends in Tech

UPCOMING TRENDS IN TECH

Like any tech lover, sometimes I like to take some time to look ahead and wonder what’s in store on the technology front. And as I ponder what the future has in store for businesses across Canada, the following key tech trends come to mind:

E-Wallets are coming. Canadian banks launched their first pilot programs to support smartphone-based payments in 2012, and these types of programs should see rapid expansion as the technology matures and more Canadians purchase ecommerce-capable devices (usually equipped with NFC chips). Businesses of all types will need to get up to speed as more customers increasingly expect mobile payment options.

Touch, touch, touch. First it was smart phones, then tablets. Now, laptop and desktop computers are increasingly shipping with touch-based screens. Over the next year, a rising tide of touch-enabled hardware will begin to change how work gets done in and out of the office.

Higher cloud adoption rates. The cloud will continue to make inroads, and by year’s end we can expect it to touch even the most resistant businesses. The reasons are easy to see, and few revolutions promise as much efficiency and agility as the cloud.

The need for desktop and mobile device security. Hackers and scammers continue to up their game. Traditional spam and phishing techniques are being replaced by more sophisticated social engineering attacks that make it even easier for them to get at our confidential information. Identity theft continues to be a major concern for businesses and consumers. This will hopefully prompt businesses in all sectors to increase their focus on online security in 2013.

But there is a silver lining: security vendors are also getting better at fighting threats, and the array of protective products and services has never been as extensive. Expect them to continue to maintain the upper hand as the year wears on.

Everything connecting to the Internet. Not so long ago, the only thing that went online was a computer or mobile device. These days, almost anything can be Internet-enabled, and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication – technology that allows machines to talk back and forth with each other – will be coming out in a big way. This will open up a whole new marketplace full of opportunities for Canadian businesses.

Computerization. The so-called bring your own device (BYOD) revolution is changing the face of corporate technology. Increasingly, employees are bringing their own laptops, tablets and smartphones to work, and insisting on being hooked up. The BYOD wave will intensify in 2013, and companies that have held off on letting consumer-based tech into the corporate landscape will have fewer reasons to say no.

The Bottom Line

Only time will tell precisely how these trends will play out, and how they’ll impact your particular organization, but one thing is certain – the opportunities for organizations that embrace this tech-forward future are almost limitless. What new or emerging technology has you most excited?

THE TOUCH GENERATION

When’s the last time you pressed a button?

You probably press buttons all day, but do you ever get the feeling that you’re pressing less of them? That’s because you probably are. Touch screens have moved to the forefront of the consumer tech landscape, but what is it about this technology that has allowed it to slowly permeate our lives? For example, I’m in the market for a Kindle, and though the plain $79 version is cheaper, the Kindle Touch mesmerizes me. Why? Swiping is just another way to navigate and only slightly faster. More to the point, why does the Kindle Touch even exist?

Perhaps touch has always been a sign of the future. Remember when Palm Pilots were cutting edge? How about when Sony had those touchscreen cameras? Touch seems to fulfill a fantasy vision of an imagined future that was cultivated from science fiction and dangles before us like a carrot.

Despite two Iraq wars, the dawning of a new millennium, 9/11 and the election of the first African American president, it doesn’t seem that long ago when technology was more science fiction than reality. Weren’t we all just using joysticks and buttons to play Pac-Man and Centipede on behemoth machines down at the local arcade, frantically inserting an allowance worth of quarters in search of new high scores? Didn’t the geometric graphics more closely resemble Cold War hammer and sickle shapes than the complex alternative universe available today in games like Skyrim? Whether it is a video game or a rock song, it’s commonly believed that 20 years needs to pass before something can be considered a classic. But time works in strange and labyrinthine ways. In the years it took the old games and gaming systems to go the way of the dinosaur, new inventions, razor-thin gadgets, social media platforms and touch screen technologies have exploded onto the scene, forever changing our modes of communication, business and information assessment. The modern world has finally caught up to it science fiction dreams.

Touch screens are the frontline in our forward march into a brave new world. What started out with ATM machines and supermarket scanners and pay-screens has morphed into a commonplace, technological standard. Technology that wasn’t designed with touch technology (see: phones, ereaders, portable gaming systems, tablets, etc.) have been switched over. The Hours of Servicelogs outfitted in truckers’ 18-wheelers used to be paper logs and have evolved into high-tech GPS fuel managers navigated by, you guessed it, touch screen. The touch generation has found its way into all facets of modern society. Touch screens are too ubiquitous and solidly integrated into the world to be considered a fad. Touch is not a novelty act like Microsoft’s newest 3-D virtual platform, HoloDesk. Like it or not, touch screens are here to stay. 

Change is difficult, and people get set in their ways. While it is easy to wax romantic and refer to these latest technological devices as extensions of our bodies, in the end they are just tools for interacting with our environments and will eventually give way to the next technological advances.