NashTech, a technology company specialising in software development with experience and insight into the international technology industry, has predicted eight technology trends that will dominate in 2018.
Over the last few years, cloud was considered to be the future of technology. However, while this continues to evolve at an incredible rate, it has become the standard. So, what are the trends in technology over the next 12 months?
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is software that mimics the decision making abilities of humans and is based on continuous learning and subsequent refinement of the algorithms on which these decisions are made. Typically, it can access vast quantities of factual information and research, in real time, so as to potentially improve on the equivalent human activity.
No AI machine has reached perfection yet, but the ability to answer questions about diagnosable diseases, respond to customers’ inquiries about products, recognise handwriting, voice and face or even automated / driverless cars can give us hope for a perfect AI machine in the near future.
Big Data & Analytics
Big Data is a term used to describe data sets that are large and usually taken from multiple sources. They cannot be processed using traditional techniques and technologies.
When combined with other technologies, Big Data can make a huge difference to business and science. Tasks, such as forecasting traffic and journey times at a particular time of day, personalising media content, suggesting appropriate products and services or predicting financial trends, are all driven by the use of Big Data.
Industrial Automation
In its simplest form, Industrial Automation allows computers to process information or to perform repetitive tasks more reliably and productively than humans. Industrial Automation not only increases productivity and decreases operational costs for personnel, but also enhances the quality and flexibility of manufacturing.
When automation is combined with Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, computers can start to automate complex decisions and procedures or give relevant suggestions and predictions. From this, machines can automatically produce deep insights for humans to take action on.
A great example is the car parking technology developed by Ford Motor Co. which combines IoT, GPS, Big Data & AI to predict parking availability within a given area. In real time, it guides drivers to free spaces, takes payment where appropriate and sends reminders when their allotted parking time is nearly up.
Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT can not only be applied to individual devices operating independently but they can link up, exchange data and react to external influences. All of these devices are getting ‘smarter’ when they are digitalised by being attached to microprocessors and sensor devices. As an example, a hospital in Singapore collects and analyses ambient noise data, giving advanced warnings of emergency situations as they start to develop or of patients about to need assistance.
IoT forms part of ‘Industry 4.0’ along with Big Data, AI and Industrial Automation and, according to Cisco, by 2050, there will be over 50 billion IoT devices in the world.
Blockchain
Blockchain is a peer-2-peer technology originally developed as a core component of bitcoin. It is highly secure (based on a complicated encoding system) and all transactions are time stamped by design.
The information in blockchain can only be changed with the agreement of all the blocks within the chain. Even if part of a blockchain collapses, other blocks will work to secure the information. This makes it ideal for sensitive data such as electronic ledger transactions where provenance and traceability are key requirements.
Blockchain has been applied to global financial transactions with great effectiveness and security and has led to much improved efficiency for businesses. It has now moved beyond the finance industry and has been adopted in other fields such as the legal profession, logistics and supply chain management, etc.
Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR)
VR & AR allow people to experience the world differently. During the last couple of years companies such as Google, Microsoft & Facebook have been pushing the boundaries and developing new products that have become commonplace in a number of industries from entertainment to science and research.
Headless interfaces
Headless interfaces have become more popular, where AR / VR, IoT, sensor devices etc… can enable users, using voices or hand gestures, to interact with screens more naturally without using a mouse, keyboard or touching the screen.
Modern Software Architecture
Modern Software Architecture is a term covering a number of different models, such as micro-services, serverless and reactive architecture. What they all have in common is that they break up monolithic applications into smaller, distributed, re-usable services that work better in cloud environments, communicate via API’s and are easier to scale.
Because each service handles one specific task and they’re de-coupled from each other, they can be mixed to quickly spin up new applications.
All of the above examples are being researched and developed by talented engineers at NashTech, the largest foreign technology company in Vietnam. NashTech is currently involved in consulting and delivering international projects for global clients, such as Ford, Google, Hearst Corporation, Kings College London and Nestle.
Source: Nashtechglobal
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