As 2017 progresses, technology will continue to evolve rapidly. Businesses and regular people alike will look to adopt the latest tools and gadgets and incorporate them into their daily routines. To highlight this, here are a few tech-related predictions we have for next year.
1. Automation dependence. Smart machines are only growing in use. While it requires some investment, automation is incredibly cheap and when backed by cloud computing can replace human workers. While we don’t anticipate a rapid, mass adoption of these systems just yet, we can expect automation to become increasingly prevalent, especially when it comes to manufacturing and energy.
2. Greater scalability. The demands upon data centers are increasing at breakneck pace. We’re talking month-to-month. With greater focus and the integration of cloud computing in both service and infrastructure, this demand will only continue to grow. As a result, data centers will likely look for ways to boost their scalability.
3. The rise of software-defined infrastructure. Business that rely on technology as their backbone will look to adopt these SaaS models. The use of software-defined nodes (in other words, point of business operations) will grow. Storage, network, data, automation – all of these can be defined through software, and that’s likely to happen with greater frequency.
4. The continued growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is no stranger to most of us by now, and it will maintain its status as a notable trend this year. Appliances, vehicles, hardware, and all sorts of other things are going to integrate with the IoT. Businesses will gain valuable data via the IoT for purposes like security or understanding network traffic. However, the IoT also creates some network safety risks. Keep an eye on how the IoT changes this year.
5. Businesses leveraging big data. Automation, smart machines, smart learning, and connectivity will create gigantic pools of information. Subsequently, companies will want to analyze and create easy-to-understand forms of this data to benefit themselves. For tech businesses, big data is the nectar of life, and they all want a taste.
6. Mobile emphasis. There’s nothing stronger than a company that can work on the go. Time and time again it has been stressed that the power of mobile connectivity keeps an organization productive even when workers aren’t physically at the office. With technology allowing for the mobile approach, expect marriage to mobile tech and its power to become even more normalized in 2017.