Tag: Blockchain
Supercharge Your Business with These 11 Hot Tech Trends
Technology is having an ever-greater impact on our personal lives and most importantly on the way we do business. The business world has transformed rapidly in the past few years and it will evidently continue to change the pace of business in the years to come. Whether it is the production of goods or the computing devices used at the office, new technologies have helped businesses run smoother and more effectively. As information travels more quickly and reliably, businesses are realizing how easy it is to grow globally and across multiple sectors. To gain benefits, however, businesses must keep up with technology and adopt new trends. This article discusses 11 tech trends to look forward to in the next couple of years. First, let us understand what drives these tech trends, and then we will consider their impact on businesses.
What Will Drive the Evolution of Tech Trends?
Two major reasons for the evolution of all kinds of tech trends are our day-to-day business challenges and the passion for innovation. As an intelligent being, it is normal for human beings to innovate to live better. However, from a business standpoint, it is about optimizing all that humans are capable of accomplishing and that includes making profits.
1. Greater predictive levels and programmability will reshape cybersecurity
Cybersecurity will be one of the prominent IT functions to mature. New technologies will bring about a fundamental shift in cybersecurity as they enable greater predictive capabilities and programmability. It will become more predictive with the use of large-scale data along with AI, analytics, and machine learning. As a general rule, the more we have, the more difficult it becomes to protect it from thieves. That is not the case with immense data accumulation. Even as data increases it will become easier to determine and match patterns to both predict and shut down any attack vectors.
As every element of infrastructure becomes programmable, you can put a firewall inside the software of all virtual machines in your architecture, thus limiting the flow of data within the software. This will eliminate the need of storing data on a network from where the data can easily be hacked or stolen. Businesses will continue to see this capability emerge as programmability improves.
Read more: Safeguarding IT Infrastructure From Cyber Attacks – Best Practices
2. Promise of serverless computing
According to IDC’s prediction, “from 2018 to 2023 — with new tools/platforms, more developers, agile methods, and lots of code reuse — 500 million new logical apps will be created, equal to the number built over the past 40 years.” Currently, we are witnessing a distinct change in the application infrastructure with most businesses moving to cloud-native applications.
There are four distinct computing models that are evolving simultaneously such as virtual servers, physical servers, container-based computing, and serverless computing. Virtual servers and container-based computing make it easy to move applications. Whereas the promise of serverless computing offers greater agility and cost savings as the applications do not need to be deployed on a server. Alternatively, functions can be run from a cloud provider platform. It can return outputs and instantly release the associated resources. As businesses see a change in the infrastructure, they will have to make choices about how they approach development.
Read more: 5 Trends That Will Transform Cloud Computing in 2020
Accelerated in part by the long-term shutdown due to COVID-19, industries that design and manufacture products will quickly adopt cloud-based technology trends to aggregate and intelligently transform. In a couple of years, these intelligent algorithms will allow manufacturing assembly lines to optimize towards increased levels of output and enhanced product quality thereby reducing the overall waste in manufacturing by half.
3. IoT and Edge
IoT and Edge can rightly be termed as superpowers of the tech world. The developing, managing, and running of widespread IoT and Edge applications will grow in complexity with numerous endpoints. For example, audiovisual technologies are being used to achieve the same input as you would get when you connect numerous IoT sensors. When compared to individual sensors, these tech trends provide reasonable mass coverage at a minimum cost. This is only possible when AI and ML are integrated into the IoT platform. Powering and maintaining thousands of sensors is a daunting prospect. Audiovisual solutions can thus make this a significant growth area. As a result, these changes will have a profound impact on how the businesses get value out of new data that they are able to collect and process.
Read more: Gearing up for IoT in 2020
4. Everything will revolve around data
Enormous amounts of data collected from IoT devices and digital platforms can now be made available through application programming interfaces for business insights, analysis and to develop other applications. Collecting information from a sufficient amount of data-points enables you to model behavior and understand patterns and come to more accurate conclusions quickly with minimum cost. With abundant data from multiple touchpoints and new analytic tools, businesses are able to customize products and services by creating ever-finer consumer microsegments. Businesses that do not build around data will find themselves swamped by its enormity.
5. Voice control is the next evolution of human-machine interaction
The advent of voice technology such as Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant, and Amazon’s Alexa is disrupting businesses as it creates a three-way interaction between devices, services, and people. It has completely changed the way consumers interact with smart devices.
According to recent research, by 2024, the global voice-based smart speaker market could be worth $30 billion. This technology trend has a huge impact on how online searches will happen. Businesses will have to adapt their way of promoting their products and services. It will also affect the way companies are organized as internal knowledge can be shared more easily which improves the possibility of multitasking. This will result in increased productivity.
In the next couple of years, we will see a transformation of voice technology from being an information tool to a transaction tool. It offers the possibility to directly order from brands and perhaps even pay.
Read more: 6 Key Predictions for AI-Driven Voice Computing in 2020
6. Blockchain platform market
Blockchain started as an offshoot of the cryptocurrency movement. Now, it is evolving to find use cases beyond just the international settlement areas. According to Gartner, Blockchain will grow to slightly more than $176 billion by 2025 and continue to exceed $3.1 trillion by 2030. The marriage of Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence can significantly change the nature of transactional businesses. This is possible as Blockchain is a decentralized unchangeable space for encrypted data and AI will assist you in analyzing and interpreting that data quickly and reliably to drive actionable insights. There is great potential for this technology to have an immense impact on cybersecurity.
Read more: How Blockchain Enables the Insurance Industry to Tackle Data Challenges
7. Seamless blend of the digital twin
Applied technology will intersect between the physical and digital worlds, the digital twin. For example, the digital twin will have a perfect digital copy of the physical world. Applied technology will allow you to blend these two worlds seamlessly. The resulting immersive environments will have a pervasive impact on the industry. This twin will allow you to collaborate virtually, simulate conditions quickly, understand what-if scenarios clearly, predict results more accurately, and more. Most businesses are already aware of the benefits of applying the digital world to enhance the physical world. They are digitizing physical processes to reduce inconsistencies, redundancies, and human error.
Explore: Learn more about Digital Twin Technology
This pandemic has shown us that communication is not just for work but is required to form real emotional connections. In the next couple of years, AI technology will be used to connect people at a human level and drive them closer to each other. There has been a lot of concern over the security of video conferencing companies. However, these concerns will move companies to ensure that they provide secure digital connectivity for their consumers.
Being a secure video conferencing software, InfinCE has been a game-changer for enterprises of all sizes. Click here to explore
8. 5G will be the game-changer
5G has innumerable use cases beginning from healthcare to more reliable security. With 5G, the audio-video experience will be faster and clearer than it has ever been. On the flip side, 5G will enable businesses to provide remote opportunities for their employees with work experience that would be similar to that inside the office. It will bolster recruitment and retention efforts for top talent.
As more businesses move their critical tasks to the cloud, employees will become increasingly productive from wherever they work and with whatever device they use. Though currently, 5G coverage is limited, according to Ericson’s Mobility report, 5G subscriptions could cover up to 65% of the world’s population by 2025. Businesses that anticipate and embrace these emerging technology trends will see a positive impact in the years to come. Low latency 5G networks can help resolve the challenges caused by the absence of reliable networks and can facilitate more high-capacity services. Private 5G networks can offset the high cost of mobility with economy-boosting activities.
Read more: From Remote Work to Virtual Work, 5G is Reinventing the Way We Work
9. Data lakes enable new analytic models
Data lakes are storage repositories that contain quantitative and qualitative data. Data lakes enable new models of predictive analytics and help unlock the potential of digital twins. Since they can hold enormous amounts of data, organizations can leverage the insights, including discrete data points to create a ‘digital twin’ of each customer. You can gain access to customer details such as demographic data, browsing behavior, purchasing patterns, and payment preferences. The ability to gauge qualitative data will increase the demand for robust ERP systems and AI-driven automation. This would mean that businesses should acquire the skills to set up, manage, and secure their data lakes and build data models that will help extract the insights they require for ongoing innovation.
Read more: 7 Key Differences Between Data Lake and Data Warehouse
10. Sophisticated sentiment analysis for real-time insights
Sentiment analysis uses techniques to interpret and classify the ‘mood’ of your customers. Sophisticated sentiment analytical tools allow businesses to recognize the customers’ sentiment towards a product, a service, or a brand. It can also be used by the businesses to respond to the feedback with a proactive approach. It allows businesses to understand how people are feeling in real-time and proactively position products, services, and visual merchandise. In the future, this technology will be used in addition to tools such as conversation intelligence, text analysis, and natural language processing. It can enable innovation on demand. Businesses will find it advantageous to incorporate sentimental analysis into their data analysis in the areas of customer feedback, marketing, CRM, and e-commerce.
Read more: CTOs Guide – How Robotics and AI Can Improve Customer Experience
11. Micro-fulfillment for e-commerce fulfillment
Robotics has turned around numerous industries except for a few sectors such as grocery retail. With the new robotic application termed micro-fulfillment, grocery retailing will no longer remain the same. Micro fulfillment allows you to convert personal garages into storage spaces and can operate 5-10% more economically than a brick and mortar store. This rising trend is captured in tiny, urban warehouses that leverage high-end automated systems to complete online orders with greater efficiency. These centers are used to deliver goods rapidly, in as fast as an hour. Robotic arms can be used to pick up items. The application of robotics downstream at a ‘hyper-local’ level will disrupt the grocery retail industry. This technology trend will unlock wider access to food and a better customer proposition such as product availability, speed, and cost.
Read more: 5 Transformative Trends Ushered by B2B E-commerce in Healthcare and Life Sciences
How Technology will Continue to Disrupt Businesses?
The transformative potential of innovative technology trends is exciting businesses today. It will change the way businesses plan, start, manage, operate, market, and make a profit. The next couple of years will see profound improvements in addressing most business challenges as organizations develop and deploy solutions that will deliver tangible results. Driverless cars, 3d printing, artificial and business intelligence tools, robotics, and IoT are just a few examples of how technology has transformed or disrupted the business world and has the potential to continue to disrupt.
The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated worldwide collaboration, transparency of data, and speed at the highest levels to navigate the human and business impacts. Now is the time to recognize and support the opportunities for technology trends that can best and most rapidly address business challenges. Partner with us to capitalize on these trends and scale your business quickly.
Overcoming Data Challenges in Insurance: How Blockchain Helps
We live at a time when the global data regulators are increasing their data security requirements across businesses and industry verticals. Data being the most powerful asset of insurance providers, insurance companies worldwide have started implementing steps to secure confidential and sensitive information with the help of advanced technologies like blockchain. The vast growing data holds an immense potential to transform insurance companies, but managing the data coming from multiple sources throws up a lot of challenges. Here’s how blockchain helps in overcoming the data challenges in the insurance industry.
Data Challenges in Insurance Vertical
As you know, insurance is a data-centric service. Let it be life and annuity, property and casualty, risk, loss, or claims, insurers are dependent on large volumes of data for various workflows and operations. With increased data flow comes high risks associated with data storage. A wide range of mobile-friendly options is now made available for consumers by the insurance providers to share their personal data. When insurers request access to customer-specific information, they must ensure the authenticity and security of the data collected. The rapid adoption of digital transactions has left insurers in a complex situation to identify new ways to streamline processes and secure sensitive information.
A recent report from McKinsey states that an estimated 5 to 10 percent of all claims are fraudulent, which costs the US-based non-health insurers more than USD 40 billion per year. Besides handling huge amounts of data, the insurance industry struggles with complex compliance issues, third-party payment transaction challenges, slow growth in matured markets, and fraudulent claims activity. Insurers can overcome these obstacles by gaining more accountability, transparency and superior security provided by the blockchain tech.
Related Reading: Top Five Barriers To Growth and Adoption Of Virtual Customers
How Blockchain Rescues Insurance Companies
For an insurance provider to capitalize on the large volumes of data generated, the data must be analyzed in depth to derive useful insights. This process first requires the data to be stored in a trusted manner. Blockchain allows an action to be performed using a predetermined set of rules that are based on threshold triggers in the data. This huge potential of blockchain plays a major role in saving cost and time as well as increasing your business value.
Blockchain makes use of advanced cryptographic techniques, also known as distributed ledgers, to store data. A secure ledger of data is created which cannot be modified, added, or removed without proper authorization. The advantage of Blockchain that is leveraged by the insurance industry over other technologies is the data security it offers along with clear audit trails. The data stored in a blockchain is immutable as it resides in a distributed ledger that executes transactions using a consensus-based mechanism. Each action is recorded permanently with a time and date stamp, such as titles or document histories, which improves the storage’s credibility.
Securing Insurance Data
Blockchain offers the following capabilities to handle data challenges in the insurance industry:
1. Distributed Network – Every participant in the blockchain network has a full copy of the ledger. This ensures transparency among all those who’re part of the insurance workflow.
2. Programmable Network – Blockchain is programmable with the use of smart contracts, also known as crypto contracts. These are programs that control the transfer of digital currencies and assets between parties directly. They also execute transactions and simplify repetitive processes with real-time auditing and assessment of risks.
3. Time-stamped Transactions – Transaction timestamps are recorded in a block which ensures no data is corrupted/ tampered.
4. Secure – Records are individually encrypted and cannot be manipulated.
5. Irreversible – Validated records are immutable, that is, they cannot be changed.
6. Anonymous/ Pseudonymous Identity – The identity of participants is either anonymous or pseudonymous, which ensures the confidentiality of customer data.
Related Reading: How AI and Machine Learning are Driving Cyber Security in FinTech?
The Upcoming Trends
Decentralized validation, redundancy (continuous replication of data), immutable storage, and encryption are the most important characteristics of blockchain that make it a viable option for insurance companies. Through decentralization, it enables faster and cost-effective peer-to-peer transactions, compared to the traditional methods.
Blockchain is expected to open new channels into different market segments and geographies. The Insurance industry is taking leaps and bounds to explore the many advantages of blockchain technology. An industry-wide collaboration among market players, technology evangelists, start-ups, and regulators can help create more potential use cases of blockchain in insurance, leading to operational transformations in a better regulatory environment. Just as the early bird catches the worm, getting involved in partnerships and industry changes at the earliest is key to shaping the future of the blockchain-insurance ecosystem.
Whether you need a detailed/crisp briefing on Blockchain and how the technology can add value to your insurance business, give us a call asap. Our custom software development expert will guide you on how to take advantage of blockchain in your business.
Patient-Generated Health Data – A Powerful Tool To Enhance Healthcare
Remember a time when patients would queue up in line with a big dossier in hand, waiting for their time to be examined by the doctor? Lengthy queues, paper-heavy records to be maintained, time wasted as doctors reacquaint themselves with the patient’s entire history – no more of all of that. Today, a patient wants to be involved in his care and he doesn’t want to be waiting around wasting precious time. With innovative health technologies, patient-generated health data is making that possible by enabling patient-centered, citizen-engaging care.
Let us consider how improving patient care through technology is possible. We will also see how the use of information technology in healthcare is allowing the healthcare industry to deal with patients as valued customers, improving their experience. But, first of all, what is patient-generated health data?
Patient-Generated Health Data
Any valuable information a patient can garner about their health status is referred to as Patient-Generated Health Data [PGHD]. PGHD is much more than just a person’s health history with information on his symptoms, medication and treatment information. It also includes his biometric data, as well as information about his lifestyle choices. These records will provide a clearer picture of a patient’s actual health status, better than the patient can describe in his own words.
The use of information technology in healthcare is making it possible for healthcare providers to understand their patients better and in making better medical decisions. It also aids patients in receiving an increased understanding of their health condition. The importance of health information technology in healthcare today cannot be over-emphasized.
How Does The Use Of Information Technology In Healthcare Help Healthcare Organizations?
Patient-generated health data can improve the quality of patient care. When integrated into clinical care, patient-generated health data enhance shared decision making and patient engagement. The use of information technology in healthcare can provide an assessment of the patient’s symptoms and well-being, preferences and values, and goals for healthcare. Here are a few specific benefits of the use of IT in healthcare:
1. Improves nurse-patient relationship
Low health literacy can strain the nurse-patient relationship. When a patient comes to appointments armed with their health research, the nurse-patient relationship improves.
2. Clinical benefits
PGHD plays an important role in assessing a person’s health and monitoring treatment effects. It connects patients and healthcare providers during a care encounter. PGHD can be used to monitor a person’s overall health and allows healthcare professionals to detect potential health dangers.
3. High-risk patients
Keeping a track of PGHD helps providers identify and treat high-risk patients at the earliest. Leveraging PGHD proves extremely valuable in chronic and acute care.
4. Patient engagement
Patients have ownership over their data and control on how and when that data is shared with their care team. They are empowered to contribute to their care and can share insights. It improves communication and contributes to shared decision-making.
5. PGHD provides independence to seniors
PGHD can be used in assisted living to mitigate the risk of falls. It gives confidence to the elderly for independent living and it improves adherence to complex medication plans. PGHD also alerts healthcare providers when required, avoiding the need for expensive assisted living facilities and nursing homes.
Fingent Technologies worked with NovitaCare, an early-stage healthcare startup, in setting up an online platform to enable easy administration, streamlined workflow for many healthcare services and HIPPA compliance. Improving patient and caregiver interactions, eliminating waste, enhancing accountability, and raising the quality of care were the main accomplishments of this tool.
Related Reading: Read more about the case study here.
Innovative Health Technologies To Help The Patient
Innovations in health technologies go beyond just PGHD. It includes various devices and systems designed to streamline healthcare operations, lower the costs and enhance the quality of care. Among the most promising healthcare technologies are Artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, chat-bots and so on. Let us consider a few.
1. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence with machine learning is proving to be essential for healthcare organizations. It is capable of reducing the risk of preventable medical situations in three ways.
-
- Reminders: It can provide automated reminders to help a patient, reminding him to take his medication within a certain time-frame.
- Identify and alert: It helps to identify potentially dangerous situations and triggers alerts for the medical staff making timely medical intervention possible.
- Personalized dosage: Dosage recommendations are made depending on each patient’s body chemistry while considering environmental factors.
2. Blockchain in Healthcare
Blockchain can create and maintain a transparent and tamper-proof transaction ledger. This technology could change the way huge healthcare sectors operate. Personal data collected in blockchain remains with the patient instead of being stored on servers, thus enhancing confidentiality.
3. Voice Search
According to research, 46% of Americans use voice-assistance on their mobile devices. The figures are not much different for the rest of the world. We can expect that soon many more would be inclined to search for health-related information using voice search. Since it is increasingly used, the healthcare industry is also making good use of voice search. This technology would be helpful to both patients and caregivers who try to locate hospitals or clinics either near their homes or offices.
4. Chatbots
Chatbots in healthcare provide various benefits. They assist with medication management, first-aid or in emergencies. Chatbots offer a personalized service to patients and caregivers.
5. Virtual Reality in Healthcare
Patients are often anxious about hospital stays and procedures. Virtual reality helps calm their nerves and improve the patient experience.
6. mHealth Apps
Mobile applications provide patients with control over the options available to him. These apps can assist in making an appointment, uploading medical history or even checking into a hospital for medical care. Mobile apps ease the load of the non-medical staff at hospitals and reduce the patient’s waiting period thus reducing operational costs considerably.
An online platform Encourage was developed to empower patients with information related to their healthcare and educational material about procedures and illnesses. The tool further helps doctors keep track of a patient’s progress, assign tasks, reminders and care plans for the patient. It also gives patients the ability to include people as their caretaker and manage their engagement with them and the doctors through a rewards system and more.
Related Reading: Read more about the case of simplifies patient care here.
What is the Future of PGHD?
With no signs of slowing down, it is estimated that in a couple of years AI is expected to grow annually at the rate of 48%. Other technologies along with mobile apps help in communicating with patients even after they leave the healthcare facility. With such promising technologies, patient-generated health data will surely benefit patients and caregivers and aid healthcare organizations to provide better care.
Yes, the partnership of healthcare organizations with technology is a match that brings out the best in each other. We can confidently look forward to this relationship growing and maturing in the days to come. To empower your healthcare organization with the budding technologies, get in touch with our experts now!
Impact of Blockchain On Education.
Through its tenets of decentralization, transparency, and security, Blockchain has created a new type of internet. It has radicalized the way transactions occur and continues to make great strides in virtually every industry imaginable. Although best known for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies, the scope of Blockchain technology doesn’t end there by any means. It has found application in Finance, Healthcare, Real Estate, and many more industries.
Related Reading: Check out these digital innovations that can help you conquer business competitions of 2020.
In this blog, we will discuss how blockchain technology can have a significant impact on Education.
What Is Blockchain And How Is It Creating an Impact?
The word blockchain comes from the core principles of this technology, where secure blocks of data are bound together in chains using cryptographic principles. The record or ledger of data is time-stamped and immutable and is managed not by a single authority but by a cluster of computers. This enables a verifiable and decentralized record of transactions between two people.
What makes blockchain unstoppable is that this record is public and distributed between many computers called nodes. This allows for validation of the data from all the computers in the network, making it open and transparent, at the same time ensuring that no single entity controls the flow of information or transactions. A vital aspect of this information flow is that digital information can never be copied, only distributed. This makes the blockchain technology a fortified channel for information flow.
Let us look at a few reasons why blockchain technology is becoming one of the most impactful technologies today.
1. Unmatched Security
Transaction verification is one of the key aspects of blockchain technology. A transaction must be requested through a wallet and sent to all the computers in a blockchain network. Each of these nodes or computers must verify the transaction against a set of predetermined rules in that network. The information is then stored in a block and encrypted with a hash. Once this hash is verified by the nodes, the information stored in that block is permanent, immutable and secure. Any alterations to the data by hackers ultimately alter the hash and the entire chain of transactions linked to the hash. This means that the information cannot be altered or misused by anyone. Another added layer of security is Public-key cryptography, where there are two keys – a public key, which others can know and a private key exclusively for the owner. This way every transaction is secure and critical information required by financial services, governments, and other entities are protected.
2. Better Transparency
Blockchain technology makes transaction histories transparent. Being a type of distributed ledger, the nature of the blockchain technology permits changes to be made only through the consensus of all network participants who share the same documentation. Even a single change in the transaction record would mean that all subsequent records will have to be altered. The change will also require the collusion of everyone in the network and that means everyone is aware of any change. This ensures transparency and places a high level of accountability for everyone who handles the document. The transaction history also provides an audit trail of where the information originated from, and every instance of when transactions occurred and changes were made. This helps in ensuring the authenticity of the assets and prevention of fraud.
3. Increased Cost and Time Efficiencies
One of the main reasons for time and cost efficiencies with blockchain is that it cuts out the need for third-party mediation. Instead of relying on third-party intermediaries for verification and the movement of information, blockchain uses cryptology to enable direct transactions between two parties. Proving the authenticity of ownership of an asset is done through the blockchain and the nodes in the network instead of the time-consuming process of knocking on the doors of central authorities or other intermediaries. Recordkeeping through a single ledger also cuts out the clutter of error-prone manual processes, thereby saving time and money.
Related Reading: Read on to know how Blockchain is reshaping the supply chain industry.
Blockchain Revolutionizes Education
As discussed, security, transparency and time and cost efficiencies are some of the reasons why blockchain has found application across industries. In the words of Don and Alex Tapscott, authors of Blockchain Revolution (2016): “The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.”
Now let’s see how this applies in the field of education.
1. Student E-portfolio
The importance of credentialing in the field of education has become more apparent in this day and age where holding a degree just doesn’t cut it anymore. Employers want to see evidence of what the student is capable of outside academic goals like is obtaining a degree. Speaking about the need for universities to keep up with this demand, David Schejbal, the Vice President and Chief of Digital Learning of Marquette University, says: “What we really need is a broad set of credentials that are able to provide the kind of just-in-time learning that many folks need throughout their lives. We need transcripts that reflect transcripts that help students document in some verifiable way, what they’ve demonstrated they can do.”
Blockchain makes this possible by providing secure and verified credentialing and record keeping of student information. This is provided as a model where all of a student’s competency indicators are collected and shared securely. These indicators will include badges, certificates, letters of recommendations, citations and other details which add to the credentials of a student.
The Ledger Project is an interesting concept that looks ahead at a revolutionized education system in the year 2026. In this scenario, all your learning credentials are tracked on “Edublocks” through blockchain technology. This will help employers match their exact needs with the right student candidate and also help students obtain scholarships and funding for their education.
Blockchain is finding a practical use in this context, even today as major players like Sony Global Education with its use of blockchain to securely share student records and MIT with an open standard for verifiable digital records.
2. Cost Savings on Courseware and Research material
Another area where blockchain can be useful in education is in making courseware accessible and affordable. One way is in cutting out intermediary fees in the purchase of software. EBooks, for example, can be fitted with blockchain code and shared through the network. This will eliminate the fees charged by portals like Amazon and credit card fees. The books could be accessed straight from the authors themselves. This would mean major savings for both students and authors. Video tutorials and much more can be accessed this way.
3. Copyright And Digital Rights Protection
The unmatched security provided by Blockchain is an asset when it comes to protecting intellectual property. WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) passed a record-breaking filing mark in 2018 with 253,000 patent applications. This was an increase of 3.9% in 2017. The amount of intellectual property being created is extraordinary and many researchers, academics and students are contributing to the innovation pool daily. Blockchain will help them create, share and control their intellectual property in the way that they want. San Jose State University is an example of how blockchain is being used to create “community content repositories”. With its Library 2.0 movement, the university is enabling effective curation of digital contents and protection of digital rights.
Related Reading: Check out how Fingent helped a non-profit organization digitize the education system.
There are many other ways in which blockchain technology is influencing the Education sector. Reach out to us and find out how this can be leveraged for your company.
5 Technology Trends Real Estate Players Should Watch Out For
Digital transformation is today the hottest area of interest in almost every business sector. With the huge growth in a digital savvy user base, enterprises big or small are continuously investing in new age digital technologies and tools to help them serve customers better and survive the tough market competition. The real estate sector is no different in this regard as digital technologies have reshaped both the customer and property landscape over the past couple of years. From facilities such as a simple listing of properties online to AI enabled best property matching based on preferences, the list of digital innovations in the real estate sector is huge. If your primary business is centered around real estate, then the following 5 technology innovations should certainly be on your watch list for 2019.
Augmented and Virtual Reality Applications
Today, real estate is a globally accessible commodity and not restrictive to localized demand. A property may attract interest from buyers across the world and not just in the vicinity or city that it is located. The challenge then lies in providing a holistic experience for the interested buyer to have a good look and feel of the property before investing. It may not always be possible to bring them physically to the place due to cost or other travel related concerns. This is where technology such as AR and VR can make a difference. With hardware devices, making AR/VR capabilities, inexpensive and accessible, property managers can easily facilitate an AR/VR demo for buyers to make faster and better decisions from anywhere. Another useful application would be for homeowners to use AR/VR to decide their home décor or construction techniques. For example, the positioning of furniture, temporary or permanent interior fixtures, etc., can be decided way before the actual construction begins. This allows more planning and elimination of cost overheads wherein both buyer and builder would have a clear understanding of how the building is to be constructed.
Check out how AR and VR are revolutionizing the real estate industry.
This video is made using InVideo.io
Big Data Analytics
Real estate is one sector where pricing is a highly dynamic constituent. There are a number of factors influencing property or land prices and very often owners or enterprises that manage properties find it hard to offer competitive or profitable pricing to prospective buyers. However, several forward-thinking players have now started to utilize the power of big data analytics to get the most preferential pricing schemes that bolster both interests from buyers as well as maintain a competitive profit margin for sellers or property owners. Historical rental or property cost data along with trends such as demographic changes, population density, preferential behavior, amenity choices, spending patterns, etc., are supplied as data insights into powerful analytical systems. These in turn offer insights or in other words recommendations for property owners to price their offerings competitively and enhance the overall buying or rental experience for a consumer.
Related Reading: Find how Big Data is influencing the health care industry.
Innovative Property Management
The rise of start-up culture and the global workforce paradigm has impacted the real estate sector considerably. Today, it is not just one major tenant that leases an entire building or space within a building to set up its office, but several players invest to take up co-working spaces. In fact, studies have shown that shared workspaces have grown at an incredible rate of 200% over 5 years from 2013 to 2018. Co-working spaces facilitate companies to set up a presence where their best employees prefer to work thereby helping in boosting retention levels. For the real estate sector, this change in occupancy trend has called for the rise of innovative property management software that incorporates several new technology offerings. For example, power and other utility services have to be shared among multiple tenants in a co-working space and this requires the property management tool to be integrated with an IoT powered building management system that can monitor occupancy levels, adjust power and other environmental support features like lighting, temperature control, etc. Doing these tasks manually would require considerable overhead and hiring of a large workforce. Autonomous IoT integrated property management solutions can easily facilitate multiple tenants to collaborate in a workspace saving them the hassle of worrying about unwanted costs and the owners can have peace of mind without having to deal with manual supply and maintenance of essential support services.
Related Reading: Check out tips to select the right software for property management.
Blockchain Powered Smart Contracts
While some of the technology advancements we mentioned before require autonomous property management, blockchain is the key ingredient that can help make it possible in real time. The decentralized and highly immutable features of blockchain can help transform real estate management and property leasing considerably. An owner or landlord can easily rent out or sell portions of his property with agreed terms and conditions all recorded on smart contracts. The contract makes the details of the sale or rental highly encrypted and complies with all local laws and regulations. Besides, several government agencies are increasingly investing in blockchain to set up regulatory repositories that can autonomously validate land records, property and tax implications and much more. So, if real estate buyers can bump up their investments in blockchain, they can turn to become more compliant and legitimate in the market. This would increase affection for their offerings for prospective customers.
Digital Advertising and Sales
Today, a large portion of prospective buyers or leasing clients are hooked to social media and other digital channels to gain information. As a real estate dealer, you need to ensure that your properties are marketed in the right digital channel and reach the right audience within such channels. There are tons of social media advertising platforms that help you filter your target audience to the finest level. If you do not want to spend time on the filtering part, there are AI-powered tools that help do the job even better than humans. AI is not just limited to ad filtering for the real estate sector. There are intelligent chatbot applications available today for deployment in your website. These bots can converse with potential buyers when they inquire on your website, collect their information, suggest them the best choices based on their preferences, pass the right information to sales agents to take the lead further and ultimately help them close it quickly. From marketing automation to intelligent sales conversations, there is a host of digital solutions that the real estate players, can utilize to win customer hearts with personalization in highly competitive markets.
Related Reading: Watch out for the emerging technology trends of 2019.
No longer can the real estate sector be labeled as a laggard in terms of technology innovations. There are plenty of digital avenues where smart players can invest and stand out from the competition. We have showcased 5 of these avenues that are increasingly driving more value for adopters and we believe that these should be on the watchlist of any real estate player in 2019. Going digital friendly is no easy task, especially if you do not have a sizeable technology team in-house who is well versed in all these innovations. But that is where a technology partner like Fingent can prove to be the decisive factor in on-boarding the best technology innovations in your real estate business. If you are aspiring to be a leader in the real estate space through technology, talk to our experts today to explore the vast opportunities in digital transformation for your business.
Over the past couple of years, digitization has enabled technology-driven small companies to outclass established business houses worldwide. With industries ranging from taxi-services to banking, transforming digitally, more and more enterprises are realizing the importance of making digitization their number one priority. The tech-savvy consumer base, which consists of the population below the age of 30 and covers 50% of the global population, is considered to be the key driver behind this realization. Such folks have the rising affinity to expect every business organization they interact with to provide the fastest and most satisfying experiences each time. As a business, turning deaf ears to customer’s expectations can lead to unrevivable consequences. From AI to blockchain, IoT and RPA, the list of digital innovation you need to pay attention to are huge.
We thought this is the perfect time to show you the digital innovations that we believe will reshape businesses in the coming months and future years. Here are our top 5 picks from technologies that enterprises need to watch out:
Flexible Cloud Computing
When cloud computing became mainstream a couple of years ago, there was a rush from enterprises to build their technology competence on the cloud. This resulted in several businesses having their own private cloud ecosystems that supported their own limited digital innovations. Today, many available digital tools require a complex network of cloud resource. This has reshaped the cloud computing ecosystem which has now transitioned into intelligently connected networks that have Public, Private and Hybrid cloud partitions working in sync to help businesses derive value from technology running on these platforms.
Different IT workloads may need to be run simultaneously over multiple cloud platforms to achieve enterprise goals and this has resulted in the so-called Multicloud saga. This is one area which will see more developments and interest from the business community in coming years as the previous year saw major cloud service providers acquiring or developing solutions to club their multiple cloud ecosystems to serve client interests.
Related Reading: Find how a cloud platform like INFINCE can help businesses leverage technologies more efficiently.
Blockchain in Mainstream
The past couple of years saw considerable investments from the business community in the blockchain. We believe there will be mainstream applications coming out in future that will revolutionize areas such as data security, digital identity verification, and intelligent automation. Sectors such as BFSI, logistics, regulatory bodies, and government agencies have already started using blockchain to set up complex autonomous verification and validation systems that require minimal human intervention, thanks to the capacity of blockchain to be immutable.
In the coming years, more mainstream consumer-facing areas of businesses would be driven by blockchain based autonomous operational interfaces and it could set the stage for innovations akin to self-driving cars. Many technology companies would be coming out with mainstream solutions having blockchain essentials embedded into their core and these would further enhance business capabilities for enterprises worldwide.
Related Reading: Find how blockchain technology can transform the supply-chain industry.
Digital Modelling
While this concept has been around for a while, we think it will make more impact this year as more companies are investing in this front. The idea is to create a digital persona for every product or service business has to offer its customers. This persona would be used to arrive at choosing the right supporting digital enablers like data generators (sensors, IoT enabled devices, etc.) as well as the right decision path (data models and implementations of data science to arrive at success models). Such persona would be used to ascertain an offering’s readiness to the market, the cost required to maintain it viable, the processes and business models that need re-defining to support it and so on. The entire exercise though a bit complex will bring about a strategic advantage to adopters as their business offerings would be more aligned for digital success than competitors.
Related Reading: Digital innovation is transforming today’s business. Find how your business can benefit from digital transformation too.
Immersive Experiences
In future we will see consumer experiences moving to a more immersive phenomenon where almost everyone from a local retail shop to an e-commerce giant will offer interactive experiences courtesy of technology like augmented and virtual reality. Gartner says that by 2022, nearly 70% of all businesses would be using immersive customer experiences in some form on an experimental basis. Such immersive technology will find its way into numerous consumer-facing scenarios like demonstrations, virtual assistants, field services and so on. With gadgets supporting immersive experiences like smart glasses and wearables being available for very affordable prices, the consumer base requiring such experiences will grow tremendously in the coming years. The possibilities are limitless and businesses small or big can capitalize on this opportunity to improve their competence.
Related Reading: Check out the ongoing battle between AR and VR and find which technology has the potential to mainstream first.
Conversational Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is no longer a trend to watch out for because it has already gone mainstream over the last two years. Today, the focus should be on solutions that have been made available by harnessing the power of AI. One major solution that has gained attention now are conversational bots. From websites to major apps, a multitude of consumer-facing interactions is now handled by programmed bots that can interpret queries and respond intelligently.
Be it ordering food from a restaurant, booking a cab or even carry out a banking transaction, tech-savvy consumers are increasingly depending on personal digital assistants or bots to aid them in every step of the way. The proliferation of smart devices like smart home speakers, wearables and other IoT enabled home and personal electronic devices have created immense possibilities for a business to connect more effectively with end users. Today, you can ask your smart coffee maker to brew a coffee in the most precise variants of taste and smell without even having to touch the coffee maker. You can simply ask the personal assistant on your phone to do so.
Related Related: Find unconventional ways Artificial Intelligence is driving business value.
The top technologies mentioned above concludes that years to come is going to be a breakthrough year for several technological innovations. Business leaders need to hone their digital skills to keep pace with the rapidly growing market. On the positive side, most of these technology platforms or solutions come in affordable subscription basis and hence it is pretty much accessible to any enterprise despite their business size. However, the biggest differentiator for your success is the right technology advisory and implementation.
This is where our consultants at Fingent can become your best asset. With years of experience in empowering multiple businesses to achieve their digital aspirations, our world-class services can help you achieve your digital dreams seamlessly. Talk to us to know more about how we can help you embrace the above innovations and much more into your mainstream business operations.
Technology Trends 2024 – Watch out for the “platform-itization” of emerging technologies
Most of us, technology geeks or not, are eager to stay first in line to catch up with the latest game-changing technology trends. Here we are to know which technologies will thrive in future!
The Potential Technology Trends You Need To Explore In 2024
Have you ever looked up at the sky and clapped your eyelids on a bat? This is commonplace. But what if it was a drone. Or would it be a flying fleet? Since we don’t belong to the Jetsons family, the latter is not expected but we are close to it! This year is definitely a transformative year for technological innovation!
According to Gartner, the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for coming years are Block chain, Artificial Intelligence, Empowered Edge, Privacy and Digital Ethics, Quantum Computing, Immersive Experiences, Augmented Analytics, Autonomous Things, and Digital Twins!
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Following are the emerging technology trends and catalyzing technical innovation that we can expect to see more of in future!!
Related Reading: Find how digital innovation is transforming today’s business world.
1. Blockchain Technology – The ‘New Internet’
Some call Blockchain technology the ‘New Internet’. The blockchain is the brainchild of a person or group of people known by the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. It permits digital information to be distributed but not duplicated.
It was first devised for the digital currency, Bitcoin. It is also called the “digital gold”. To this day, the total value of the currency is nearly $112 billion US!
“Blockchain solves the manipulation problem”, says Vitalik Buterin, inventor of Ethereum.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Apart from AI-powered chatbots, This year will witness chip manufacturers such as Intel, NVIDIA, AMD, ARM, and Qualcomm shipping specialized chips that speed up the execution of AI-enabled applications.
This year will also be the year for hyperscale infrastructure companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook.
Related Reading: Check out the top AI trends
3. Cloud-independent edge computing
The study from IDC illustrates that 45 percent of the entire data created by IoT devices will be stored, processed, analyzed and acted upon close to or at the edge of a network by 2024! Edge computing is a mesh network of data centers that process and store data locally before being sent to a centralized storage center or cloud.
4. Privacy and Digital Ethics
Facebook, recently witnessed the biggest security breach in which 50 million accounts were compromised. Facebook, later clarified that data of 30 million accounts were stolen.
People are becoming more nervous about how organizations and third-parties are using their personal data.
5. Quantum Computing
The world is behind building the first fully-functional quantum computer. Also called the supercomputer, this is expected to be a cloud service rather than an on-prem service. IBM is already offering cloud-based quantum computing services. For instance, the automotive, financial, insurance, pharmaceuticals, military, and research industries have the most to gain from the advancements in Quantum Computing.
6. Immersive Experiences
Conversational platforms are changing the way in which people communicate with the digital world. Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) are changing their approaches to know more about people’s perception.
7. Augmented Analytics
Augmented analytics relies on augmented intelligence. This uses machine learning (ML) to transform how analytics content can be developed, consumed and shared.
“Through 2020, the number of data scientists will grow five times faster than the number of experts”, says David Cearley!
8. Autonomous Things
Autonomous things, such as robots, drones, and autonomous fleet, use Artificial Intelligence techniques to automate their functions that were previously performed by humans.
9. Digital Twins
A digital twin is a digital representation of real-world items that are interlinked. Cearley states that there can be digital twins of people, processes, and things!
A DTO is an aspect of the Digital Twin evolution that is a dynamic software model that relies on operational or other data. DTOs help drive efficiencies in business processes.
Apart from these, there are other key technology trends that organizations need to explore in future. These include:
10. Cybersecurity and Risk Management
According to the estimates from the firm Gemalto, the data breaches were 4.5 billion in the first half of 2018! The University of Maryland study found that hackers attack computers every 39 seconds.
In coming years we will be facing a more sophisticated array of physical security and cybersecurity challenges.
Cybersecurity is thus the digital glue that has held IoT, Smart Cities, and the world of converged machines, sensors, applications, and algorithms operational throughout!
11. Smart Spaces
A smart space is a physical or digital environment in which humans and technology-enabled systems interact in an increasingly open, connected, coordinated and intelligent ecosystems, according to Gartner! The world of technology is to enter accelerated delivery of smart spaces in 2019.
12. Self-powered data centers
Data centers grow every minute with the implementation of virtual servers and storage, energy-efficient buildings. In coming years, the data centers are expected to run on its own self-contained power plants!
13. IoT integration
This year will witness more IoT implementation. An International Forrester IT survey that said among a recent group study, 82% of respondents were unable to identify all of the devices connected to their networks. Of this lot, 54% were nervous about device security, and 55% were concerned about integration!
Related Reading: Find the role of Data Analytics in Internet of Things (IoT)
14. More self-service IT kiosks for business users
This year will be a year of IT innovation designed to build better communication between IT and end users. The self-service IT kiosks to be set up would enable users to log on and choose what they want for the apps that they build.
15. The Internet of Things and Smart Cities
50 billion equipment, including smartphones, and others are expected by the IoT to be wirelessly connected via a network of sensors to the internetin future.
The term “Smart City” means creating a public/private infrastructure to conduct activities that protect and secure citizens. It integrates communications (5-G), transportation, energy, water resources, waste collections, smart-building technologies, and security technologies and services!
To upgrade your business with the latest technology trends on the table, contact the experts at Fingent today! Also, read through our latest blogs to learn more about accelerated technological development!!