Technological innovations such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), hybrid cloud are proliferating rapidly. These trends provide efficiency and productivity, empower organizations to thrive in a world where technology is increasingly prevalent.
It is therefore crucial for companies to understand the impact of these technological advances on their business so that they can adapt themselves to enormous opportunities to generate revenue and reach new audiences. The top web development trends for 2018 are provided below.
Blockchain
Blockchain is expected to offer enormous potential for bringing about radical change in a wide range of industries, business models and operating processes such as payment settlement, accounting or the use of customer and loyalty cards. Various organizations are currently looking at blockchain technology underpinning the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
In order to deliver the full capabilities of shared or distributed ledger technologies, businesses should focus on what its unique attributes and capabilities can provide to end-to-end business processes.
Key takeaways:
- It provides provenance, immutability and finality for the transfer of value within a business network.
- It enables value exchange in real time, reducing costs and errors.
- Based on a network consensus approach, whereby trust between the parties involved in a transaction is provided by cryptography (i.e., mathematics).
- This prevents “double spending” and protects the system from hacking, fraud, etc.
- Cryptography replaces the need for third parties/ intermediaries, which are not required to verify or clear transactions.
Artificial intelligence
AI-based technology is already transforming how organizations do business, manage customer relationships and stimulate the ideas and creativity that foster groundbreaking innovation. AI includes speech recognition, natural language processing, semantic technology, biometrics, machine learning, swarm intelligence, and chatbots or voice bots.
Companies adopting AI at a proper level or in a core part of their business already see the technology’s potential, and those implementing proactive AI strategies are anticipating even greater benefits. Serious adopters have significantly higher projected margins than others.
Key takeaways:
- AI increases operational efficiency. AI appliance enhances the productivity of the employees.
- Operational cost is reduced due to process improvement.
- AI-based technology provides greater legal/regulatory compliance at lower cost.
- AI reduces false-positives.
AR/VR technologies
There are two categories of immersive technologies most commonly cited as AR and VR. The main difference for users is that AR users continue to be in touch with the real world while interacting with virtual objects around them, while VR immerses a user in an imagined or replicated world or simulates a presence in a real world.
Key takeaways:
- VR provides consumers with brand sensory experiences of target products/services.
- VR can be used to precisely target an audience, collect and analyze information as well as interact with this audience.
- VR will bring network traffic and diversified content services to new heights.
- AR enables products/services to be presented in an enhanced way through visual experience.
- AR facilitates showing the relevant data for the products/services.
- AR apps and devices could be used to train in a high-tech way that leads to increased productivity.
IoT
IoT-driven innovations present organizations with tremendous opportunity to create ground-breaking products and services, drive down operational costs and serve up additional revenue streams. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a fast-emerging ecosystem of connected devices via IP address with the potential to deliver significant business benefits.
Key takeaways:
- Reduced cost via improved asset utilization, process efficiencies and productivity.
- Organizational productivity is improved by offering just-in-time training, decreasing the mismatch of required vs. available skills, enhancing labour efficiency.
- Businesses benefit from real-time insights, visibility into their resources; supply chains by using connectivity and sensors to enhance assets tracking.
- Real-time operational insights can be used to make smarter business decisions and reduce operating costs.
Hybrid cloud
Organisations today know that they must digitize their processes, personalize the customer experience, innovate at an unprecedented pace. Yet few have the technology platform to support those objectives. Hybrid cloud is emerging as the digital business enabler.
The benefits offered by hybrid cloud deployments have proven to be significant. Hybrid cloud lets organizations take advantage of public clouds to reduce capital expenditure while still keeping their mission-critical workloads inside the company.
Key takeaways:
- With a hybrid solution, a company’s essential data is backed up locally and then an additional backup is replicated off-site, providing additional data security.
- It eliminates a pain point for companies that have struggled with limited resources dedicated to storage. Their files are available for as long as they need, and they can be easily restored when necessary.
- The hybrid model keeps costs low as companies only need to purchase a local unit while the rest of the infrastructure lies in the cloud.
Bottom line
The web development trends noted above will be increasingly implemented in 2018. The successful incorporation of these technologies into business has the potential to vastly reshape the way people are doing business.
Organisations should begin taking steps to prepare for their full potential. Deciding how to play early and what bets to place now will let companies lead in this developing space and not be left behind, particularly, for organizations that struggle to understand their technical goals and how to reach them.
