“Need of The Hour To Up Skill On Trending Technologies”
by Sai Prem Suhas Tavva, international graduate student
In the last few centuries, the world has witnessed an exponential growth in the emergence of new technologies. Companies are already employing computers and robots for work that earlier required humans. These computers and automated machines are far more accurate, powerful, and can generally work continuously without a break. It is true that technology is going to bring about large scale unemployment in the years to come. But you need not panic. These technological advancements are just as promising as they are threatening. What you need to do is get them to working for you, not against you. You must be aware of the latest technology trends and keep modifying your skills accordingly. This is the only way of surviving in the 21st century and the years to come. It’s quite simple. Either you adapt to these ever-changing technologies or you’ll be overthrown.
The trending technologies which can create employment opportunities and pave way for a lucrative career path are data science, artificial intelligence, internet of things (IoT), blockchain, augmented reality, virtual reality, etc. Gartner predicts that companies are spending big bucks on IT inclining more towards these tending technologies, and the numbers are only going to increase in the coming years. Here are a few major benefits of developing skills in these trending technologies
Data Science – The need to leverage data in order to get ahead of the competition is now more important than ever. Data science is the process of acquiring or extracting raw data from various sources and utilizing this data to make predictions and discover insights. Data science is one of the front-runners when it comes to technologies that have transformed the landscape of data-driven decision making. Glassdoor, one of the world’s most trusted job search portals has even listed data scientist as the best job in America, as of 2019. It finds its application in almost all the fields right from marketing to healthcare. According to Harvard Business Review data science is considered to be the sexiest job of 21st Century. The opportunities with data science are countless and its high time that you pay heed to the Call of Data. “Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine” – Peter Sondergaard, Executive VP of Research and Advisory at Gartner Inc.
Artificial Intelligence – Ever wonder how your phone unlocks just by you facing the camera in front of your face? Well, this is possible thanks to artificial intelligence. AI has revolutionized the digital business industry and now everyone wants a piece the pie. Most of the top companies like Google, Facebook, Netflix, Apple, and others have already realized the impact AI can have on their business and are utilizing it to reshape the future. As per reports from Gartner, by the end of 2021, 70% of the organizations will be integrating AI to improve employee productivity.
“Digital workplace leaders will proactively implement AI-based technologies such as virtual assistants or other NLP-based conversational agents and robots to support and augment employees’ tasks and productivity,” said Helen Poitevin, senior research director at Gartner.
The opportunities are multitudinous when it comes to artificial intelligence. With almost everything being digitized nowadays, AI finds its application in a wide range of settings including government sectors, private and public organizations and, healthcare facilities
Ever since its inception in the mid-1900s, artificial intelligence has been evolving at a rapid pace and continues to improve the quality of life. A career in artificial intelligence will prove to be a rewarding experience due to its increasing dependence.
Internet of Things (IoT) – IoT is an interconnected network of physical objects that can be accessed through the internet. The objects are assigned IP addresses and have the ability to transfer data over the interconnected network which allows it to function entirely on its own without any manual interventions. The embedded technology helps the objects to interact with accordance to the external environment, which affects the decisions taken.
IoT utilizes the devices embedded in various systems to connect to the internet. With this digital identification given to the objects, they can be controlled from anywhere via the internet. This type of connectivity allows us to gather more data from more places and ensures more ways of increasing safety and IoT security.
IoT can help companies to accelerate performance through IoT analytics and IoT security to deliver quality results. Businesses in various sectors like oil & gas, transportation, manufacturing, insurance and retail can avail the facilities of IoT and help them make more informed decisions aided by the vast wave of data at hand. Gartner predicts that many IoT devices will be connected to the internet by the end of the decade.
Blockchain – At the most basic level, a blockchain literally means chains of blocks of information. Each block has the hash of its previous block which forms a chain of blocks. This technology offers a way for parties to reach a consensus on common digital history. Digital assets can easily be tampered with, however using a common digital history eliminates this problem. Blockchain is a decentralized peer-to-peer network which does not require an intermediary to keep a check on the transactions.
“Blockchain technologies offer a set of capabilities that provide for new business and computing paradigms. Exploiting blockchain will demand that enterprises be willing to embrace decentralization in their business models and processes. It is not straightforward,” says David Furlonger, Distinguished Vice President-Analyst, Gartner.
Though Blockchain holds a great promise for its future, this technology is still in its infant stages and various organizations are still searching for ways to effectively utilize blockchain in their business processes.
Gartner predicts that blockchain’s business value-add will grow to slightly over $360 billion by 2026, then surge to more than $3.1 trillion by 2030.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) – Augmented reality (AR) adds digital aspects to live view often through the lens of a camera on a smartphone. A prime example of this would be the hugely popular mobile game Pokémon Go. Virtual reality (VR) provides a complete immersion experience that shuts you out from the physical world. With inputs in the form of user movement or sensors, AR and VR can be used in unison with other conversation platforms which can be used to design personalized products, services and experiences for customers. This technology can also be utilized by organizations to provide employee training, product visualization and maintenance.
“AR and VR will transform today’s user experience into a more continuous and contextual one that significantly changes how people interact with each other and computing systems,” said Brian Blau, research vice president at Gartner.