7 emerging tech trends to watch in 2020
Are we the only ones that still feel as though 2020 is the very distant future? It sounds like the year a scifi movie might be set in, with hoverboards, silver suits and teleporting as far as the eye can see!
Yet, in just a matter of weeks 2020 will be well and truly upon us. And whilst we can’t promise that we’re going to be teleporting anywhere in the next 12 months (we’ve got our fingers crossed, though!), we do think that it’s going to be a huge year for tech. At Snap Out, we work with a lot of incredible emerging tech companies to help them learn about their users and their markets for faster business growth.
With that in mind, it seemed only right that we share our predictions of what’s to come in the world of tech in 2020.
1. Autonomous Driving
We’ve been promised self-driving cars for what feels like years now! However, we’re confident that 2020 will be the year that they really start to make an impact.
Autonomous vehicles have been in production and have even been introduced within some companies over the past couple of years. However, there’s no doubt that the tech will become more widespread as it becomes safer and more accessible.
This kind of automation could have a huge impact, not just in terms of things like taxis or personal vehicles, but on distribution channels due to the potential for autonomous trucks, ships and maybe even aeroplanes! We predict that 2020 will see these changes start to take place, though it will only be the beginning.
2. AI-as-a-service
There’s no doubt that Artificial Intelligence has completely changed the face of technology, having applications within the workforce, at home and even within government.
However, the truth is that AI is still a relatively expensive piece of tech for businesses to integrate “in-house”. That’s why we predict that 2020 will see it being offered as a service through external providers at an even greater rate.
Whilst the likes of Google and Amazon already offer AI services which you can input your own data in to, we suspect that the new year will bring a whole host of providers to the market.
Related article: What we’ve learned about researching and designing AI assistants
3. 5G data networks
We’ve had 2G, 3G and 4G. Now it’s time for 5G to take the lead and open up new realms of mobile internet connectivity.
Promising super-fast download and upload speeds, this new generation of data networks will make using the internet on the go more reliable, as well as a lot faster. As you may have seen, 5G began to become available throughout 2019, which was hugely exciting for any tech-lovers out there! However, as with most things, we predict that the technology will trickle down more into the mainstream in 2020, becoming less expensive and more accessible.
4. Extended Reality
The past few years have seen the rise in virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. In 2020, we predict that all three of them, collectively referred to as “extended reality”, will hit the mainstream even more.
Whilst all of these have been used in the entertainment industry for years (think “Pokemon Go”!), we anticipate that they will become a larger part of business in particular. Companies will wake up to the possibilities each of them have within training, especially in fields like medicine where practicing on actual humans is not always safe. Furthermore, each have applications within customer experience, even allowing potential purchasers to “try on” clothes digitally.
Related artcile: How to design a better user experience for AR and VR
5. 3D printing
3D printing has, of course, been around for years. But we predict that it will become relatively common in 2020. Potentially helping to cut down on production costs, as well as speeding up production times, there really is no limit to what can be 3D printed. From buildings to prosthetics, next year will see the rise of its use both commercially and in the public sector.
We’re excited to see where it takes us as a society!
6. Edge technology
Edge AI refers to artificial intelligence algorithms that are processed locally on a device. This means that they do not need to be connected to the internet in order to function.
The potential benefits of edge AI within IoT objects are HUGE.
One great example is that of using the tech within surveillance and monitoring, as highlighted by Life Augmented: “real-time recognition of a constantly changing scene based on video streaming requires high data bandwidth if performed in the cloud. Alternatively, AI on the Edge enables local analysis of the visual scene in various flavors, such as understanding the scene for context analysis, simultaneous multi-object detection and recognition for obstacle avoidance, people identification for secure access, and more.” (source).
We predict that 2020 will see a huge spike in the use of edge technology, especially in the world of security.
7. Marketing automation
Automation can be hugely beneficial for businesses, allowing them to conduct necessary but monotonous daily tasks at a fraction of the price and in less time.
One form of automation that we predict will take the world by storm in 2020 is marketing automation. Allowing leads to be nurtured through AI technology providing personalised communications, customers can be guided through a sales funnel without the need for any human-interaction.
Final thoughts
Due to the fast-moving nature of tech, there truly is no way of knowing where we’ll be 12 months down the line. And nobody’s created a mobile app that lets you see into the future just yet, so we’ll have to wait another year to see if our predictions come true!
However, we can’t wait to find out what surprises 2020 has in store for us when it comes to all things emerging tech. If you have any predictions for what you think is to come, please let us know in the comments.
The Snap Out Team 🗻
