Top Trends Impacting Enterprises & Investors Today
Digital transformation of the enterprise will have a major impact in 2021. Even though digital transformation has become a well-known topic, the global pandemic has accelerated it faster than anticipated. We see transformation everywhere, from e-commerce to telemedicine and online education. In the new digital economy, every enterprise needs to build faster, frictionless mobile and web site experiences for their customers, partners, vendors, and suppliers. Let’s take a look at key trends impacting enterprises and venture capital investors in this segment today.
Domination of Machine Language, Artificial Intelligence, and Data-Based Software Development
Machine language (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and data will-based software development will be increasingly important in 2021. New AI-based tool chain and flow methodology will become more common in the new year. Outdated software development tools and methodology are due to be replaced. It will be critical for enterprises to standardize their flow and analytics process.
AI has changed software development and it has created a different way of doing business. Vendors now focus more on ML and AI innovation to fit the specific needs of their business customers — boosting the productivity of customer workforces by automating repetitive tasks. Data analytics will be at the center of it all.
Voice and natural language interfaces are becoming more common in 2021. There is a great deal of attention toward voice-driven technologies in the enterprise and consumer sectors — especially given the rise of Alexa, Siri, and other increasingly scalable voice assistants. Enterprises are exploring ways to incorporate voice and natural language options into their offerings — helping maximize the return on technology investments.
Remote Working Becomes Standard and the Industry Adopts to a Long-Term Hybrid Model
While remote working used to be used selectively, it has seen rapid growth during the pandemic as a standard way of doing business. This growth is likely to continue in 2021 and future years.
Zoom, which grew from a startup in 2011 to going public in 2019, became a household name when the pandemic forced workers around the globe to work remotely. Other existing large corporate tools such as Cisco’s WebEx, Microsoft’s Teams, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, Verizon’s BlueJeans are also providing state-of-the-art video conferencing systems, facilitating remote work across the globe.
New ventures are quickly emerging in the remote working sector. Startups Bluescape, Eloops, Figma, Slab and Tandem have all provided visual collaboration platforms enabling teams to create and share content, interact, track projects, train employees, run virtual team building activities, and more.
These tools also help distributed teams keep track of shared learning and documentation. Users can create a virtual office that replicates working together in person by letting colleagues communicate and collaborate with one another easily.
Dependency on Cloud Infrastructure Will Grow
Multi-cloud adoption is now a growing trend. Exponential adoption of cloud technologies means that we will see people using multi-cloud environments to diversify risk and avoid single vendor lock-in.
Cloud data storage will become more important because best practices can be replaced across the board through AI and big data play/application — rather than through CRM tools. Software tools need to be reorganized on the cloud, necessitated by an increasingly remote work environment.
Apps need to be distributed across clusters, across clouds, and with an edge that is close to customers for better scalability and availability. Globally distributed apps are the future, and they are already transforming gaming and financial services. E-commerce, media, and other industries are not far behind.
Virtual (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) Technologies Usage Will Rise
VR and AR have grown dramatically since the start of the pandemic. From the entertainment to business sectors, these immersive technologies are now part of everyday life. COVID-19 prompted this technology adoption, as businesses started relying more on the remote work model — with communication and collaboration extending into AR and VR.
Immersive technologies that result from VR and AR innovations enable an incredible source of transformation. AR avatars, AR indoor navigation, remote assistance, integration of AI with AR and VR, mobility AR, AR cloud, virtual sports events, eye tracking, and facial expressions are now experiencing major traction. Adoption of VR and AR will accelerate with the growth of the 5G network and expanding Internet bandwidth.
Companies such as Microsoft, Consagous, Quytech, RealWorld One, Chetu, Gramercy Tech, Scanta, IndiaNIC, Groove Jones, etc. will play a significant role in shaping our world in the near future, not only due to their various applications but also as the flag carrier of all virtualized technologies.
Looking Ahead
We expect digital transformation to result in positive change, particularly for end users of a company’s products or services. As we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important for enterprises and investors to understand which trends will be the most impactful.
Many business and technology innovation will influence us for years to come, perhaps a silver lining of the pandemic.
