Top 4 Information Technology Trends in 2020

2020 has been a roller coaster of a year. However, the world of information technology is experiencing a period of rapid growth, with newer technologies and applications steadily creeping into view.

To give you an idea, we have compiled a list of the top 4 IT trends in 2020. So, let’s dive in!

 

1.    AI and Automation

AI continues to be a major IT trend for 2020. Whereas global spending on AI was £35.8 billion in 2019, it’s expected to hit $46 billion in 2020. According to Oracle, around 78% of all brands will have implemented forms of AI by 2020.

AI has enabled companies to streamline their business processes, enhance personalization and customization features for the user-base. It has also helped improve cybersecurity, automate bug detection and fixes, and much, much more.

These steady changes have normalized perceptions of AI .  In other words, previously held suspicions and anxiety about AI have eased over time. This is evident as more and more services (such as personal assistants) involving AI become a part of our daily experience.

Apart from normalizing consumers’ perceptions, AI real-world implementation have solved a myriad of business issues. Moreover, it has significantly improved efficiency and increased profitability!

Like AI implementation in business and other organizations, automation has increased in recent years. In fact, the world of ‘autonomous things’ is right on the threshold of entering both private and public spheres. We are already familiar with autonomous cars, but technology associated with autonomous things will mature and be widely adopted by businesses in 2020.

With machine learning and data analytics, autonomous things recognize patterns from the cloud. This in turn, helps managing services to ensure peak performance in cloud environments without any delays.

2.     ‘As-A-Service’ Technologies

Due to the prevalence of cloud adoption, the idea of subscription-based tech services has become an ever more popular IT trend. These days, we see a whole host of services and technologies cropping up as ‘…as-a-Service’.

For instance, Retail-as-a-Service (RaaS) has already been implemented by several large and mid-size retailers.  As a result, online checkout payment technologies have sped up transactions to enhance the customer experience. Amazon Go delivers is another key customer experience driven  example. The cashier-less, walk-out system where users enter the shop upon scanning their phone and simply leave, once they have picked up their desired items. No queues, no waiting lines, no hassle.

Likewise, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is already a mainstay in the IT industry. According to Bain and Co., it is projected to grow at an 18% annual compounded growth rate by 2020. Another popular iteration is Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) which has allowed countless companies to move their enterprise applications to the cloud, making it highly efficient and cost-effective. This market is expected to grow to $72.4 billion by 2020, per Gartner’s reports.

As cloud platforms are increasingly becoming popular, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) has already seen an investment growth from 32% in 2016 to 56% in 2019, according to a report by KPMG. During 2020, this sector will see increasing investments as tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon invest heavily into it.

The best thing about ‘as-a-Service’ technologies is that they allow clients to meet all their needs on a pay-as-you-go basis. This makes it remarkably easier to scale, receive future updates, streamline workflows, and manage multiple on-site locations.

3.    Business Intelligence

As the amount of data continues piling up at enormous rates, there must be a way to sift through it and find kernels of golden information. This is where business intelligence that involves the use of big data and analytics to optimize business decisions takes action.

Machine learning, AI and data analytics has allowed companies to gain crucial insights and discern patterns about various things, including consumer and employee behavior. This has made it easier for companies to implement crucial changes and refine their workflows and go-to-market strategies.

In 2020, we can expect progression of these applications. This year’s key trends in business intelligence include significantly better predictive analytics, smarter NLPs, comprehensive data and cloud governance, mobile business intelligence, newer data touch points  and more diverse business intelligence platforms.

AI-empowered businesses offers a great competitive edge over their non-AI-powered rivals. This rift in market competition will become pronounced in the coming years. The bottom-line is, AI-based applications can help companies leverage their data and algorithms to produce vital business insights through recommendation and what-if scenarios. This will allow companies to think ahead and leave their competitors in the dust.

4.    Edge Computing and 5G

The merging of edge computing and 5G networks is taking place. The two technologies provide the function of combining on-site computing power with high-speed and/or high-volume networks so as to create real-time IT environments with automation and autonomous complex systems.

Moreover, real-time capabilities like these are going to become mission-critical as workers and other people and apps interact vocally and visually (for instance, through augmented reality). Though this kind of a trend is likely to start around complex campus areas such as plants and logistic centers, it will become normalized around other hotspot locations like stations, airports and harbors.

The tech driving this change is 5G. In 2020, companies  increasingly began setting up new 5G transponders and upgrade their existing networks from LTE. While cloud computing gives centralized data processing, edge computing will allow some data processing on the edges of a network. Once combined with 5G networks, edge computing can get rid of latency and network traffic, while providing for data-intensive locations where automated things can interact with each other and people.

These are just some of the trends that we’ve seen during 2020. These are exciting times for technological advancements and more creative ways of doing business. IT is the herald of the future, which is already apparent to observers. Let’s see what the future holds. We hope our list of top 4 information technology trends in 2020 was useful for you!

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