Top Technology Trends for 2017 in the World...

Top Technology Trends for 2017

2016 was a year many would rather forget. From the never-ending stream of bad news to a brutal election that seemed like it would never end to the dozens of celebrities — including a few in the tech world — that passed on, it was a tough year.

But 2016 also had its share of important technological breakthroughs that changed how we live, work, and play. Virtual reality made a big comeback in 2016 and is sure to get even hotter this year. Virtual assistants moved out of our cell phones and into our homes, and smart home technologies may have finally broken through to the mainstream.

So what do we expect in the new year? There’s a myriad of tech trends we’re watching that will change the world once again in 2017; here’s the top five you should keep an eye on.

Technology is moving at a speedier pace than at any other time. Pushing forward to 2017, the technologies will experience the most huge change and have the greatest effect on our lives.

Cloud, mobile and big data have, together, changed the very texture of traditional IT services and programming development. Indeed, even as the worldwide IT industry reevaluates itself to come with new computerized realities, a great many old IT and tech occupations around the globe confront imminent extinction, thus, rest guaranteed, birthing numerous new ones. For techies as of now in their pined for IT occupations and for those nearly beginning their careers, 2017 must be the year of reinventing their insight, abilities and qualifications and popping up for the new employment world, divided by the USD 4.0 trillion cloud computing and big data analytics market.

Possibly the trends that are right now (2016) will continue to be those of 2017, but more advanced than previous years.

Here are top technology trends you will see in 2017:

Internet of Things (and the Death of the Hub)

The Internet of Things has been on just about everybody’s list for years. So why hasn’t it caught on? The issue lies in interoperability. In theory, the IoT is supposed to connect all our devices together, making them sing in a glorious technological harmony. Thing is, we’re not at that point yet — at least in a usable manner, and in a way that doesn’t make you want to pull your hair out.

We’ll use the smart home as an example here. Much of the work in the past several years has revolved around the idea of a “smart hub,” in layman’s terms a souped-up wireless router with extra communications technologies built in. But ask any smart home system owner, and they’ll tell you it’s not a perfect solution.

A multitude of wireless technologies now exist to serve your smart home needs — Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and more. And there’s more smart home platforms to consider than ever before too — Wink, SmartThings, Iris by Lowe’s, even systems from security providers like ADT and big brands like Comcast. While centralization in theory should make things easier, it’s made it worse.

Some smart home gadgets won’t work with certain smart home platforms — for example, your Philips Hue lights won’t work with your Iris by Lowe’s system (likely a business decision as Lowe’s doesn’t carry the Hue product line). Plus if your smart hub goes down, your entire system typically goes with it.

Expect a refocus this year when it comes to smart homes. Wi-Fi is a tested and true wireless networking technology, and routers are serving up ever larger amounts of bandwidth, so there’s plenty of space to handle your connected home. Also, new smart home devices are choosing Wi-Fi to maximize compatibility.

Instead of using a centralized hub, device manufacturers will focus on interoperability between themselves. This might have the consequence of shrinking the number of directly compatible devices, but it may not matter. Ither technologies can take the place of the hub, and likely do a better job of it.

IFTTT can connect those devices in any way you see fit, and Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home can control them by voice. The hub just isn’t necessary anymore, and that might be a good thing.

Artificial intelligence(AI) will improve the customer service experience

Clearly, AI is one of the biggest tech trends right now, and anyone with solid tech startup ideas in the area of machine learning has the potential to go after big startup investment rounds, as well as to be acquired by the likes of Google, Sales force or Apple, all of which have acquired more than 40 tech start-ups related to AI.

Machine learning becomes one of the strongest cyber security tools

Machine learning continues to be an essential tool in fighting increasingly complex hacking schemes. When it comes to fintech and the potential draining of billions from bank accounts, AI will be even more important to combat increasingly complex attacks. Engineers must be careful to track how their systems behaviors respond to security threats, however, or risk missing out on uncovering exactly which vulnerabilities exist.

If there is one trend that is expected to dominate cloud vendor priorities in the upcoming year it is machine learning and artificial intelligence. All three of the major vendors made big announcements in 2016 related to this field. Google released TensorFlow, an open source machine-learning platform. Microsoft introduced a cloud-based platform for machine learning and Amazon announced three new machine learning services at is re:Invent conference. Expect the drumbeat of ML and AI news to continue into 2017, with this technology becoming easier for everyday developers to use and integrate into applications they’re building atop these cloud platforms.

VR(Virtual Reality) technology will help businesses attract customers in a new way. AR(Augmented Reality)

Virtual Reality Probably will improve in hardware and the ways we interact with the virtual environments. Among the trends affecting startup business there will definitely be AR and VR phenomena. Consider some of the other uses:

·         It’s no accident that Facebook purchased production of the VR Oculus Rift headset. It is obviously anticipating that commercial media using the platform will be a 360-degree photo and video content.

·         Handicapped people may have access to VR in order to “travel” and engage with family members who are far away.

·         VR will probably be used by business startups who have remote workers and have a need in them to be a “part of” the office environment. Thus, employees will be virtually in-house.

Immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), transform the way individuals interact with one another and with software systems. “The landscape of immersive consumer and business content and applications will evolve dramatically through 2021,” said Mr. Cearley. “VR and AR capabilities will merge with the digital mesh to form a more seamless system of devices capable of orchestrating a flow of information that comes to the user as hyper personalized and relevant apps and services. Integration across multiple mobile, wearable, Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor-rich environments will extend immersive applications beyond isolated and single-person experiences. AR & VR app development companies will be boomed in 2017. Rooms and spaces will become active with things, and their connection through the mesh will appear and work in conjunction with immersive virtual worlds.”

Intelligent apps

Intelligent apps such as VPAs perform some of the functions of a human assistant making everyday tasks easier (by prioritizing emails, for example), and its users more effective (by highlighting the most important content and interactions). Other intelligent apps such as virtual customer assistants (VCAs) are more specialized for tasks in areas such as sales and customer service. As such, these intelligent apps have the potential to transform the nature of work and structure of the workplace.

Digital technology platforms

Every organization will have some mix of these five digital technology platforms in upcoming year 2017. The platforms provide the basic building blocks for a digital business and are a critical enabler to become a digital business.

Companies will use digital twins to display products

While the concept of a digital twin has been around since 2002, it’s only thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT) that it has become cost-effective to implement. And, it is so imperative to business today, it was named one of Gartner’sTop 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017.

Quite simply, a digital twin is a virtual model of a process, product or service. This pairing of the virtual and physical worlds allows analysis of data and monitoring of systems to head off problems before they even occur, prevent downtime, develop new opportunities and even plan for the future by using simulations.

Thomas Kaiser, SAP Senior Vice President of IoT, put it this way: “Digital twins are becoming a business imperative, covering the entire lifecycle of an asset or process and forming the foundation for connected products and services. Companies that fail to respond will be left behind.”

How does a digital twin work?

Think of a digital twin as a bridge between the physical and digital world.

First, smart components that use sensors to gather data about real-time status, working condition, or position are integrated with a physical item. The components are connected to a cloud-based system that receives and processes all the data the sensors monitor. This input is analyzed against business and other contextual data.

Lessons are learned and opportunities are uncovered within the virtual environment that can be applied to the physical world — ultimately to transform your business.

New way of communicating with mobile apps, IoT apps, web apps with peers

New devices that can transmit data at longer distances with less energy. Cheaper smart-lights and smart-appliances from more companies. We’ll be seeing more protocols and platform integrations. Check out for technologies that start using LPWAN or Bluetooth 5.

Intelligent things

“Intelligent things” are at the intersection of AI and IoT(Internet of Things) and are among Gartner’s top strategic trends for 2017.

Blockchain for tracking the transactions

As revolutionary as it sounds, Blockchain truly is a mechanism to bring everyone to the highest degree of accountability. No more missed transactions, human or machine errors, or even an exchange that was not done with the consent of the parties involved. Above anything else, the most critical area where Blockchain helps is to guarantee the validity of a transaction by recording it not only on a main register but a connected distributed system of registers, all of which are connected through a secure validation mechanism.” 

Adaptive security

Today, innovation in technology is emerging at a rapid pace. In this regard, all these above mentioned exciting tech trends of this year should be checked. These trends have the capability to change the way business work.