Learn what are the main changes that we will see very soon

Marcello Almeida is an Editor at PartnerSales Publications, a nationally recognized mag with the largest editorial coverage of distribution channel, promoting the generation of new business with Resellers, VARs and Systems Integrators in Brazil. He contributes with reports and interviews regarding New Technologies, Softwares, High Tech Products (Gadgets) and Distribution Channels. 

With the market constantly boiling during the 365 days of the year, our lives earn a decent script of a "Hollywood" movie. Below, we list what should be trending for the upcoming years and what to keep an eye on starting from now.

In late October, many have commented on the "arrival" of character Marty McFly, from the classic movie "Back to the Future" trilogy, to today (2015) - it was a huge success back in the 80's. In the story, he and a mad scientist are tele-transported 30 years ahead and arrive, finally, in what would be considered today. From this unusual scenario, we saw several "rights" and "wrongs", of course. According to the movie, at this time we'd have flying cars over our heads, tennis shoelaces being tied automatically without the help of hands, and flying skateboards. On the other hand, it nailed to predict that we would be making massive use of mobile technologies like tablets and smartphones, virtual reality goggles (VR), giant screen TVs connecting to Unified Communications (UC) and many other electronic devices.

From the past years, we have seen many new technologies that have changed the way of business and how they have impacted directly the lives of companies and users. Learn which ones are already giving the talk and others that are not very far from happening in the near future. One thing is sure: they won´t take another thirty years to happen.

Wearable Devices - Portable sensors can already be seen on the streets with much more intensity. Wearables, as smartglasses and smartwatches, are better known, have voice features, telephony, and are gadgets that assist in monitoring and health care. It is speculated that one day it may interpret gestures in sign language and translate them into certain languages, providing a high-tech solution for communication problems between people with hearing impairments and those who do not understand sign language. Engineers at the University of Texas are also developing a wearable device that can sense movement and muscle activity in the arms of a person. The device works by tracking the gestures being done using two different sensors: one that responds to movement of the wrist and the other to the muscle movements in the arm. A program then receives this information wirelessly and converts the data for studies and analyses. As a result, it will aid in physiotherapy and medicine in general.

Internet of Things (IoT) - A survey of F-Secure made with 8,000 users from ten countries and 800 from Brazil shows the increasing adoption of IoT technology. The purpose of the survey is to map how much is already being adopted in some countries and how much the users are concerned with security and privacy aspects of this platform. Brazilians, for instance, show special care in relation to these two items. In addition to the entertainment purpose, the adoption of IoT is focused on products related to improving the quality of life, in products such as security cameras, locks, and smart cars. Household routers, for example, were more attacked in recent years, indicating that criminals see unsecured devices as an opportunity to exploit some businesses. The adoption of devices for fitness and "life tracking" (to control heartbeat, sleep, calorie consumption, etc.) increased from 3% to 5%. Since the large adoption of these devices for home monitoring, it has increased from 1% to 4% and devices for streaming television increased from 4% to 6%. Users and manufacturers need to start thinking from now on ways to ensure that IoT device networks are manageable so that the situation does not get out of hand.

5G Technology - Fifth Generation mobile internet represents the future of mobile telecommunications generation. The 5G is already being studied to replace the 4G and have already launched the next generation in the coming years, following the same pattern of evolution of other previous generations. Some companies are already taking the first 5G tests in Brazil. Thus, the telecom operators and their ecosystem partners, such as academic institutions and workers in health, energy, and agriculture departments, can test the connection features in a live network. In March 2016, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, many companies will be presenting their projects firsthand.

Big Data - The term has become known to describe the growth, availability, and exponential use of structured and unstructured information. The Big Data can be as important for business and society as the Internet became in its day and will remain for so long. To understand and correctly interpret the data, companies have invested in both qualified info such as data analysis framework. According to Gartner, the growth of Data Loss Prevention market (DLP) enterprise content recognition will face a decrease of 4% to 5% by the end of 2019. But the report Global Technology Adoption Index 2015 conducted by TNS Research at the request of Dell, found that organizations that use innovative technologies recognize significant advances in terms of growth and business efficiency. Moreover, the survey shows that the cost is the main barrier to the implementation and expansion of using these technologies. Companies that invest in cloud computing, mobility, and Big Data have grown on average 53% faster than those that do not use them. The survey also revealed that through Big Data, 41% of respondents said they get better address marketing efforts, 37% optimized ad spending and another 37% have optimized the marketing on social networks.

Data Analytics - Anything that can give a business a competitive advantage is crucial. To analyze in details the data, you have to get a closer view of the business. Companies now have more data than ever before. They always possessed the critical business data, but now the Big Data includes information that goes far beyond sophisticated sensors; there are from internet and social media as well. As businesses are expanding on geographical regions and making new acquisitions, the data may end up being fragmented. This makes it difficult to obtain a comprehensive view of the enterprise as a whole. Data analysis will give a certain type of business intelligence to a much-needed phase nowadays with faster business decisions and, finally, with profitability. You can no longer afford to ignore the opportunities hidden in the offered data.

Advancement of Robots - According to Gartner, in 2018, more than three million workers are supervised by “robot bosses”. The main problem, according to the researchers, is that robots do not have human reactions and the relationship can be very "cold". During CES®2016, which will be held from January 6 to 9 in Las Vegas (USA), over twenty exhibitors will showcase the full range of robotic technologies that are transforming the way consumers learn, do business, monitor their health, and relate with their families. According to Gary Shapiro, president and organizer of the event, "the robots can move better and better, see, hear, feel and react to the environment. Soon, they will change the way we relate with them in a regular, daily basis".

Drones - Increasingly gaining more space (literally), the drones (unmanned aerial vehicle) are a type of aircraft that do not require pilots to guide them. These planes are controlled remotely by electronic and computer means under human supervision and / or a government, with or without your intervention through Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). Some companies, such as Amazon and DHL, are already conducting tests so they can make deliveries through programmable drones. So far there are still many regulations that prohibit its use on a large scale: they can end up interfering with the airspace. In the UK it has been used to deliver pizzas and in the USA for the delivery of "tacos", but has ran into trouble with laws and the initiative was eventually suspended.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) - According to industry experts, the exponential development of technology in artificial intelligence ("AI"), which includes digital replication altogether with human brains, will radically transform mankind throughout two revolutions: uniqueness, such as when artificial intelligence will redesign in a recurrent and progressive way, so that it will become much more powerful than human intelligence. The second revolution will be the virtual immortality, which means when the fullness of the "inner self" can be charged and integrated seamlessly into non-biological media (such as chips and other wearable devices). Together, the singularity and virtual immortality will mark an amazing world and be completely techno/ futuristic /digital.

AC Technology - The 802.11ac standard is the next generation of transmission technology in wireless local area networks (WI-FI WLAN) belonging to 802.11 family of high performance, frequency of 5GHz. The standard works with wireless transfer multi-station in the range of Gbit / s single link download, thanks to the concept of interface extension, as implemented in the 802.11n model. In practice, this means that the 802.11ac is up to three times faster than the previous generation, as well as being more efficient and secure. Moreover, it is ideal to connect multiple wireless devices, without congestion or interference. Frost & Sullivan Consulting has projected that by 2020, there will be around 80 billion devices connected to the Internet. An expansion of the use of technology is crucial to allow a more efficient fluidity and agility of information.

Machine to Machine (M2M) - These are technologies that allow two or more systems to communicate wirelessly with other devices with the same ability. The M2M uses a device that can be both a meter and a sensor to capture the information, which is then sent through a network (wireless, wired or hybrid) to an application (program type), which in turn transforms what was captured into useful information. Technology Machine to Machine enables new solutions in the medical field, payment processing, security, remote maintenance, automotive and so on. According to the federal government, Brazil is now the world's fourth largest market for machine to machine communication, with 10 million data terminals. The government estimates that by 2020 this number will exceed the 1 billion mark.

The opportunities in the ICT field are huge for the upcoming years. The technology has been changing into an intense and hectic pace. What was considered to be new may become obsolete within one year. We must be aware of these innovations in order to take the best advantage possible. The world is changing faster everyday. And you don´t want get behind it, right?

Mr. Almeida´s is formerly from TV Bandeirantes Rio de Janeiro, DHL Logistics and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), always inside the ICT field. He has covered major events of ICT around the globe, such as Taitronics Taipei, Computex Taipei, CES® Las Vegas, CeBIT Germany, Distree LATAM (Argentina), HP Global Partner Conference (Las Vegas), Dell Partner Summit (Miami).