2021 was a stupendous year for technology as the Covid-19 pandemic and the unprecedented steps we had to take to contain its spread under check also resulted in a tech dependence that none of us could imagine before. When 2019 ended, many of us awaited the launch of 5G network, better smartphones, smarter IT, more voice-enabled devices and data driven users. Most of ou7r expectations and predictions ended up being true. It is just that India is way behind the other parts of the world in adapting to the growing scope of technology.
The china originated COVID-19 pandemic resulted in never-before imagined dependence on technology as the entire world was stuck at home with no physical contact being possible suddenly. As the real life got limited and restricted, the unnerving accent of virtual reality popped up. People used social media and other tech driven medium to get close to friends, family and colleagues without actually having the physical contract and following the norms of social distancing. The technological advancements we had taken for granted, such as video conferencing and online meet application, witnessed a sudden unprecedented demand and reached new heights as the people across the world could keep up with their jobs because of this ubiquitous technology.
On the contrary, the technology driven year also burst many bubbles such as those in the space of travel tech.
The end of 2020, has not only brought about a special optimism in people in regards with the novel coronavirus vaccine but has also made people more and more adaptable and confident in the matters of technology. While every person uncharacteristically hopes towards a “happy” new year with caution, there is a lot that we anticipate to be better in the world of technology. One quite interesting thing is that the future technology will be influenced with what has happened in 2020. This is quite weird and unusual, because technology is generally forward looking and not backwards-looking.
Is “Work from home” here to stay?
Well, we can say so. The hopes are to be able to go back to offices but even after we have a vaccine, work from home is not going away easy. The trend has received mass acceptance across the world without any actual drop in productivity.
In other words, if work from home was a compulsion in 2020, it might develop into a cost saving corporate strategy in 2020 as we expect more technologies in 2020 that act as enablers for remote employment at scale apart from host of companies that we already have. All these softwares would facilitate collaboration among colleagues in real time while more and more creative startups emerge with out-of-the-box ideas on creating virtual offices.
The requirement for being in a physical space has been drastically reduced by the idea of work form him and there already lot of talk about extended reality (XR), which is a is a mix of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR), being extended to fill the voids on account of physical contacts. With XR we can combine the realms of the real and virtual, and one could experience an office like atmosphere even if they are spread all over the country. The credit goes to 5G-powered XR headset, which is already close to come in existence as Companies like Qualcomm are incessantly working on this exhilarating and new experience.
The implementation of work from home in the post covid world might also alter the way laptops and other devices are created. For example, seeing the excessive use of video conferencing it is a high probability that laptop makers might finally start making a Full HD camera a standard feature or develop laptops with wireless connectivity.
Will technology affect the way we have been building our homes or places of residence?
Well, yes again. Since more and more people will now be sitting at home for more and more time, they might as well invest increasing amounts in regular maintenance of their homes creating a huge opportunity to offer them indoors what they are missing outside via more innovative technologies such as television screens and projectors. This might also reduce the market prices of better technologies.
We have already seen OTT platforms and other new streaming services catering to all kinds of content demands to cash in on the entertainment urge while the cinemas and other entertainment spots remain closed.
With lives getting smarter, homes would get smarter too. Things like smart home software will come into focus to improve the experiences of people and to keep them entertained, informed, and healthy.
Furthermore, we can expect gaming to enter our homes like never before and that too not limited to just the kids. Amid the pandemic, the gaming sector has witnessed a tremendous boost thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. We can now expect this sector to expand exponentially with new consoles and services that make gaming for all indoor atmospheres.
Will Intelligent data run the world?
Data is the new oil and talks about artificial intelligence are not new. The situation posed by the pandemic has made these tech models to be used at unprecedented scale, something that we expected to happen but not so soon. Intelligent systems like IBM’s Watson will be more in demand as countries try to figure out how to take forward the vaccination procedures. These systems might be helpful in figuring out the rollout of the vaccines. And their use is not just limited to vaccines: AI is already in place to alert about new Covid-18 hotspots.
