Personally, I’m amazed at
the technology we have
available to us. It’s
astounding to have the
power to retrieve almost any
information and communicate
in a thousand different ways
using a device that fits in
your pocket.
There’s always something
new on the horizon, and we
can’t help but wait and
wonder what technological
marvels are coming next.
The way I see it, there are
seven major tech trends
we’re in store for in 2017. If
you’re eyeing a sector in
which to start a business,
any of these is a pretty good
bet. If you're already an
entrepreneur, think about
how you can leverage these
technologies to reach your
target audience in new ways.
1. IoT and Smart Home
Tech.
We’ve been hearing about
the forthcoming revolution of
the Internet-of-Things
(IoT) and resulting
interconnectedness of smart
home technology for years.
So what’s the holdup? Why
aren’t we all living in smart,
connected homes by now?
Part of the problem is too
much competition, with not
enough collaboration—there
are tons of individual
appliances and apps on the
market, but few solutions to
tie everything together into
a single, seamless user
experience. Now that bigger
companies already well-
versed in uniform user
experiences (like Google,
Amazon, and Apple) are
getting involved, I expect
we’ll see some major
advancements on this front
in the coming year.
2. AR and VR.
We’ve already seen some
major steps forward for
augmented reality (AR) and
virtual reality (VR)
technology in 2016. Oculus
Rift was released, to positive
reception, and thousands of
VR apps and games followed.
We also saw Pokémon Go, an
AR game, explode with over
100 million downloads
. The market is ready for AR
and VR, and we’ve already
got some early-stage
devices and tech for these
applications, but it’s going to
be next year before we see
things really take off. Once
they do, you’ll need to be
ready for AR and VR
versions of practically
everything—and ample
marketing opportunities to
follow.
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3. Machine Learning.
Machine learning has taken
some massive strides
forward in the past few
years, even emerging to
assist and enhance Google’s
core search engine algorithm
. But again, we’ve only seen
it in a limited range of
applications. Throughout
2017, I expect to see
machine learning updates
emerge across the board,
entering almost any type of
consumer application you can
think of, from offering better
recommended products
based on prior purchase
history to gradually
improving the user
experience of an analytics
app. It won’t be long before
machine learning becomes a
kind of “new normal,” with
people expecting this type of
artificial intelligence as a
component of every form of
technology.
4. Automation.
Marketers will be (mostly)
pleased to learn that
automation will become a
bigger mainstay in and
throughout 2017, with
advanced technology
enabling the automation of
previously human-exclusive
tasks. We’ve had robotic
journalists in circulation for a
couple of years now, and I
expect it won’t be long
before they make another
leap into more practical types
of articles
. It’s likely that we’ll start
seeing productivity
skyrocket in a number of
white-collar type jobs—and
we’ll start seeing some jobs
disappear altogether
. When automation is
combined with machine
learning, everything can
improve even faster, so
2017 has the potential to be
a truly landmark year.
5. Humanized Big Data.
(visual, empathetic,
qualitative)
Big data has been a big topic
for the past five years or
so, when it started making
headlines as a buzzword.
The idea is that mass
quantities of gathered data—
which we now have access to
—can help us in everything
from planning better medical
treatments to executing
better marketing campaigns
. But big data’s greatest
strength—its quantitative,
numerical foundation—is also
a weakness. In 2017, I
expect we’ll see
advancements to humanize
big data, seeking more
empathetic and qualitative
bits of data and projecting it
in a more visualized,
accessible way.
6. Physical-Digital
Integrations.
Mobile devices have been
slowly adding technology into
our daily lives. It’s rare to
see anyone without a
smartphone at any given
time, giving us access to
practically infinite information
in the real-world. We already
have things like site-to-
store purchasing, enabling
online customers to buy and
pick up products in a
physical retail location, but
the next level will be even
further integrations between
physical and digital realities.
Online brands like Amazon
will start having more
physical products, like Dash
Buttons, and physical brands
like Walmart will start having
more digital features, like
store maps and product
trials.
7. Everything On-
Demand.
Thanks to brands like Uber
(and the resulting madness
of startups built on the
premise of being the “Uber
of ____”), people are getting
used to having everything
on demand via phone apps.
In 2017, I expect this to see
this develop even further.
We have thousands of apps
available to us to get rides,
food deliveries, and even a
place to stay for the night,
but soon we’ll see this
evolve into even stranger
territory.
Anyone in the tech industry
knows that making
predictions about the course
of technology’s future, even
a year out, is an exercise in
futility. Surprises can come
from a number of different
directions, and announced
developments rarely release
as they’re intended.
Still, it pays to forecast
what’s coming next so you
can prepare your marketing
strategies (or your budget)
accordingly. Whatever the
case may be, it’s still fun to
think about everything that’s