Top Business and Technology Trends In 2021
So we’re about to enter 2021, the world global economy is experiencing another recession since World War II: disrupting economic activity, travel, supply chains, etc. When it comes to customer experience in the post-COVID world, it is expected that there will be changes in consumer preference and business models.
Since technologies have played a critical role during the pandemic helping minimize the economic damage like facilitating remote healthcare services, monitoring body temperature among the crowd, conferencing and consulting digitally, streamlining remote working, enabling contactless movements, increasing transparency in data, etc., once customers are getting used to new digital or remote models, there will surely be some changes in their expectations permanently.
In upcoming years, terms like digital nomadism, philanthropy, sustainable development goals will be heard and searched for. There will be fleet changes in terms of technology and business innovation. These are the result of what people experience during the pandemic.
Let’s have a look at some technology and business trends in the upcoming year.
Drug development insurgence with advanced COVID19 testing and vaccine development
The coronavirus has caused a major upheaval in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, making trial med faster and easier. Many researchers around the world have put the traditional clinical trials to one side, they have changed to virtual ways by performing consultations online and collecting data remotely. Remote clinical trials and other modifications can permanently change pharmaceutical development.
Since the beginning of the immediate crisis, we have seen fast COVID-19 test kit developments worldwide, as well as remarkably vaccines development by the U.S and Uk-based pharmaceutical companies like Moderna, and Pfizer. Both companies have successfully developed mRNA vaccines, marking an important historical milestone.
Continued expansion of remote working and video conferencing
Remote working and video conferencing have proved to boost productivity, save time, reduce travel expenses, and overall collaboration, especially during this time. Zoom, which grew from a startup in 2011 to the public in 2019, has become a popular corporate tool for the whole of 2020. Other existing means of communication for businesses like Cisco’s Webex, Skype for Business, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Verizon’s BlueJeans are also providing the latest video conferencing systems, making remote work easier across the globe.
These communication tools are emerging in the remote sector, providing visual collaboration platforms enabling teams to create and share content, track project processes, train employees, run virtual business and team-building activities, etc.
Telehealth and Telemedicine
Organizations, especially in the healthcare sector, are working to reduce the exposure of COVID-19 to patients and workers. Many private general practices and public healthcare service providers have begun to introduce telemedicine services, like doctor-patient video chats, Artificial Intelligence avatar-based diagnostics, and other contactless-based medication delivery.
The percentage of telehealth visits has increased by 50 percent compared to pre-pandemic time. IHS Technology reveals that by the end of 2020, 70 million Americans would have been using telemedicine, and since then, Forrester Research predicts that by 2021, the number of U.S virtual care visits will reach almost a billion.
Online education and E-learnings as part of the educational system
COVID-19 has fast-tracked the e-learning and online education industry. During the lockdowns, 190 countries around the world have enforced nationwide school closures at some point, resulting in 1.2 billion children affected by school closures due to the pandemic.
There are huge opportunities in schools, colleges, and even training centers that teach via video conferences. In fact, many organizations have been advised to take some courses online, even if the situation returns to normal. Even before the pandemic, there were high adoption demands in education technology, with the global Edtech investments reaching US$16.66 billion last year. It is believed that online education projected to reach $350 billion by 2025. Language learning apps are seeing a surge in interest during the COVID-19 pandemic
Growth of A.I., Robotics, Internet of Things, and Industrial Automation
Since Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Industrial Automation Technology have proved to be beneficial to all businesses, especially in this crisis, we expect to see enormous demand and rapid growth in these cutting-edge technologies. Once the production and supply chain is back on track, the human resource shortage will become a serious issue needed to resolve. With the help of AI, robotics, and IoT integrating with automation, we will have an alternative solution to run manufacturing.
And in order to build a strong automation system, you’ll need a reliable offshore software development company. Technology development in 2021 will be a continuation of 2020: strong and rapid. But with the influence of COVID-19 and its new variant, many of our behaviors will be impacted, this can be either a problem that needs to solve, but we’d like to view it as an opportunity to drive major technological and business innovations.
