Major Trends In Technology To Watch

Like every year, analysis firms make all kinds of predictions for the coming year. According to Gartner, 2020 will be marked by 5 major technological trends ...

If there's one thing Forrester and Gartner agree on in 2020, it's that CIOs are going to need to understand how their customers interact with technology and focus a good deal of their attention on user experiences if they do. do not want to see CMOs gain the upper hand and arrogate to themselves certain prerogatives conquered by CIOs in recent years.

For Gartner , no doubt, " in 2020, CIOs will have to take the initiative to promote a vision both IT and CX (Customer Experience) design and development of multi-experiences ."

Today, all businesses are tech companies, and digital experiences are no longer the preserve of disruptive startups. The digital experience today plays a fundamental role in the satisfaction of customers and consumers. “ It's critical that CIOs understand how digital experiences are built and delivered, ” said Daniel Sun, vice president analyst at Gartner.

Why ? Because 2020 will be marked by 5 technological trends all having to do with the user experiences of customers and the human-machine interactions that companies will offer. Here are these 5 technology trends identified by Gartner:

Trend 1: Multi-experience
Web, smartphones, watches, connected speakers, smart-displays, connected TVs, audio headsets doped with voice assistants, the user is surrounded by technologies on which he relies for information, learning, ordering, buying, etc. It is this diversity of devices and applications that enrich the digital life of the consumer that Gartner refers to as “multi-experience”. The digital experience is multiple and it is now necessary to create services and applications adapted to this diversity according to the specific modalities of the “point of contact” (place and time) while ensuring that the user experience remains consistent and unified. end-to-end, regardless of the digital devices used. Typically, a user should be able to learn about a product from a website, request an interaction with a salesperson who will contact him on his mobile to help him finalize an order that the user will finally validate from the connected speaker or the smart-display once he has returned home. Multiple interactions that mix display, chat, voice but also soon the manipulation of virtual objects in 3D with the fingers for example (spatial computing, Hololens way 2 ).
Developers will have to extend their field of expertise beyond the web and mobile. And CIOs must take the initiative to promote a vision where IT and user experience are one and engage all businesses and all partners in a collaboration that allows the development of a coherent experience.

Trend 2: Machines without interfaces
Rather than embedding screens with limited interactivity on the machines, why not take advantage of the smartphone screen? This is one of the major trends seen by Gartner. After all, the proliferation of LED screens is a major ecological concern. We might as well limit their use by ensuring that devices are devoid of them because they are able to interact directly with the smartphone and display richer information while offering more user-friendly interactivity.
For Gartner, machines without interfaces offer CIOs new perspectives on the production and management of digital products, even within organizations.

Trend 3: Intelligent “agents”
The “agent interfaces” constitute the new generation of conversational intelligence. Today's chatbots and Alexa-style voice assistants reduce a number of interactions to simple conversations. But with the contribution of artificial intelligence, the new “agent interfaces” will be able to better predict user intentions using data collected on previous interactions. If the digital experience is truly thought through from end to end, these digital agents will be aware of the contexts, and will be able to be more relevant.

Trend 4: Payment by facial recognition
The trend comes from China where it is starting to spread. No more need for bank cards. Face ID support in Apple Pay ushers in a new way to authorize payments. It requires a new chain of trust from the device to banking organizations. But confirming an order by facial recognition will be one of the strong trends of tomorrow whether you are in front of your mobile or in front of your computer.

Trend 5: Inclusive design
According to Gartner " inclusive design is a principle according to which the best way to meet collective needs is to take into account the specific needs of each possible community ".
For project managers and developers, it's a real change of mindset to adopt. They must think of all the potential users of the products and services they design and neglect any of them, otherwise the very image of the company will suffer. This is true for the interactions offered, for the terminologies used, etc. Likewise, Gartner cautions that “ The data sources used should reflect all segments of potential users. Data sets that are too narrow or not inclusive should be avoided ”.
In other words, sources of information, services provided and user interfaces must reflect the needs, values ​​and behaviors of all target customer segments. A difficult challenge that will require a real commitment from the IT department in inclusive design!

In short, 2020 promises to be a busy year for CIOs who have been able to transform and be perceived as innovators and not simply as the woman or man at the head of this cost center that is again IT for too many general management.

Resources
https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/technology/technology-trends-2021
https://keynotespeakers.info/ai-artificial-intelligence-speakers/
https://keynotespeakers.info/futurist-speakers/
https://keynotespeakers.info/technology-speakers/
https://blog.bit.ai/top-technology-trends/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/11/30/five-technology-trends-to-watch-for-in-2021/?sh=304dddd15c3b