With every new year, everyone always inevitably wants to hear about the ‘best of’ and the ‘top ten’ of everything the previous year had to offer. So for this year, ZBRELLA is rounding out the year in a way only a tech company could round out the year: with the top tech trends of 2016. Fasten your VR goggles and set those IoT devices to stun, because here’s all the best trends of the year.
Trend Number One: Big Data
Even though big data has been trending well before 2016, the recent upsurgance of major corporations and companies utilizing the benefits of big data this year helped it land a spot on the list of top tech trends of 2016. The overall number of businesses upgrading systems and investing their hard earned cash to collect bigger and better amounts of data this past year speaks to the reemergence of the big data trend itself, while the amount of places actually interpreting the quantified data correctly makes it an important comeback.
For example, this past year Paul Stein, Chief Scientific Officer at Rolls-Royce, put big data processes to use within the company’s three key areas of operation: design, manufacture, and after-sales support. To make a long story short, Rolls-Royce is now using big data analytics to diagnose faults within their products and preventing those faults from happening again. And according to the company, all that big data info is reducing costs “significantly.” Not bad for a trend that was on the way out a few years ago.
Trend Number Two: Virtual & Augmented Reality
Between the Oculus Rift, Samsung’s Gear VR & the Playstation VR, virtual reality (VR) has been virtually (and literally) everywhere. And not to be outdone by 2016’s fan favorite, augmented reality (AR) has been hot on VR’s tail with the near rabid phenomenon of games like Pokemon Go and a whole slew of other AR apps for mobile devices. In general, the consensus is in: VR and AR are the playgrounds of this generation and they’re definitely here to stay, slotting them a place among the top tech trends of 2016.
But this tech trend isn’t just for leisure and kids, it’s also booming in business, making it an even bigger reason to check it at the top of the list. From AR apps that are improving the way some companies implement safety training and education to virtual reality tours that allow businesses to tour their environment online and develop and test product/service prototypes with having to go through multiple versions of it, AR and VR have been major tech trends this year.
Trend Number Three: IoT
Ahh, the Internet of Things, now more commonly known as IoT. Another buzzword we’ve been hearing about for a little while, IoT makes the list of top tech trends of 2016 because people are actually figuring out how to, well, connect their everyday items to the Internet to make them smart. From refrigerators to TVs to stoves and thermostats, literally everything can be turned into a smart appliance to create the perfect smart home. Users can control everything from a single device, and progress might have just turned into a synonym for slothfulness.
And of course IoT has found a niche in business, too. With predictions estimating that by 2020 more than 24 billion devices will be connected (that’s about 4 IoT devices per every single person on Earth), Business Insider is saying that IoT will continue to reduce operating costs in business, increase productivity, help to expand businesses into new markets, and develop new product offerings. In fact, from now to 2020, business investments are predicted to jump from $215 billion to $832 billion, making IoT not only a tech trend of 2016, but a tech trend that will probably continue to last well into the future.
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