Contributed post.

The business world is entering a new technological era. We’ve seen the industrial revolution, then the digital revolution, and are now on the cusp of a new revolution in technology.

But what shape will it take? Here’s a look at five technologies making the biggest waves, and how they can benefit your business.

The Cloud

Cloud computing has advanced rapidly and grown spectacularly since the development of virtual machines for x86 systems by VMware in 1999, the spectacular growth of Salesforce.com in the early 2000s, and the launch of Amazon AWS in 2006.

Per CloudZero, the global cloud computing market grew from $24.63 billion in 2010 to $156.4 billion in 2020, a 635% jump, and is expected to surpass $1 trillion by 2028.

The ability to both easily share data and resources, and to access hardware and tools remotely via the Cloud, has played a major part in one of the most significant trends in business over the past decade: the move to remote working.

Indeed, despite concerns about public health during the pandemic dying down, remote working has continued to rise, with more and more people considering this flexibility an essential need in their working lives, and resisting blanket return-to-the office dictates.

Data Analysis

Some are calling the current wave of technological change the “data revolution.” But as noted in The Drum, “When British mathematician Clive Humby declared in 2006 that ‘data is the new oil,’ he meant that data, like oil, isn’t useful in its raw state. It needs to be refined, processed and turned into something useful; its value lies in its potential.”

Data unquestionably plays an increasing role in driving business decisions. But whether that’s really the biggest driver of change is debatable.

What’s clear is that data gathering, data visualization and analysis, and the tools that allow for them are making it much easier for business owners to see the bigger picture, to be able to make decisions that are driven not by bias or a single perspective, but by the facts and metrics available at their fingertips.

Artificial Intelligence

AI is a hot-button topic right, now, as with sophisticated artificial intelligence, automation is reaching into new industries and new types of work. Rather than simply being a cause of job loss, however, the future of work is being shaped by AI like Supernormal.

AI is able to contribute to people’s working lives by, for example, reshaping meetings so that they’re better able to fit the needs of the team, and recommending different types and attendees based on meeting topics.

The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT)—the ability for objects to connect wirelessly, and to share data, such as location, movement, temperature, and more—is already playing a significant role in warehouse and retail settings.

The inventory management benefits that IoT technology, or more specifically in business the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), allows for is just the beginning. Businesses are starting to adopt the technology for scheduling preventive maintenance and a variety of other purposes.

Autonomous Vehicles

Business supply chains are driven (pardon the pun) by countless vehicles moving cargo in every direction. As such, it’s no surprise that the rise of autonomous vehicles, both in terms of driverless cars and drones, which are already being used for deliveries, stands to make that supply chain much more cost-effective for enterprises that are able to safely adopt it.

With every new technological era comes a range of concerns and complaints, but it’s nearly always those businesses that adapt first and best that come out on top after the tumult dies down. Consider how you might have to start adapting your own.

The post The Technologies Having The Biggest Impact On The Workplace Right Now appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog | Webbiquity.