The emerging technologies that have taken shape in recent years can be divided into two main groups. The first are those that have not only developed over the years but that have already found thousands of applications. They have been thoroughly analyzed and have also proved their worth in practice, but they have not yet replaced the classic, well-established technological solutions. These are the four main technologies called the Big Four: cloud computing (cloud), Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and mobility. These are the pillars of the fourth industrial revolution, which you should introduce into your business. If you are already doing this, they are sure to bring benefits.

The second group is emerging technologies, which are still maturing. Some of them have already become quite advanced. They have found a number of applications and proved their worth in many businesses. However, they are not yet universal enough to become a pillar of economic development of companies. Others still require studies and fine-tuning. However, they are already working, and are collecting information that will enable them to mature in the future. You may have already heard about some of them, such as Blockchain, 3-D printing or quantum computing.

The Big Four emerging technologies are making an evolution that will undoubtedly become disruptive. And once again, disruption does not occur in one area or industry, but in many. It concerns most areas of human activity and life. Ease of access to these technologies and to free knowledge of how to use them, and the crazy SPEED with which they work means everything is available to everyone – with no limits in the digital era.

The next 10 years will see a stellar acceleration in the development of technologies. Manufacturers from Asia have significantly reduced equipment production costs, and technology companies from the US have noticed in the investment made by users (through the purchase of equipment, e.g. telephone subscription), the potential to generate new business models based on data.  

Reports about emerging technologies

The author has selected reports from recent years, issued by three organizations: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), World Economic Forum and Gartner. Every reader can ask themselves the same questions as me and look for answers in other available publications. The author is convinced that the results of these analyses will be similar to mine. In addition to the reputation of the organizations, the necessary conditions for the selection of reports are the long-term experience of experts and the number of completed projects. 

Graphs of emerging technologies

You find graphs illustrating the impact of emerging technologies on contemporary business. 

Emerging Technology point of view by Maciej Kranz

In the technology industry, we often confuse technologies with markets and products with solutions. Just think about the term ‘go-to-market.’ It exemplifies the ‘technology out’ vs ‘customer problem in’ thinking, where you create technology first and then think about the ways to take it to markets and customers. Similarly, one of the golden rules of successful start-ups is to define a new product category in which they naturally become the leader. As a result, let’s say in the security and cyber space, there are dozens of categories of tools but none of them offers a comprehensive solution to the customer’s actual security needs.