As new technologies and trends make their way from the front page of the news into real-world applications, industries will start solving previously unsolvable problems.
But not every industry will adopt tech trends to the same degree.
And some will embrace every single technology trend to see where it leads them.
Industry leaders should prepare for these trends—because they will transform industries more in the next 10 years than they have in the last 100 years. For business leaders who have sustainable goals, staying on top of the top technology trends that have the most potential for impact on their industry will mean the difference between making it to the next level, or slowly going extinct.
McKinsey and Company released their 2022 Tech Trends report—let’s see how key technologies are being leveraged among major industries.
Healthcare Industry Leveraging Multiple Technologies to Achieve Medical Advancements
The healthcare and medical fields are a ripe landscape for innovation and technological advancements. The market for mobile health apps alone is staggeringly broad, with more than 400,000 apps available for download, and the field is becoming increasingly reliant on advanced technologies to provide patients with the care and attention they need.
Artificial Intelligence
AI-driven diagnostic and treatment tools have become more prevalent in modern doctor’s offices as those are being used to analyze clinical notes and tie together disparate information to improve overall patient diagnoses. While there are numerous applications where AI is making an impact in healthcare, there are two cutting-edge applications where it’s having a drastic impact.
Medical Imaging
Using the already-available enormous datasets of patient data, AI is able to process vast amounts of information, finding solutions to problems faster than ever before. For example, healthcare providers are using it to detect anomalies in medical imaging, letting the algorithm crunch through datasets to find patterns and relationships allowing doctors to diagnose cancers faster and more efficiently.
Pharmaceuticals & Bioengineering
AI-driven drug studies are changing the scale of research. With the chance to test small batches and extrapolate results, pharmaceutical companies can sift through possible drug and disease combinations without having to engage in larger, longer, or more expensive studies. A greater number of life-changing medications could make it to the marketplace for a wider variety of conditions.
Internet of (Medical) Things (IoMT) Connectivity
The Internet of Medical Things are medical devices designed with the ability to connect via Wi-Fi to each other and to existing healthcare-focused online networks. Of all of the various applications where IoMT are being leveraged, personal devices and wearables are where many companies are focusing their efforts in order to improve the patient treatment process.
Medical Devices and Wearables
On nearly every wrist today there’s a wearable device that tracks a person’s heart rate, steps, sleep cycle, or stress levels. Connecting these personal devices to healthcare providers’ systems is already being used by doctors to monitor patients’ health data from their devices, see and track irregular heartbeats, and request a patient visit if they reach dangerous levels.
Virtual Reality
Trending technology discussions have included the concept of virtual reality (VR) for several decades now, but the technology itself has only recently evolved in ways that have made it viable and useful to large technology brands focused on creating virtual online spaces for users, such as the social media giant Facebook’s recent rebranding as Metaverse and subsequent focus on virtual shared spaces. Outside of the realm of entertainment, however, VR has become a powerful teaching and collaboration tool in the healthcare industry.
Treatment Improvements And Research Advancements
The ability to train doctors and surgeons through VR could translate into better patient outcomes, and might possibly eliminate the dangers associated with training on real patients. Doctors could consult virtually with peers in other cities or on other continents. Better-trained physicians and coordination between healthcare providers could lead to unprecedented medical breakthroughs.
Manufacturing Companies Leaning Into New Technologies To Improve Automation, Productivity, And Logistics
The manufacturing industry is the perfect landscape to leverage new technologies, as costs of goods and unreliable supply chains mean manufacturers need every tool possible to gain an edge on the competition. Production tools such as 3D design software paired with 3D printing machines are introducing cost reductions and increased flexibility to the industry, but these tools are reliant upon deeper and more complex technologies at the device level and in the data being gathered.
IoT Devices Help Track Preventative Repair and Maintenance and Improve Supply Chain Management Tactics
Outside of the medical field, the Internet of Things (IoT) has started to provide massive amounts of data to other industries. For the manufacturing industry, this flow of data is crucial to keep manufacturing lines in peak operating condition, as IoT devices can be used to track and predict future maintenance on machines.
An increasingly popular application of IoT, Hitachi Solutions predicts that manufacturers will continue to adopt these new data-gathering technologies in hopes of reducing factory downtime and improving machine efficiency. In turn, this will lead to more efficient business processes across the board.
For companies like Amazon, using IoT to track delivery trucks and packages in more minute detail could provide data that unlocks better business processes and untapped opportunities. For other companies, IoT devices could provide more real-time information about slowdowns in deliveries before they make headlines. IoT integrated with the supply chain at this level can help manufacturers track demand for products and ensure adequate inventory levels for raw materials and supplies to reduce or eliminate fulfillment interruptions.
IoT Provides Data Sources To Feed Big Data And Predictive Analytics Engines
IoT connectivity means more than just turning factory machines into smart factory machines. By analyzing large amounts of data that is now available, we can gain insight into why machines fail, when they need to be repaired, the factors that result in failure, or even the fluctuation of machine temperatures. Companies that employ big data techniques will increase productivity and make better business decisions driving positive results.
Marketers and Retailers Using Technology To Strengthen Strategies And Properly Promote Products
Regardless of which industry you’re assessing, competition is such that brands can no longer rely on product differentiation to provide a competitive advantage. The landscape is such that user experiences and customer experiences are the final battleground to build business and convert leads. Digital marketing experts across B2B and B2C channels are embracing emerging technologies focused on Big Data to build business models that can outperform competitors on multiple levels.
Improved Data Analytics Foster Growth
Siloed data across departments prevent teams from seeing a holistic picture of a company or industry trends. Compiling large datasets in one location allows decision-makers the opportunity to see how macro trends are affecting their industry on a micro level.
Every retail business has a wishlist and insight into consumer behavior is at the top of it. For companies like Walmart, just-in-time inventory is a lot easier with intensive tracking and constant data updates. Big datasets help them see real-time or near-real-time information about behavior trends, giving them the power to pivot quickly, increasing sales, reducing costs, and maintaining inventory integrity.
Blockchain Technology Infuses New Life Into Print Media
One of the guiding principles driving blockchain adoption is decentralization. For media, this means the publishing middleman can be removed, and profits can flow directly to the artist. Smart contracts can be embedded into publications or artwork that pays an artist royalties every time the media is consumed, without payment platforms or record labels taking a cut.
Pairing Machine Learning With New Data Streams Allows Brands To Make Better, More Informed Creative Decisions
A movie flop could cost a studio millions of dollars, but making predictions about what an audience wants to see is easier with machine learning. Already in place are features like Netflix’s recommendation feature. By leveraging AI and ML together, one could almost predict the next summer blockbuster without risking a studio’s reputation and capital.
Corporate Infrastructure and Business Processes Improved Through Technology
The manufacturing industry isn’t the only segment of the modern economy that is focused on achieving increases in efficiency and productivity. As the pandemic has pushed more workers into hybrid and remote work spaces, businesses need more powerful tools with which to manage their networks and store and protect client data managed from the field, and to be able to analyze that data in order to make informed business decisions.
Decentralized Cloud Computing and Cloud Storage Infrastructure
IT infrastructure will continue to decentralize as companies embrace the elasticity of cloud storage. Paying for storage as-needed reduces costs for companies, as well as allows them to adjust to economic fluctuations and reduce capital expenditures. Industries will continue to move toward remote or hybrid work environments, where cloud infrastructure creates opportunities for real-time communication between team members.
AI and Machine Learning Combine With IoT to Give Business Processes the Decision Making Edge They Need
Cybersecurity Automation
Rather than relying on gut instinct and past behavior, combining artificial intelligence and machine learning lets companies detect patterns in big data generated by IoT that help to detect when cyberattacks are occurring, alerting authorities before the damage is done. These technologies can also combine data from transactions, accounts, and company communications to identify fraud. As cyber criminals become more savvy, companies in 2023 and beyond will need to increase their investments in cybersecurity.
Financials
Already used in risk management for the stock market and insurance industries, machine learning (ML) is optimizing portfolios based on historical and real-time data. The more data machine learning is fed, the more sophisticated and accurate its predictions become. For financial services that use machine learning, de-risking portfolios will improve overall ROI and company performance.
Blockchain Has Legal and Finance Applications Beyond Cryptocurrency
There’s an entire world beyond cryptocurrency in blockchain technology, there’s more going for it than just disrupting the traditional financial industry. With technology capable of writing smart contracts on immutable ledgers—that executes automatically once established parameters are met—both the legal and financial worlds could reduce their cost of services by automating the terms of a contract.
What’s Holding Trend Adoptions Back?
As industry leaders confront the technology trends transforming their areas of expertise, they’ll need to decide if they should embrace the trends or wait until trends are more widespread. But engaging in digital transformation doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing decision.
Business owners will need to ask themselves these questions as they evaluate which trends will serve their core purpose:
- Do I have the capital funds to invest in my business’s next iteration?
- What will it cost my company to avoid innovating (technical debt)?
- Is my leadership on board for transforming the company?
- Do I know what the next steps are to adopting new technology?
Capital funding, lack of vision, and lack of stakeholder buy-in are just a few of the barriers that stand in the way of widespread adoption for companies. Even so, companies that carefully plan to reinvent themselves will be ready to save money, provide faster service, and reduce waste and production time. The options are endless.
The only factor is how leaders choose to adopt tech trends.