This interconnectedness or uploading of data is virtually automatic. Today there are IoTs for monitoring traffic, air quality, soil moisture, bridge conditions, consumer electronics, autonomous vehicles, and the list seemingly never stops. They reported that over half of all IoTs are installed in devices used by consumers. Security issues need to be acknowledged and resolved, preferably before IoTs in the form of remote lighting, thermostats, and security systems are installed in a residence.
Here are some security concerns that need monitoring. Another trend that is emerging is an extension of the Internet of Things: autonomous robots and vehicles. By combining software, sensors, and location technologies, devices that can operate themselves to perform specific functions are being developed. These take the form of creations such as medical nanotechnology robots nanobots , self-driving cars, or unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs. A nanobot is a robot whose components are on the scale of about a nanometer, which is one-billionth of a meter.
While still an emerging field, it is showing promise for applications in the medical field. For example, a set of nanobots could be introduced into the human body to combat cancer or a specific disease. In March of , Google introduced the world to their driverless car by releasing a video on YouTube showing a blind man driving the car around the San Francisco area.
While the car is not available commercially yet, three US states Nevada, Florida, and California have already passed legislation making driverless cars legal.
Instead of a pilot, they are either run autonomously by computers in the vehicle or operated by a person using a remote control. While most drones today are used for military or civil applications, there is a growing market for personal drones. As digital technologies drive relentlessly forward, so does the demand for increased security.
One of the most important innovations in security is the use of encryption, which we covered in chapter 6. As the world of information technology moves forward, we will be constantly challenged by new capabilities and innovations that will both amaze and disgust us.
As we learned in chapter 12, many times the new capabilities and powers that come with these new technologies will test us and require a new way of thinking about the world. Businesses and individuals alike need to be aware of these coming changes and prepare for them. Skip to content Increase Font Size. Upon successful completion of this chapter, you will be able to: describe current trends in information systems.
Introduction Information systems have evolved at a rapid pace ever since their introduction in the s. Global The first trend to note is the continuing expansion of globalization.
World wide mobile phone users Source: Statista. Mobile Perhaps the most impactful trend in digital technologies in the last decade has been the advent of mobile technologies. Here are some key indicators of this trend: Mobile vs. Minutes spent each day on a mobile device are 2. Daytime vs. Desktop use dominates in the daytime hours, but mobile devices are dominant in the evening, with peak usage around pm.
Device usage. Smartphones are used more than any other technology. Laptops are in second place, followed by tablets holding a slight edge over desktops. According to Gartner Group, world wide smartphone sales declined in the fourth quarter of by 4. This is the first decline in global smartphone sales since Gartner began tracking mobile phone sales in In the iPad sold more than three times as many units in its first twelve months as the iPhone did in its first twelve months.
Wearable The average smartphone user looks at his or her smartphone times a day for functions such as messaging 23 times , phone calls 22 , listening to music 13 , and social media 9. Collaborative Waze Screen Shot Click to enlarge As more people use smartphones and wearables, it will be simpler than ever to share data with each other for mutual benefit.
Printable One of the most amazing innovations to be developed recently is the 3-D printer. Researchers at MIT in unveiled a 3D printing robot that can construct a building. It has a large arm and small arm. The large arm moves around the perimeter of the building while the small arm sprays a variety of materials including concrete and insulation.
Total time to construct a dome-shaped building is just 14 hours. Musical Instruments. Flutes, fiddles, and acoustic guitars are being produced with 3D printing using both metal and plastic. You can click here for an example of making a violin. Medical Models. Medical models are being used to help doctors train in the areas of orthopedics, transplant surgery, and oncology.
Using a 3D printed brain model similar to the one shown here , surgeons were able to save a patient from a cerebral aneurysm. How would you like clothes that fit perfectly? Special software is used to measure a person, then 3D printing produces the clothing to the exact measurements. The result is well-fitting clothes that consume less raw materials. Initially the challenge was to find materials that would not break.
You can read more about 3D printing of clothes and shoes. Which countries are the biggest users of the Internet? Social media? How will most people connect to the Internet in the future?
What are two different applications of wearable technologies? What are two different applications of collaborative technologies? What capabilities do printable technologies have?
What is enhanced situational awareness? What is a nanobot? What is a UAV? Exercises If you were going to start a new technology business, which of the emerging trends do you think would be the biggest opportunity? Do some original research to estimate the market size. What privacy concerns could be raised by collaborative technologies such as Waze?
Do some research about the first handgun printed using a 3-D printer and report on some of the concerns raised. Write up an example of how IoT might provide a business with a competitive advantage. How do you think wearable technologies could improve overall healthcare? What potential problems do you see with a rise in the number of autonomous cars? Do some independent research and write a two-page paper that describes where autonomous cars are legal and what problems may occur.
New types of cyber threats are being discovered every day. The only things standing between our data and malicious activities are IT security software , antivirus, and other cybersecurity defenses. So long as the internet is used, threats are imminent and, thus the cybersecurity industry will always continue to thrive. Big businesses might be the ones bracing the most for cyber-attacks but in reality, smaller businesses are at greater risk.
Cyber threats come in so many forms and the most common among them is email phishing. So to summarize, everyone who connects to a network is at risk. While cybersecurity has been a work in progress for decades now, it can still improve a lot.
For instance, the average time it takes for a data breach to be detected is half a year. Today new technological advancements in cybersecurity are emerging. For instance, technologies to fight deepfakes and open source vulnerabilities are being developed.
There are also advancements in blockchain security, homomorphic encryption, and zero-knowledge proofs. Cloud computing was first perceived as a major breakthrough and became the trend. Until it was implemented and it became the norm. These include reliability, enhanced disaster recovery, cost reduction, and collaboration to name a few.
In fact, cloud adoption is a must for small businesses. However, there are new technologies today in development that might just overthrow the reign of cloud computing. Some address the drawbacks of cloud computing like ongoing costs, security issues, and reliance on the internet. While some simply provide a better way of doing things. The first in our list of alternatives is edge computing. This helps save data bandwidth, increase the response time, and is most useful for IoT devices. Instead of sending data all the way to clouds or data centers, it is processed closer.
This helps analyze data in almost real-time. The next one is fog computing. With fog computing, every function—storage, analysis, processing—are moved to the edge of the network.
This is great for managing data floods in a networked environment. Another one is named Project Solid, which is an initiative brought by the inventor of the web itself, Tim Berners-Lee. This method provides users with complete control over their data by placing them into a container. The services would then allow users to access the data when signing in.
But, they lose it when the user signs out. In essence, it means that you bring your data with you. After almost a decade of development, it has finally become a reality in some areas. It offers an unprecedented transmission speed that far surpasses its predecessor, 4G. What was once only done through computers can now be done in smart devices as well. Furthermore, IoT gadgets will be able to interconnect more smoothly. Also, things that require complex operations are now achievable.
This includes drones, autonomous cars, and smart cities. Moreover, the increase in bandwidth translates into less coverage. More signal droppings are to be expected as of now too. There are issues about its capability to penetrate walls and other materials as well. But the most concerning of them all is that some claim that the network produces radiofrequency radiation. This is due to the power of the cellular towers that will empower 5G networks.
The more powerful the cell phone towers are, the more chance they will emit radiation to the environment. Virtual Reality VR immerses the user into an environment. By stimulating their hearing and vision, it makes them feel as if they are experiencing the simulated environment firsthand.
Aside from games, VR is also used in other forms of entertainment. For instance, some theme parks provide a more immersive experience to their patrons through VR. Examples of this include virtual museums, galleries, discovery centers, and theaters. Another widespread application of Virtual Reality is training and simulation. This is done in various fields such as in surgery and in aviation for flight simulation. For one, most of the good hardware is expensive. The former is expensive and limits movement while the latter has lower graphical performance.
They do have similarities but they are, at their core, different. AR enhances a real-life view with digital images. This is commonly an app that works with camera lenses.
Usually, the overlay images blend into reality in a way that users can easily tell them apart. Many consumers welcome AR because of its numerous real-world applications.
For example, IKEA has an app that will let you see how furniture would look like in your room. The AR technology has also been of great help to different sectors. In enhanced navigation systems, AR is used to show routes over a real-time view of the road. Some neurosurgeons use Augmented Reality to project a 3D image of a brain to aid them in surgery. In the military, pilots wear AR helmets to see vital statuses such as their speed and altitude. As with every technology, AR has some drawbacks associated with it.
Perhaps the most popular among them is the blurring of the line between the real and digital world. There are certain privacy concerns as well since AR is based on data collection and redistribution. Due to the growth of machine learning, chatbots have become extremely popular among small businesses and huge enterprises alike. Combine that with natural language processing NLP and we got ourselves a more responsive, more intelligent, and more human conversational agent.
Typically, chatbots are used in customer service. A chatbot is a program whose main function is to simulate conversation with humans. By that definition alone, we could infer that this technology has a certain degree of application. That, however, does not mean that it has no room for growth because it does, a big one even.
Chatbots today are more AI-driven and are becoming human-like. Smart speakers, which deliver voice experience, are also becoming a norm. Chatbots are being steadily adopted by more businesses too. A chatbot is a big help in cutting some of those expenditures. One of the biggest challenges to chatbot development is that it can only be as advanced as NLP is. This conversational software will always be dependent on their part which parses human language.
Also, when used as a customer service tool , clients might become frustrated when the answers get repetitive or limiting. To top it off, chatbots with more complex and robust functionalities are quite expensive. Blockchain, in its most bare form, is data that you can only add to. The fact that the previous blocks cannot be altered is the central point of its security. Another main feature of blockchain is that no single entity governs it.
When it was first introduced, blockchain has attracted a lot of snake-oil salesmen. It got so bad that regulators had to enter the scene. Scammers aside, however, many businesses legitimately believe in the potential of blockchain as the next big breakthrough.
Blockchain is also becoming big in the field of Internet of Things. It turns out that the technology is a good solution for providing security to IoT devices. The emergence of this technology, however, does not signal the end of cryptocurrencies.
In fact, Bitcoin is still a big thing and there are other cryptocurrencies to watch out for. These include Tether, Ripple, and Ethereum, which are all making their way to improve upon Bitcoin.
Artificial intelligence is continually improving and it powers more applications and machines each day. IoT devices are becoming more and more widespread. Cybersecurity is a steadily busy field. There are also game-changing technological trends for businesses. IT trends in business will reshape the future of commerce and industries. Automation and digitization will make a lot of changes in customer experience.
Many jobs will become obsolete but a lot will also open up. But still, businessmen and analysts view them as minefields of potential.
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