It’s remarkably easy to forget that we live in a time of remarkable technological innovation. Because the fundamental elements of daily tech use have been very similar for the last decade (with smartphones having long-since reached the mainstream), we can fall into the habit of thinking that not much is changing — but this view is wildly inaccurate.
The changes are happening behind the scenes, with incredible infrastructure developments and huge leaps in processing, design and material technologies. For proof, you need only look to the remote-working wave that followed the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Businesses were forced to abandon their offices and let their employees stay home, yet productivity didn’t take the blow many expected. As it turned out, the tech world was ready to step in.
Had a pandemic struck the world back in 2011, things would have been so much harder, so it’s important to be aware (and appreciative) of the tech and software that’s providing so effective at keeping digital business connected in 2021. Here are three pillars worthy of acknowledgement:
Scalable communication platforms
If you hadn’t heard of Zoom before 2020 started, you’ll surely have heard of it by now. It’s a staple of the corporate world, supporting one-on-one interactions and group discussions alike, and maybe the biggest success story of the remote-working era. More notable, though, is the general category of cloud-powered meeting platforms: a category that continues to grow.
In the VoIP category, there’s significant experimentation and development in an effort to introduce new features to bridge the gap between online and offline conversations. Here’s a good example: using a platform like Topia allows you to mimic the adaptability of real-world group conversations through navigation of a virtual environment. If you want to have a separate talk with one person, you can simply share the same on-screen area to have a private call.
And then there are text-centric tools like Slack (plus alternatives such as the powerful Microsoft Teams) that expand along with organizations, ensuring that all of their comms are suitably segmented and searchable. Trying to keep track of events without platforms in place to track messages and file shares would be a nightmare, so they’re mission-critical additions.
Green energy generation
None of the tech and software we talk about here would be possible without the energy to power it, and with demand consistently rising, it’s ever-more important to generate energy both consistently and renewable. Reliance on fossil fuels needs to come to an end, and it’s technology (be it solar power or biofuel) that we look to when seeking paths forward.
In addition to breakthroughs pertaining to battery technology, it bears noting that the field of predictive maintenance (driven by automation technology) is doing much to improve green energy generation. System instabilities must be kept to a minimum to ensure green output at a pace that’s steady enough for regular use.
Virtualised resources and systems
Scrambling to work remotely left a lot of businesses relying on old business laptops or even the personal machines of their employees. This caused some major performance and security concerns. How can there be a level playing field? The answer, of course, is virtualization through the cloud. Segmenting the resources of a high-powered machine and making those segments accessible through the cloud can be incredibly useful.
Taking advantage of this, today’s businesses can allow their employees to access company files from the devices of their choosing, even including tablets. Virtualizing entire operating systems results in exceptional security, with nothing useful stored or processed locally. It also reduces the impact of local hardware failure since it’s as simple as moving to another device.
And as with the aforementioned communication platforms, virtualization is incredibly scalable. You don’t need to invest in server setups or go through complex configuration. You simply pay more when you need to use more, and pay less when your needs lessen. This all lightens the load on businesses and makes it markedly easier for them to stay connected.
Sophisticated AR/VR setups
This is a fun addition to some extent, but it’s also a real reflection of how enterprise business is advancing. Augmented reality isn’t just the foundation for Pokemon Go or furniture previews at this stage. Systems like Microsoft’s Hololens have laid the groundwork, and now its budding Mesh platform is hinting at the future of professional collaboration.
There are already companies (most notably in the engineering realm) using AR headsets to make their core tasks easier. Designing a 3D model is obviously easier if you can keep tabs on it through a live AR overlay. And this technology is only going to get better and more affordable. Soon enough it’ll be viable for a modestly-sized business to rely on it for daily operations.
- The author, Laura May, is Digital Editor at Just Another Magazine.
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