How the Acceleration of Technology will Impact the Business World
By: Andrew Kirima
Tags: Accelerating Returns, Healthcare, Technology, Business, Remote Working

by Andrew Kirima

The future is here! Mankind is embarking on a new age. A new paradigm supported by the irreversible growth of technology. “Technology is accelerating”, as said by futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil. Kurzweil’s “Law of Accelerating Returns”, has convinced entrepreneur’s Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler, that the convergence of technology within the next decade will lead to a colossal change in the way we live our lives. As technology accelerates, the business world will respond in fashion

This enormous growth in technology will entirely reconstruct the business world as we see it today. Enterprises that take advantage of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, 3D printing, Blockchain, Quantum Computing, Nanotechnology, AR/VR, Robotics, etc. will have the most dynamic growth in this decade. As these technologies converge and grow together, businesses that implement these tools will become more efficient and save a lot of capital that could be invested elsewhere. This all starts with the comfortability of their employees as they adopt the capability to work from anywhere they want.

Working remotely

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic a lot of companies needed to switch to remote working immediately. Companies such as Zoom and Microsoft have developed platforms for employees to collaborate from a remote location. Many companies, especially in Big Tech, have had great success with remote working as they have found that physical interaction is unnecessary. As a result, many companies are working to completely integrate a remote working lifestyle for their employees. Remote working would greatly decrease the number of workers that come into the office. Ultimately, this means less space and utilities are required by the company to build a positive work environment. This will heavily decrease expenses for the company and time spent commuting by the employees. As technologies converge to optimize VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality), businesses will be capable of giving employees the ability to work, collaborate, or train remotely from anywhere. With VR and AR, you can create simulations that will be immersive experiences to train a candidate, be in a virtual meeting room with other employees, and interact with customers. There are a lot of positions in a business that do require in-person presence, but as technology grows so does the ability to perform remotely.

Healthcare from afar

A prodigious movement in the healthcare industry that started the past decade was the practice of remote surgical operations. Doctors have performed surgery by controlling robotic arms with a remote and a 3D view of the patient they are performing on. With the convergence of AI and robotics, we could potentially develop more complex robotic arms, which could entirely decrease the number of errors in surgery. It is conceivable to believe that these robotic arms could be integrated with sensors to pick up something that the doctor doesn’t see, which can be followed with a warning message on the doctor’s graphical view of the patient. Then, the doctor has the authorization to allow the arms to mitigate the risk. Now, this practice of robotic arms is practical for patients on Earth but what if the patient isn’t on Earth?

Companies such as Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, Blue Origin, etc. have popularized the initiative of space travel. An initiative that requires a more immediate solution than building hospitals for surgical operations. To accommodate the space exploration industry, specialized medical pods that can fit on spacecraft will become necessary. In the past, there was the idea of using Trauma Pods “a semi-automated telerobotic surgical system”, to perform surgical procedures on a wounded soldier. As the initiative for space exploration gains more traction, new industries will emerge to create or refine similar complex surgical systems with the convergence of AI and robotics. If pods are fully developed, the technology also has the potential to deliver emergency medical and surgical care for astronauts during space flights. Trauma Pods can also converge with 3D printers to be able to print out bone or tissue required for a procedure.

When it comes to the optimal delivery of medicine for Pharmaceutical companies, the utilization and adoption of nanotechnology is necessary. Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the atomic and/or molecular level, has shown to be capable of interacting with cells in ways current medicine cannot. Nanotech can impact pharmaceutical companies everywhere by decreasing the amount of medicine they would have to manufacture. The use of nanotubes to transport drugs to specific cells would produce medication and vaccines that would be way more effective than anything seen before, which could be essential to eradicating a plethora of terminal illnesses. As more people are born, more effective healthcare strategies are required and the same can be said for agriculture.

Farming without farming

Farming is already an expensive and daunting task, but it is a necessity that will become ever more difficult as the world population continues to grow. “By 2050, there’s going to be nine billion people on the planet … and to feed those people…we probably need to increase current production [of food] by 70%”, as said by Terry Pickett, manager of advanced engineering for John Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group. As the workload rises, farmers will need to set in place more automotive solutions for the cultivation of their crops. Companies such as Waymo and Tesla have already developed AI models for self-driving cars, so these same models can be assimilated to build self-driving tractors. John Deere has established a “goal [to] use automated driving technology, computer vision, telematics, and cloud-based mobile applications to help farmers.” With the convergence of these technologies, farmers can rapidly increase the efficiency of yielding their crops without as much strenuous activity as required in the past. A multitude of manufacturing companies that reside in the agricultural industry will follow in kind to help in the endeavor to feed the world as the world grows, but as the world grows so do concerns of security.

Quantum security

Quantum Supremacy, a major distinction that big tech companies will fight to achieve over the coming decade. Quantum computers, computers that perform quantum computations through the theories of superposition and entanglement, have enormous potential to be one of the most revolutionary technologies known to mankind. This was proven by Google in 2019 when their quantum computer completed a complex computation in 200 seconds. If the same calculation was performed on some of the most powerful supercomputers it would approximately take 10,000 years to finish. These powerful machines will be monumental in introducing a new way of thinking about what is possible. Quantum computers could be the answer to developing unmatched firewalls to combat growing concerns of security.

The quantum computers that have already been constructed can run simulations to produce an unthinkable number of outcomes, which means at the same time, they could be used to build virtually unbreakable encryption. For any kind of company that has a database that stores some kind of personal information of their customers, this level of encryption would build a wall that even the developers who built it couldn’t climb. IT companies could consider integrating firewalls built by quantum computers into their cloud infrastructures, by adopting such tactics they could bulletproof confidential information of their customers. With this new sense of cybersecurity, financial services can take full advantage of digital currency.

Financing through a chain

As more and more wealth is generated and dispersed in the world, FinTech (Financial Technology) companies are growing at a fast pace by providing solutions that can improve and automate financial services amongst businesses and other customers. Blockchain technology, a decentralized platform that can maintain the integrity of digital assets, is accelerating FinTech by keeping track of the data footprint and set value of any financial transaction. This would allow digital assets such as cryptocurrencies to be fully submerged in the financial services industry. Such technology can make the banking process a much more robust and effective experience, which will save money and protect the finances of large institutions and their customers. These new developments in the financial service industry will spread opportunity to more people all over the world, so that they may take advantage of what the future has to offer.

The future is here, take advantage

The acceleration of technology is a vast plain that will augment many industries. Healthcare, agriculture, security, and financial services are just a few sectors that will be extricated by these advancements. Every day, entrepreneurs, innovators, and futurists are developing technology that will revolutionize the way humanity will continue to live.

This metamorphosis of civilization between man and machine cannot just progress with a small group of idealists, but yet it requires an enormous group of young innovators and entrepreneurs who want to build a better world. It is imperative to realize with these immense changes people must continue to learn and grow as the world shifts. It’s time for younger generations to take advantage of all the tools and resources that have and will continue to accumulate.