Businesses have always sought to embrace change wherever possible. It had long been understood that to stay still in business is to invite failure and lead to a situation where dynamic competitors will gain market advantages over more static firms.
In recent decades, there have been rapid advances in technological innovation, and many of these developments have helped to cultivate new working methods and improved ways of running a successful business.
A modern business needs to keep abreast of the new and emerging forms of technology so that it can incorporate these into its operations with the aim of gaining a competitive advantage over its rivals.
In this article, some of the emerging major business trends will be explored in detail. Some of these were nothing more than science fiction only a few decades ago but are now beginning to be embedded into business culture.
In particular, the automation of factories with an entirely robotic workforce would have been dismissed or ridiculed only a few years ago, but this strange business phenomenon is starting to gain pace and will be discussed in detail along with other key business trends.
The rise of robotics
Whilst most consumers will be aware of robotics in the car industry (the image of robotic arms working on car production lines has been shown thousands of times on news programs), many people are unaware of the progress that has taken place in the field of robotics.
Robots can do far more than simple cutting, shaping, and fitting tasks now. In fact, experts predict that robotic soldiers will be used in the defense sector in the coming decades, where they are expected to make up a quarter of the US army.
This could lead to a situation in the future where wars are almost entirely fought with artificial intelligence, with human staff playing little more than a monitoring and supervisory role.
However, whilst this is predicted to happen in the next few decades, other areas of business are already incorporating a fully autonomous and independent workforce. In parts of Asia, for example, there are now a growing number of dark factories.
These factories are almost exclusively staffed by robotic workers and take their name from the fact that they do not need heating and lighting to run, as would be the case with a human workforce.
Whilst the subject of dark factories is weird and fascinating, it does pose some serious questions about the future of a human workforce. If robots and advanced AI can eventually replace humankind in many different industries and businesses, will conventional employment ever be the same for human workers?
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Streamlining cloud-based systems
Since the late 1990s, the power of cloud computing began to be understood. Banks were the first large organizations to realize the potential of this new technology and swiftly began incorporating it into their financial systems. Decades later, most businesses now have some form of cloud computing as part of their IT operations and run a multitude of applications from internet-based locations.
However, as more cloud-based applications are used, there is a greater need to streamline their deployment, monitoring, and management of them.
Many companies now incorporate a sophisticated API management platform to aid the smooth functioning of their online-based applications. This technology allows traffic and app requests to be monitored, and suspicious activity is flagged to the IT security team.
In addition, many API management platforms now contain a range of security measures (such as encryption and the use of tokens to authenticate legitimate users) to ensure that the risks of succumbing to cyberattacks are minimized.
In short, these platforms help to coordinate the functioning of multiple cloud-based applications whilst providing additional layers of security to the online environment.
VR usage for training
Many people will be aware of virtual reality headsets, especially if they enjoy video games and are fans of the latest tech.
These devices allow the creation of immersive and realistic 3D worlds and have the potential to transform home entertainment in a way that conventional 2D systems cannot hope to compete with. However, it is important to recognize that this technology has other business applications.
VR technology is now being used in the healthcare industry, specifically to help trainee surgeons become more proficient in a range of operations.
The key advantage of this tech is that it allows the medical staff to practice specific operations at a time and place that suits them without the need for expensive anatomical models or the use of cadavers.
In addition, this technology is also being adopted in the airline industry, where accurate VR flight simulation programs can be run for trainee pilots.
This technology has the potential to transform training programs across many sectors of business where skilled or complex tasks need to be undertaken.
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To sum up
Some of the emerging trends that are shaping business in the modern world would have been considered science fiction only a few decades ago. However, fully automated robot-staffed factories, cloud-based application management systems, and VR technology are now present in a range of industries.
