Online education portals like Udacity and Coursera are really changing the world of remote learning in significant ways. By making free and high quality education accessible to a global audience, these platforms are opening up undreamt of possibilities for communities around the world to improve, grow, and prosper in the digital economy of the 21st century. Education at top tier colleges and universities has traditionally been a social and economic privilege, but now anyone can join in the learning revolution by sitting in virtual classrooms with the world’s best and brightest educators. Whether this involves learning how to code and build smart phone apps, or starting up a new business, or learning about public health literacy, the sky is the limit of what’s now possible.

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How to keep up with the latest tech trends

by | Nov 06, 2014

The pace of technological change today is unheard of – through the roof! The speed of the market and the industry-shaking innovations in cloud, mobile, and Big Data mean that business leaders need to do everything they can to keep up. It’s not so easy though. After all, the rules have all changed. Major enterprises are no longer the drivers, but customers are. Organizations must be intently innovative and their business leaders must understand, adopt, and build strategies around key emerging and disruptive technologies.

 

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Moreover, most execs simply don’t have time to wade through long whitepapers and reports to get their information. They need to quickly map out their 6 month and 1-3-5 year outlooks, assess the complex technology landscape, understand what technologies will most impact their verticals, and strategize on how to drive sales and keep customers happy.

To that end, let’s run through some “quick tips” that IT leaders can begin adopting today in order to keep up with the latest and greatest tech trends.

Leverage Gartner Research: The world’s best resource for disruptive and emerging tech research is Gartner. Get aligned with their wide range of business tools, insights, consulting, and planning to move forward with development and strategizing. Gartner recently released its top 10 technology strategic trends for next year at its annual Symposium/ITxpo 2014 in Orlando. Making Gartner your go to place for everything related to emerging and disruptive technology trends will definitely help you get on track with the latest and greatest.

 

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Understand the Nexus of Forces: To stay up with tech trends, it’s critical to understand how Gartner’s “Nexus of Forces” – Social, Information, Cloud, and Mobile – are transforming the home, business, and society on multiple levels. Here are the breakdowns:

Social: Customers speak to brands! It’s imperative to build a social media strategy to gain 360 degree insights and drive growth. Adopt the latest VoIP tools and collaboration technologies to stay easily connected in the digital market.

Information: Data is now a global asset and is becoming a huge driver of business revenue. Build your Big Data and analytics capabilities and hire talent quickly to keep a competitive edge in this transformational and fast-paced market.

Cloud: You can’t afford to ignore the cloud for fear of security, costs, or governance issues. Migration to the Cloud can begin with simple document file-sharing, but do whatever it takes to stay relevant and competitive.

Mobile: Shift your paradigm to a “Mobile First” strategy. This puts the mobile experience front and center and transforms how you do development, analytics, and marketing. Please also recognize that Responsive Web Design is not enough!

Build an Emerging Tech practice: Gather together a small team of emerging tech researchers and strategists who can map the latest disruptions in your vertical against organizational business goals. Have them develop quarterly updates as well as 6-12 month outlooks around the most pressing areas in your industry. Get them involved in conferences and other networking events to keep your leadership team updated on the latest technology trends.

Pay Close Attention to the Internet of Things: There are lots of disruptors out there but perhaps none so big as the Internet of Things. IoT represents the next major transformation of the Internet. Cisco thinks it will have five to 10 times the impact on society as the Internet itself, and is projecting a $19 trillion dollar market in the next decade. Should the Internet of Everything become even a fraction of this, business leaders must not miss out on this epic trend.

 

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Keep Innovation Front and Center: Innovation has become a big “buzzword” in business circles over the past few years and everyone is scrambling to get onboard. Technology progress means that innovation is now happening on a scale never seen before . . . and so is disruption. Keeping innovation at the center of business strategy will ensure that your organization remains on the cutting edge of the latest technology trends. Leaders must make frequent assessments and inventories about where they stand on the innovation spectrum.

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About Jeffrey Walker

Jeff is a business development consultant who specializes in helping businesses grow through technology innovations and solutions. He holds multiple master’s degrees from institutions such as Andrews University and Columbia University, and leverages this background towards empowering people in today’s digital world. He currently works as a research specialist for a Fortune 100 firm in Boston. When not writing on the latest technology trends, Jeff runs a robotics startup called virtupresence.com, along with oversight and leadership of startuplabs.co - an emerging market assistance company that helps businesses grow through innovation.