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2023 is here, and it’s crucial to be prepared not only for all possible challenges but also for the opportunities that companies might create if they are well aware of the latest tech trends. A great way of doing so is exploring the landscape of the technologies to invest in 2023. This article covers 8 technologies to invest in right now, which are good to know for adaptive planning and building comprehensive digital strategies. The Emerging Technologies in 2023 When businesses face challenges and crises, they heavily rely on technologies and accelerate their adoption on all levels to survive and ensure their adaptability, efficiency, and competitiveness. Despite all the issues and black swans of 2022, like post-pandemic adaptation, Russia’s war against Ukraine, the energy crisis, and rising inflation, IT spending worldwide are projected to total 4.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023, an increase of 5.1% since 2022, according to . It’s a golden opportunity for tech companies with years of experience and domain expertise to become reliable partners for businesses worldwide and help them deal with concerns and market challenges successfully. Gartner’s forecast So, what are the new upcoming technologies to invest in right now? In short, expenses to maintain existing on-premises software will last, but the new ones continue to shift to cloud services. Companies will require AI power more, focusing on AI trust, risk, and security management (AI TriSM) framework adoption to deal with critical AI-related issues. Growing demand for reaching net-zero emissions will drive the transition to sustainable business and technologies in 2023 and beyond. Cybersecurity and data protection will concern businesses more following the increase of worldwide threats, requiring innovative cybersecurity practices and forcing investments. Let’s have a look at these technologies in more detail. 1. Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions have already been adopted across a wide range of industries and have become a competitive advantage and a crucial part of boosting business efficiency. The global AI solutions market is thriving and expected to rise over the coming years, reaching around , according to Statista. 126 billion U.S. dollars by 2025 Among the AI software, hardware, and services solutions categories, the share of will expand faster, with expected AI services compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22%, whereas the CAGR for AI hardware will be 20.5%. In the AI software category, AI platforms and application development are the leading segments showing a stable trend until 2025. the last two AI adoption statistics Here are the in 2023: key industries willing to adopt AI – product/service development and service operations. High tech and telecom – risk and service operation management. Financial services industry – product/service development. Healthcare and pharma – marketing and sales, service operation. Business, legal, and professional services – manufacturing, marketing, and sales. Automotive and Assembly – marketing, sales, supply chain management, manufacturing functions. Customer goods and retail Services operations optimization has remained the most common use case of AI for most industries for years. Artificial Intelligence is a leading emerging technology with various solutions and services across sectors. Among the best new technologies to invest in, it will continue impacting the IT market, global economy, and society even more intensely based on market forecasts. 2. Cybersecurity Management and AI TriSM Scaling and evolving security threats are vital points with which the tech world has struggled for years, and, unfortunately, it’s an unfolding trend. Not only mitigation but prevention of cybersecurity risks, malicious attacks, and other vulnerabilities is the main task for all companies nowadays. Organizations prioritizing that could expect additional annual revenue growth. Still, those who don’t work on it will lose customers as digital trust becomes a significantly important decision factor for B2C and B2B clients. They expect total customer data protection, effective cybersecurity measures, trustworthy AI-powered products and services, and companies' transparency in AI and data usage policies. According to , among the executives responsible for risk and technology, most companies still don’t have comprehensive digital risk mitigation strategies and have a lot to work on. McKinsey’s report Companies have to react and advance their cybersecurity strategies to become more protected. That’s why the is expected to rise from 155.83 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 to 376.32 billion U.S. dollars by 2029, having a CAGR of 13.4%. global cybersecurity market AI is one of the emerging technologies in 2023 that the leading cybersecurity market players rely on in developing their solutions. But the level of AI-related risks, such as transparency, interpretability, and explainability, remains high, so it drives AI trust, risk, and security management (AI TriSM) adoption. AI TRiSM AI TRiSM is a framework supporting AI model governance, fairness, trustworthiness, efficiency, reliability, robustness, and privacy. It includes a set of solutions, techniques, and processes for model interpretability and explainability, privacy, model operations, and hostile attack resistance for its customers and the enterprise. What does it take to adopt this emerging trend? Implementation of the AI TRiSM in the project requires a cross-functional team including not just AI engineers but also legal, compliance, security, and data analytics professionals. Still, it is worth it, in terms of adoption, business goals, and user acceptance according to Gartner. bringing a 50% boost to the AI models results Investment in cybersecurity solutions and other solutions helping to mitigate digital risks is a wise decision for organizations that want to stay competitive in the market and provide high-quality products and services to their customers in 2023 and beyond. 3. Superapps are a technology becoming essential to millions of people’s daily lives worldwide. The global superapps market will rise rapidly, with of the worldwide population daily active users of even multiple superapps by 2027, as Gartner predicts, having a . Superapps more than 50% CAGR of 23.8% through 2028 Superapp is a platform with single sign-in and access to the mini-apps ecosystem. Each mini-app has its unique function and can be added or removed by the end user from the main interface, creating a personalized user experience. The current functions within apps could vary from shopping, instant messaging, booking venues, tickets, and ordering food or taxi to mobile banking, medical services, etc. In the future, it might amplify to the more advanced options like chatbots, the Internet of Things (IoT), or even metaverse solutions. To be able to build a handy superapp, it’s crucial to keep the balance between functional diversity and consistency, helping a wide range of end users with different user scenarios to fulfill their needs seamlessly and delightedly. The market for super apps is geographically more developed in the East, represented by tech giants such as WeChat, Alipay and smaller companies like , , , etc. As for the West, the superapps market is less developed, with apps having more limited functions; where Snapchat is the leader of superapps, and and are also widened their functions to become competitive in the market. Grab Go-Jek Line Facebook WhatsApp This is the evidence that superapps market is growing and will gain even more investment and become one of the top upcoming technologies to invest in, bringing more value and the best “all-in-one experience” for the end users. 4. Datafication Data is everywhere. Each of us generates a vast amount of data daily that power companies’ decision-making process. That’s why we are moving towards an even more datafication-focused future. So, what is datafication? is a process of turning previously unmonitored human daily basic activities, currently digitalized, into data that could be appropriately collected, stored, and transformed by organizations into valuable insights and effective data-driven decisions. Datafication Companies that want to progress fast along the way of becoming actual data-driven units within the next few years must work on enhancing the : following capabilities prioritizing data transformational use cases and vetted data experts; Comprehensive data strategy , architectures with and more flexible data store support, versatile database/data-model toolset for unstructured data querying support; Cloud-based infrastructure real-time analytics More (for example, IoT sensors), advanced-connectivity infrastructures (like 5G), in-memory computing for faster and more effective computations for intensive analytics work; powerful edge-computing devices and using data-sharing platforms to make data collaboration and exchange easier inside and outside organizations; Implementation of standard data models They are keeping an eye on throughout the organization and raising customer awareness about their data-protection rights to keep digital trust. data security Data-driven approaches aren’t new emerging technologies, but they ensure continuous performance improvement, and create differentiated customer and employee experiences. All in all, it helps companies be innovative, flexible, and well-prepared for rising market challenges. 5. Quantum computing investments Quantum computing is a disruptive technology that has entered the market lately, and it’s from 712.2 million U.S. dollars in 2022 to 4,758.0 million U.S. dollars by 2029, with a CAGR of 31.2% within the forecast period. Despite the vast potential and promising deliverables, it still has some limitations in the wide adoption. expected to grow The two main limitations are: Undefined “ ” of – the measure of the necessary combined quantity and reliability of the quantum bits (qubits) that drive a quantum computer’s computing capacity and make them useful and effective for solving real-world problems. magic number quantum volume Real-time quantum error correction – qubits are rather delicate and unstable. They could break down or decohere, creating a high volume of errors that can quickly overwhelm the quantum computer’s system before it produces reliable results. Organizations that will try to find handy and scalable solutions to overcome these two challenges can help the future of quantum computing. Another direction companies are working on is the implementation of current quantum computing capabilities in real projects around a : wide range of fields – quantum cyber vulnerability scanning and risk assessment; Cybersecurity and risk assessment – quantum-safe cryptography protocols; Cryptography – implementation of quantum computing algorithms into some optimization applications; Air and maritime cargo logistics – the simulation and modeling of molecular, atomic, and subatomic systems; Quantum chemistry and materials science – highly responsive and accurate quantum sensors have the potential to replace existing sensors used in monitoring applications in many domains, such as oil, gas, mineral deposits industries, the construction industry, weather forecasting, and seismology. Sensors’ creation Where is quantum computing already used? The quantum computing market will enhance over the next few years due to the deep interest and investment from the top corporations and governments in the . For instance, the wants to build a comprehensive ecosystem to accelerate quantum applications discovery, grow and educate a quantum workforce, develop critical infrastructure, and standardize cutting-edge R&D. United States, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, China, India, Japan, etc US government 6. DevSecOps DevSecOps is a game-changing practice that significantly transforms cyber and risk management in project development, enabling the delivery of secure systems at pace. was 2.59 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 and is expected to expand to 23.16 billion U.S. dollars by 2029, having a CAGR of 31.50% during the forecast period of 2022-2029. Global DevSecOps market size integrates security tools and processes within the DevOps pipeline. It provides automation of core security tasks by adding security control from the early stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). It also allows constant monitoring and remediation of security defects across the application lifecycle. DevSecOps service Key DevSecOps benefits – DevSecOps applies the ‘secure by design principle by using the automated security code review and application security testing; Continuous security – security issues are detected and resolved within development phases, which increases the speed of delivery and augments quality; Increased efficiency and product quality – the systems of security, audition, monitoring, and notification are automated and continuously monitored, which facilitates enhanced compliance; Enhanced compliance – thanks to the integration of development, security, and operations, DevSecOps builds a culture of openness and transparency from the early stage of development. Increased collaboration DevSecOps is here to stay and become an essential part of each tech company's responsible and effective project delivery. It brings evolution to the software development methodology, improving SDLC and collaboration between development, security, and operations teams, assuring a high level of project automation, risk management, and security. To gain these outcomes, companies will invest in fast DevSecOps adoption within the next few years to fit the new market standard. 7. Sustainable Tech According to Gartner's recent survey of CEOs and senior executives, environmental sustainability appears among the for them, and it’s a significant shift from 20th place in 2015 to 8th in 2022. Also, senior executives consider sustainability a competitive differentiator with the same level of importance as brand trust. Regarding the investment, sustainability of the product is in the 3rd place, after the functional performance and general quality for the 80% of CEOs seeking green technologies to invest in as a new opportunity to improve products within 2022 and 2023. top 10 strategic business priorities Gartner’s top manager’s research highlights that business sustainability is a must for getting investment and achieving success now, and it will be even more critical in the future. To follow this growing trend, companies must use technologies and service providers that help them enable sustainable business. How to invest in green technologies and make a profit? , , and are the that will get wide adoption within the next three years, giving more opportunities to companies. Cloud sustainability advanced grid management carbon footprint measurement three emerging environmental sustainability technologies Cloud platforms , , and are essential drivers of sustainable transformation. They provide tools enabling users to build and implement solutions helping their organizations to meet their sustainability goals. AWS sustainability Azure Google Cloud 8. Industry Cloud Platforms Speaking of cloud services, they bring even more capabilities and innovative transformations to the vertical industries, such as healthcare, automotive, retail, logistics, media, etc., as part of the industry cloud platforms. What is an industry cloud platform? Those platforms combine the best technical and business solutions from cloud service providers, software vendors, and integrators to help organizations address their key industry-specific challenges gaining competitive advantage and differentiation. Cloud services bring even more capabilities and innovative transformations to vertical industries, such as healthcare, automotive, retail, finance, logistics, media, energy, etc. , , and . Azure AWS Google For example, help banking, payments, and capital markets implement secure, resilient global cloud infrastructures, aligning with financial market regulations and best practices. Industry leaders like , , , , , and run their financial services using AWS. AWS financial services Barclays Coinbase Nasdaq Robinhood Stripe DBS Bank The main benefits of leveraging an industry cloud platform: Mature tech solutions providers with deep domain expertise and fast cross-industry innovations adoption; Industry-relevant data fabrics architecture; A modular approach with composable tooling and often preconfigured capabilities; Modernization of outdated processes and automation of manual tasks. The level of industry cloud implementation still varies within the market. However, it’s an evolving process thanks to easy access to handy industry-focused solutions helping quickly address niche challenges and offer business more capabilities and value. Crunch predictions for 2023 The technological landscape is changing drastically; that’s the only thing we know for sure. Technologies and tools are riding the hype wave for a couple of years, and others are only gaining momentum. Working on various software development projects, we have gained expertise in implementing the most disruptive technologies like AI, ML, security, data science, and cloud computing. always help clients to navigate changes and choose the most suitable and reliable tech solutions. As for 2023, we predict a dramatic shift to more robust cybersecurity policies and massive cloud adoption. Even though the cloud has already become a buzzword, its power in the shape of industry clouds and substantial modernization sources will only grow. Cybersecurity is another priority for organizations worldwide to protect their assets from threat actors and scale infrastructures safely. Crunch experts These aren’t the only technology trends we’ll expect to come in 2023, but our team will gladly assist you with implementation in your projects. Final thoughts The good news is that the technology market keeps growing no matter what challenges we face, moving hand in hand with businesses to effectively address their urgent needs and long-term goals. An overview of eight new technologies to invest in in 2023 will give you some ideas on how to use them to enhance your business strategy and become more resistant. Previously published . here

What's Hot in 2023?🔥 Top 8 Technology Trends You Should Know

Continue reading in our blog You have an idea of a web or mobile application. Now you need a development company to make it real. This post is an overview of 8 critical areas to consider when hiring one. The article is the 1st in the series. Later, we’ll cover all these areas in details; for now, this post will be our Overview Guide (or Roadmap, if you will). So, people in a good development company… 1. Masters in technologies you need aka Strong Technical Expertise . The company has experience making apps using the technologies you’ve chosen. Technologies might mean: Programming (Python, JavaScript, Java) language or (Django for Python; Bootstrap for front-end (HTML, CSS, JS) ; JQuery, Angular or Ember for JavaScript) Framework library (iOS and Android for mobile; Linux and FreeBSD for operating systems; Amazon Web Services for cloud computing) Platform Some indicators to measure expertise: Years on the market. Popularity of the apps they’ve developed Contribution to their technology and community: open source projects commits to frameworks/libraries training programs documentation Hints Make sure the company focuses on a few core technologies (like Python/Django with JavaScript).Pretending to work with any platform or framework is definitely a bad sign. Check their apps: verify they are working and accessible from the link on their website.It’s wonderful if you have an expert to estimate their apps for you! Ask about technologies they used on their recent projects, and why did they choose them. Discuss the possible challenges they see in your project and ways to deal with them. Get their recommendations for technologies on your app. Do they approve your choice? Why? And what if they propose a better solution, and their answer is sound and well-reasoned? 2. Worked with your sphere of business aka Business Domain Experience . Examples of business domains are: Financial Technologies aka (banking, loans, money transfers, mortgages), like PayPal, Skrill, or TransferWise (we have and ). FinTech Sindeo MoneyPark (telemedicine, medical records and hospital management): like HealthVault (we have ) HealthCare CareNetwork (hotels, accommodation, tickets), like AirBNB, Booking.com (we have and ). Travel and Hospitality Timedom Diviac (taxi service, ridesharing) like Uber or BlaBlaCar (we have ). Transportation Taxofon Knowing your business domain, developers will most likely: and thus convert requirements into features faster and more efficiently. Understand your business better your industry faces and propose solutions beforehand. Predict challenges Help you they’ve learned from previous projects. avoid typical mistakes Hints: Make sure they are familiar with your business sphere.Talk to them as if you were interviewing a future employee. Would they be smart enough to answer the awkward questions — even when their domain experience in not as sufficient as you would want? Ask if they’ve worked with companies of the same business from your country. If Yes — that’s almost a perfect match, since they’ll also be prepared to handle your regional challenges. Don’t expect or ask to “fork” another project, i.e. to copy another app and fine-tune it for you. Beware if they propose to do so. You came for a unique solution, so their approach must be. 3. Created successful apps you can look at aka Representative Portfolio . This means rolling out projects that may impress you. A must for every development house. Hints Investigate projects from their portfolio We mean it: spend more than two minutes scrolling through their landing page. Register and walk through an entire user flow. Verify that the application at least: Runs smoothly (you’re not irritated as a user) Doesn’t have obvious bugs Shows good response time Look for feedbacks about the app on the internet This will take time, but, in return, will give you more than a dozen of references. 4. Have good feedbacks from customers aka Client References . This shows if their customers are happy with the work. An absolute must, and a critical area to investigate. Hints Read the reference carefully Not just screen it through but read every sentence. Try to feel if a real personality stands behind the reference, and the text is not just a set of marketing cliches. Contact the referee That’s the person who’s left the reference. This will give many advantages. At first, you’ll verify the person exists, and your future developers don’t start cooperation with a lie. Then, ask the questions that matter to you. Contacting a referee is the toughest advice in this article. You may find that the person is a misanthrope, hates human beings and won’t speak, acting as a spy on a KGB interrogation. You may spend hours reaching the referee and then finally know he’s gone and “… was seen no more”. But in the end, the personal talk will give the best recommendation possible, and highlight the areas you couldn’t even think of. Look for additional and external references Finding your potential developer in an external rating (like ) is the most promising sign. It means the company has been officially recognized among professionals in their field. clutch.co 5. Have a great team This is critical because, after all, it’s the people who do the work. Technologies, business knowledge, experience, and processes — these are tools in the hands of the specialists you trust your project to. The keyword is , the solid family of professionals, as opposed to , temporarily united to do some work. And it is the development company that creates and keeps Balanced Teams. Team Individuals A great team is: — not a couple of Senior Developers and a bunch of service staff to help. The company must use their own approaches and algorithms to form your future crew, considering specifics and budget limitations of your project. Actually a team — full-time employees (not outsourced or freelancers) who work in the company for several years, and either sit in the same location or have good communication practices (if working from different company offices). Dedicated — the company must have people to substitute team members who (for whatever reason) may stopе working on your project. Or, in the best scenario, may bring in more developers if your projects is a success. Scalable — consists of people with needed domain and technical experience, and maintains a good ratio of specialists of different levels. Balanced — expresses interest and enthusiasm when discussing your future tasks. Passionate Hints Try to know more about their employees Browse through the company profile on LinkedIn; see how long the people have been working in the company. See the Team section of their website, look at the personal and group photos. Try to understand if you actually like them. Check the company contribution to community Again — not individuals from the company; the must be emphasized. company presence It’s good if they: Have and maintain own open source projects Participate in community events Visit and talk at the conferences/meetups Provide own trainings Write to blogs or media Don’t try to get only Seniors or Leading Specialists to your future team Instead, ask the company how are they going to create a balanced crew, and what would be the criteria they will choose specialists for your project. Talk to your future team members before the work starts 6. Know how to manage your project aka Well-Established Processes . This is about the ways they organize the development flow: Models (or paradigms): Agile, RUP, Waterfall Agile methodologies: Scrum, Kanban, Lean, XP Structure of their company and teams: Hierarchy, Flat, Matrix many other types of processes The topic is very important; thus we’ll return to it many times in our future posts. The main idea is that . business processes have a huge impact on your project Hints: Ask for an introductory lecture This should be a tour to the processes they use on different levels (from development paradigms to daily meeting management). For Dummies The successful lecture will show they have a person (or several of them) who is a specialist on Operations. That’s a guarantee that your project will be in good hands. Also, pay attention to the way they speak. Simplicity means understanding. Ask for practical examples, don’t be afraid to ask many questions. Discuss processes on their other projects Ask not only about the methods they implied, but also about the reasons. Verify if they can work with different methodologies Agile (so popular in the Startup World) is not a universal methodology. Ask if they actually have experience implementing other techniques, and why. How do they see own maturity with CMMI? Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a program that estimates how mature (professional) are the company organization and its processes. There are five levels: from 1 (Initial, unpredictable and poorly controlled) to 5 (Optimizing: the processes are not only fully measured and controlled, but also improving). The mere knowledge about CMMI shows a professional company. Ask how do they estimate own maturity in CMMI, and what makes them think so. Finally: what can they recommend for you? Require a solid answer. 7. Don’t hide anything, keeping you updated at any time aka Transparent Processes This is about keeping you as much informed as possible, always. What the company must do: Hold regular meetings with live talks. Fully share the Agile Board on the 24/7 basis, letting you know the status of any project task. This is also about not having various Boards for you (as a Client) and for developers. Engage you in daily working discussions. It depends on you how deep your participation should be, but the discussions must be open, for you to look and interfere when necessary.This may be done by keeping everyday discussions in Slack. Grant you the full access to the code base, with the Administrator privileges. Provide contact details of future team members. Consider the possible time difference between you and them. We have about the tools to help us stay transparent and keep partners always updated. Hope it helps. an article Hints Do not allow any part of development to be hidden from you (even if said they’re doing it not to overload you with extra technical details). Discuss the degree of your participation from the very beginning. Are they willing to involve you to the maximum possible extent? Ask how are they going to handle the six transparent items above. 0. Finally: you enjoy talking to them aka Effective Communication . Making a good app (web or mobile) takes a long time and usually continues after the MVP. It involves support, enhancements, bug fixing. This means you’ll have to talk to your development partners . a lot In good communication: You feel comfortable speaking with them. You’re not frustrated just from seeing an incoming email with their name in the address line. They listen carefully and don’t interrupt. They don’t say “We can’t do that” but rather “What if we try this …” They are proactive: for every idea of yours they come out with a dozen ways to do that. They have good sense of humor, making talks relaxed and fun. Let’s not mention signs of bad communication — they might be different for everyone. If you feel you don’t like the communication after going through all the things in this article, better hop off. We’re sincerely sure the cooperation should be easy, enjoyable, and fun — for all sides. More useful articles you can find in our blog Primary source Signup for email digest

How to Choose a Development Company for Your Web Project: the Overview

Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) has become increasingly popular over recent years. OSINT provides value to growing corporations and government agencies alike. In 2020, the market size of open-source intelligence (OSINT) exceeded The growth is due to escalated demand for data from publicly available sources. USD $5 billion. OSINT is often considered alongside private businesses that are driving growth. However, the information is also used by government agencies for several reasons. Uses include cybersecurity and managing misinformation. In the 1980s, the US military first coined the term ‘OSINT’. Since then, the dynamic reform of intelligence has been beneficial in many different scenarios. What is OSINT? The term open-source intelligence, commonly known as OSINT, refers to the process of legally collecting information that can be accessed and gathered from free, public sources online. The process of gathering information includes various techniques. These include data mining, different crawling techniques, data extraction, data washing, and analysis. In this instance, open source refers to the public and accessible nature of analysing data. It’s not to be confused with open-source software which includes OSINT tools. OSINT operations have countless benefits. During a time where data is king and cybercrime continues rising, these benefits are especially useful. The benefits have inspired both IT security professionals and state-sanctioned intelligence operatives to use various OSINT technologies. History of OSINT The earliest references of OSINT can be found in the creation of the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service (FBMS) in 1941. The agency had the important task of monitoring foreign broadcasts for any suspect action. The term OSINT was first used in the late 1980s by the US military. It described the dynamic nature of information sources to find tactical success on the battlefield. By 2004, the United States had experienced the horror of the September 11 attacks.  The government commissioned an open-source intelligence agency in response. This development would inspire future OSINT use in both government and private spaces. Today, open-source intelligence is available in six main categories; Media such as magazines, radio and television Internet such as online publications, social media and discussion groups Public government data such as reports, budgets, and hearings Professional and academic publications such as journals and academic papers Commercial data such as commercial imagery and databases Grey literature such as technical reports and patents How Does OSINT Work? In January 2021, there were an users across the globe. A large percentage of these users have online accounts and submit information online. estimated 4.66 billion active internet Monitoring all this information manually is not only time-consuming but also near-impossible. The framework of OSINT processes and tools works to gather and collect data through various methods. These methods include data mining, various crawling techniques, and data extraction. Leveraging the benefits of OSINT allows a cyber-security team to achieve the following; Identify public-facing assets that could be vulnerable Learn about relevant information beyond the organisation’s immediate access Take action based on information attained Reduce security risks by identifying vulnerabilities Deal with crises and misinformation While OSINT has developed to serve private and corporate purposes, its use in government organisations is also prolific. Popular OSINT Technologies and Uses In the current business landscape, OSINT technologies have the power to impact the business environment. Organisations are encouraged to be open and transparent about their goods and services. There are several OSINT technologies that make access to data easy and convenient. Here are a few examples of the various technologies available. Note the value that they offer in the private space. Maltego - graphical link analysis tool that outlines various online relationships Shodan - a search engine for internet-connected devices theHarvester - a tool used to get email and domain-related information outside of an organisation Check usernames - a tool to search for particular usernames or domains Tineye - a tool used to identify whether an image is freely available online As you can see, entities use OSINT tools for a range of activities, helping a wide range of industries. One group of operatives that benefit greatly from OSINT are government agencies. Ways that Governments Can Apply Open Source Intelligence The government has the critical role of protecting a nation. Various departments work to protect citizens and national assets. With the rapid development of technology and the interconnectedness of online resources, the internet offers many uses. It also introduces the risk of cyber threats and vulnerabilities to infrastructure. Making use of OSINT offers many benefits for governments (and government agencies), such as the following. Counter-Terrorism The threat of terrorism can be both domestic and international, stemming from both large and small groups. Online spaces and social media platforms offer a platform for extremist movements. Often, these groups communicate and spread hateful messages online. Consider how excitement was generated for the attack on the Capitol building in January 2021. Regulating networks with various OSINT tools can flag these concerns. They can also offer a better understanding of how these groups work and the risk that they present. Directing Misinformation It’s not only physical attacks that present a threat to the nation. Modern technology and the viral spread of information makes it easy to produce online propaganda. Online platforms often feed citizens misinformation (or disinformation). Misinformation can present itself in several ways. For example, impersonation, spreading fake news, reposting illegitimate information and sharing misleading information. Being alerted to misinformation allows government security agencies to deal with the problem swiftly. As well as counter the misinformation with the truth. Consider how misinformation spread about COVID-19 and how it affected public opinion. Election teams were able to address this information and build support. National Cybersecurity Hackers can work as solo criminals or in groups. Regardless of the setup, hackers present a financial and political threat. Governments use OSINT tools to detect agile cyber-attacks on data, infrastructure, and citizens. Government intelligence agencies use OSINT technology in conjunction with other cybersecurity feeds. The systems protect against breaches and cyber espionage, network attacks and take-downs, and botnets. These resources were particularly useful following the months of the pandemic. During this time, the number of malicious attacks and misinformation increased. Transportation Security Transportation hubs, such as airports, seaports and highways are the gateway for tourism and business. When compromised, the infrastructure becomes vulnerable. In turn, this puts added pressure on security teams protecting assets, data and human life. Government intelligence teams working security in transportation use OSINT. Using open-source intelligence, it's possible to secure and plan an incident response. Accessing public information can help to warn against threats near transportation hubs. As well as stay alert to vulnerable data. Dealing with National Crises National (and global) disasters happen in a variety of ways. Intelligence teams need data to combat the likes of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and public health crises. Online spaces that offer knowledge can highlight hotspots of a crisis. The knowledge also offers the location of resources and how other destinations are responding to the same situation. Open Source Intelligence Used by Governments Governments (and government agencies) rely on OSINT for various purposes. For example, OSINT plays a pivotal role in; National security Counterterrorism Cyber tracking terrorists Supplying policymakers with necessary information ...And more Although the information is available in the public domain, government agencies have certain restrictions on the way that OSINT tools are used in relation to sensitivity and legal protocol. There are several different government agencies leveraging OSINT around the world. Here are a few examples of theory in practice. US Homeland Security America’s Department of Homeland Security has an open-source intelligence unit. In 2007, the Domestic Open Source Enterprise was established to support the department’s needs for information. Open sources are used to develop homeland security intelligence. US Armed Forces OSINT has assisted various departments of the United States’s armed forces with strategic communication and the management of hostile threats. These military offices include the likes of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. UK Law Enforcement UK law enforcement is another government sector that uses OSINT to protect the public and do their work effectively. For example, the metropolitan police use open source intelligence, such as social media, as an investigative tool. UK Intelligence Corps The British Intelligence Corp uses open-source intelligence to react quickly to incidents. As well as work together with other military groups and various government departments.  The organisation handles gathering information and using intelligent analysis techniques. OSINT helps this process. Open Source Center (OSC) The OSC has its headquarters in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It involves a global network of multilingual analysts. The network works for the US government and handles various pieces of information. For example, military and local law enforcement issues found in the public space. OSINT Continues to Offer Value Open-source intelligence plays a crucial role in the daily happenings of various government organisations. The value offered by OSINT is forecasted to continually rise. There’s no denying the benefits that OSINT offers in exposing national security threats and vulnerabilities. As online data continues to be exponentially available, so will the role of OSINT technologies continue to be used.

Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Use by Governments

The hype around AI is growing rapidly, as most research companies predict AI will take on an increasingly important role in the future. While business leaders are very interested in leveraging machine learning technology, there’s a standing in the way. talent shortage It turns out that there are very few developers that have the skills needed to spearhead serious new AI projects. This means that developers who can acquire these skills will be highly in demand. With all this in mind, let’s take a look at several facts about AI every developer should know before changing their focus to machine learning, artificial intelligence, and—while we’re at it—deep learning and neural networks. 1. Artificial intelligence is older than you, probably. The first recorded use of the term artificial intelligence was made by John McCarthy, an American computer scientist and one of the discipline's founders. Spending most of his academic career at Stanford, he invented in the late 1950s. Based on the , Lisp soon became the programming language of choice for AI applications after its publication in 1960. Lisp lambda calculus Still, creating AI departments at Stanford and MIT didn't advance the field as much as the founders had imagined. In large part, this is because scientists encountered a myriad of issues, including limited computer power (i.e., the memory or processing speed needed to accomplish anything truly useful), , the , lack of databases, and lack of the common sense knowledge and reasoning needed to train algorithms effectively. intractability combinatorial explosion The so-called AI winter began in the 1970s, and AI eventually reached its limits as substantial funding was put on hold. It was only in the 2000s that computational power and data became widely available. The ice was finally broken by , a database project that stored 15 million images led by Stanford's Fei Fei Li in 2009. At the same time, data storage rates became affordable, setting the stage for more AI investments. ImageNET 2. The talent pool is shallow. Talent is in short supply in the A.I. industry, with various reports indicating that the worldwide market is seeking to fill millions of roles. Due to a widespread lack of education on AI skills and topics, there’s a bottleneck in delivering highly trained individuals. In fact, Element AI, a Montreal-based startup, estimated in the world with the expertise needed to create machine learning systems. fewer than 22,000 people What’s more, another study made by the Chinese Tencent Research Institute estimates that there are currently in the world today, out of which about 100,000 are still studying. Tencent claims the United States is far ahead when it comes to developing this talent, being home to more than 1,000 universities of the 2,600 schools teaching machine learning and related subjects in the world. 300,000 AI researchers and practitioners The same report claims the U.S. is also a leading nation when it comes to the number of startups developing AI technologies. Interestingly enough, more and more academic conferences turn into playgrounds for corporate recruiters, while entire AI research departments from well-known universities are transferred to privately held companies deploying AI. 3. AI Engineers get paid very well Scarcity in any job market equates to higher salaries, and AI is no different. For example, DeepMind, acquired by Google for a reported $650 million in 2014, spends $138 million on 400 employees. The staff costs were researched by The New York Times, which had a look at the company's recently released annual financial accounts in the U.K. This translates to base salaries of between $300,000 and $500,000 a year. Based on Monster.com's analysis, the median salary for data scientists, senior data scientists, artificial intelligence consultants, and machine learning managers was $127,000 in 2019. Over the last four years, the demand for AI talent has increased by 74%, while technology and financial service companies are currently . absorbing 60% of AI talent 4. AI/ML Professionals need to possess a lot of skills There are two job roles for every AI professional today, and similar growth is expected to be seen in the future. Currently, the three most in-demand AI positions on the market are data scientists and algorithm developers, machine learning engineers, and deep learning engineers. According to the job site Indeed, the main skills and tools software developers need to be proficient on AI projects include math, algebra, statistics, big data, data mining, data science, machine learning, cognitive computing, natural language processing (NLP), Hadoop, Spark, and many others. The most frequent programming languages AI developers use are Phyton, , , , and . Still, qualifying job seekers must also be experienced working with open source development environments. For example, proficiency with Spark, MATLAB, and Hadoop is one of . C++ Java LISP Prolog the most in-demand skills 5. The hype around AI is worth it. In 2018, predicted that 80% of emerging technologies would have AI foundations within three years. What’s more, the research firm Markets and Markets expects that the AI market will grow to a . Beyond that, Accenture predicts that the impact of AI technologies on business will . Also, according to IDC, the AI use cases that saw the most investment in 2019 were automated customer service agents ($4.5 billion worldwide), sales process recommendation and automation ($2.7 billion), and automated threat intelligence and prevention systems ($2.7 billion). Gartner $190 billion industry by 2025 boost labor productivity by up to 40% Add it all up, and the hype surrounding AI is worth it. 6. AI has all kinds of implications Before wondering whether AI will replace software developers, let's take a look at what AI can actually do. The industries and use cases where AI can be deployed have surged in the past few years. In December 2018, the New York auction house Christie's sold Portrait of Edmond de Belamy, an algorithm-generated print in the style of 19th-century European portraiture, for $432,500. Various AI-generated works of art are now frequently exhibited; one example is the "Faceless Portraits Transcending Time" collection in New York. Dr. Ahmed Elgammal and his creation, the AICAM AI, benefit from the devoted to an AI artist. As Andy Warhol once said, art is what you can get away with. first solo gallery exhibit The frenzy around AI-generated art is also touching the music industry. While continuing to read these words, play using roughly 500 megabytes worth of famous guitar tabs of mostly classical and rock music. It's called Recurrence, and—if it's not contemporary enough for your taste—please note this "record" is already five years old. this piece generated in ASCII With a more substantial societal impact, AI tools are also being used to solve medical issues. AI is also being used in medical research to identify, prevent, and cure disorders and diseases is more appealing. These applications are projected to create for the healthcare economy by 2026. $150 billion in annual savings AI-based typing patterns matching algorithms can also verify users' identity based solely on their typing behavior. In 2016, technology was launched to analyze how humans interact with keyboards to provide accurate authentication. The breakthrough discovery here relies on the fact that humans are all different and behave in a distinctive way. The of how it works can turn into an addictive challenge game among your friends trying to "fool" the system and replicate each other's typing behavior. TypingDNA’s demo Further, Google's Deep Learning machine learning program is accurate in detecting breast cancer compared to a human pathologist, who is just 73 percent accurate. This is why machine learning and AI are regarded as healthcare’s new nervous system. 89 percent of the time Finally,  AI is also very smart, shedding light on its future capabilities. For example, AlphaGo Zero, a Google Deep mind project, was able to achieve champion predecessor, AlphaGo, the first AI to defeat Ke Jie, the world's top-ranked player in the ancient Chinese strategy game Go. Interestingly, AlphaGo Zero taught itself how to play the game, given only the basic rules. superhuman-level performance, flawlessly beating 7. AI won’t replace human beings but their jobs. Twenty-five years ago, Jeff Dean started working on a "brain" that mimicked the neural networks to analyze information and learn. But its capabilities were limited. It was only in 2012 that neural networks were successfully used for machine learning, memory, perception, and symbol processing. Geoff Hinton marked a new era when introducing neural networks that could learn tasks mostly on their own by analyzing vast amounts of data. Both Dean and Hinton are now part of Google's AI research teams. In 2017, Google announced its project successfully taught itself to program machine learning software on its own. Completing basic programming tasks, AutoML also marked the popularization of a new fear: Because of their ability to learn on their own, will machines replace humans? AutoML Welcome to this century's agnostophobia. Unlike the Narrow/Weak AI,  specified to handle singular or limited tasks humans can perform as well, General or Strong AI poses fears towards its capabilities once out of control. Currently, AI is used mostly to assist developers, and it will probably continue to grow its role in human teams' capabilities. We see it everywhere around us—in tools to help write documentation, test code, and even identify bugs and address them. augmenting Open AI and it’s recent Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), an autoregressive language model with 175 billion parameters, achieves strong performance on many NLP datasets, including translation, question-answering, and cloze tasks, as well as several tasks that require on-the-fly reasoning or domain adaptation. This means it has capabilities to generate news articles in which human evaluators have difficulty distinguishing from articles written by humans while claim GPT-3 has the "potential to advance both the beneficial and harmful applications of language models." researchers Researchers at MIT that automatically fixed software bugs by replacing faulty code lines with working lines from other programs. Here are some more tools that help in the process of building software products: , , and . created a program DeepCode Synopsys Logojoy UIzard 8. How do developers look at AI and its potential threats? If you fear that AI will eventually replace your role, you're not alone. That’s how the majority of developers around the world feel. According to , when asked to identify the most worrisome thing in their careers, the largest plurality of software developers cited this: "I and my development efforts are replaced by artificial intelligence." Evans Data On a positive note, Stack Overflow research showed that 70% of respondents feel more excited about AI's possibilities instead of worrying about its potential dangers. And most developers are eagerly looking forward to the new possibilities automation brings to the table. Just like the industrial revolution shifted humankind into developing new skills while leaving agricultural labor behind, so will intelligent robots. In fact, McKinsey predicts AI could replace 30% of the human workforce globally by 2030. According to AI technology statistics, robotics could replace about 800 million jobs, making about 30% of occupations extinct. With this significant shift, nearly 400 million people will have to adapt and change careers. predicts cognitive technologies—such as robots, A.I., machine learning, and automation—will create 9% of new U.S. jobs by 2025. These new jobs include robot monitoring professionals, data scientists, automation specialists, and content curators. Forrester 9. It’s easy to start learning or teaching Since the skilled workers needed to build advanced AI software are still scarce, companies like and have prepared educational programs designed to get anyone on board—no matter their level of expertise. If you are interested in online courses to grasp the basics of A.I., check these machine learning courses from , and or dive into the depths of deep learning at . Facebook Google Stanford MIT, Columbia University, Nvidia's Deep Learning Institute For more information, you can also , check out , and browse . This will help you build the technology of the future and solve real-world problems. read this book these popular open-source AI tools this list of popular AI projects And if you’re a teacher looking to introduce your students to AI, check out Tom Vander Ark’s compelling guide on . how to teach artificial intelligence The graphics in this article can be downloaded here .

AI Facts Every Dev Should Know: Artificial intelligence is older than you, probably

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is key to getting the global economy, and our lives, back on track Preventive measures implemented by countries worldwide to halt the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in its tracks are forcing us to make fundamental changes to how we live, from work to play, business to education, policymaking to legislation. How long these measures will remain in place is hard to say, but it is widely feared that they could be here for quite some time and will likely have a permanent impact on our lives. While we must take every sensible precaution, we cannot indefinitely pause all economic and social activities. One way or another, life must go on, which is why it is now critical to find innovative ways to circumvent this pandemic or any other potential disruption. We often hear that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is a force for disruption, posing a threat to the livelihood of people and the economic prosperity of society. However, current circumstances are portraying a very different picture, where 4IR technologies are presenting solutions to restore many parts of our daily lives, helping us overcome unprecedented challenges. For example, technology and digital connectivity are allowing many people to work remotely and meet virtually, while education systems are offering children distance learning from the safety of their homes through webinars. Moreover, while we have been buying products on e-commerce platforms for many years now, this trend has recently been overtaken by online shopping for household essentials – which may very well become the norm in our post-pandemic world. Not only does the 4IR allow us to get on with our lives, but big data is also enabling us to triangulate the spread of the coronavirus, providing vital information that helps governments and healthcare systems react effectively and rapidly to contain the outbreak. Furthermore, 3D printing is also being used to ramp up production of essential medical supplies at short notice and that might be difficult to source through traditional supply chains, such as surgical masks, ventilator components, and diagnostic kits. There is no doubt that 4IR technologies enable business activities to continue while maintaining the discipline of social distancing. For example, blockchain technology enables us to securely sign contracts without the need of being physically present. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to power the factory floor and allow remote decision making, while robots can ensure production remains ongoing without exposing the workforce to any risk of infection. By combining the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) with cloud computing, global manufacturers could also remotely access a virtual command and control center to monitor and operate multiple facilities from anywhere in the world. At the current pace of adoption of these transformative technologies, we may very well end up ride-hailing an autonomous vehicle in the very near future, and thereby avoid being within close proximity of others who are contagious. Therefore, we must embrace a new digital DNA for our society that will probably need to be fuelled perpetually with creativity and innovation. After all, innovation has proven to be an effective tool that can solve pressing challenges, and it remains to be the driving force behind the advancement of humanity and the acceleration of global good. The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) and the Mohammed bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity are two very specific, future-centric initiatives that are predicated on unleashing innovation to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development globally. The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations call, amongst 16 other objectives, for the good health and well-being of all. The current global health crisis has lent further urgency to actions that require us to be united and resilient. The pandemic will undoubtedly shock the manufacturing sector in the near term, and even force the temporary or permanent closure of many factories. At some point though, this global health crisis will come to a formidable end. The disruption to supply chains will shift countries towards more domestic production and capacity building programmes for their local workforce. In the longer term, the crisis will spur more innovation to advance digital technology, leaving a legacy of fundamental change to the way many things are made, used or disposed of. This is a new era of digital restoration – one that will not only restore our social and economic networks but will also pivot us towards a digital world that is empowered, enabled, and expedited by 4IR technologies to restore global prosperity. Press Contact: Reethu Thachil Communications Manager M Three Marcomms LLC, Press Office for: Global Manufacturing & Industrialisation Summit Mohammed Bin Rashid Initiative for Global Prosperity +971 58 847 6870/ reethu@m3media.com About GMIS: The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) was established in 2015 to build bridges between manufacturers, governments and NGOs, technologists, and investors in harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s (4IR) transformation of manufacturing to enable the regeneration of the global economy. A joint initiative by the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), GMIS is a global platform that presents stakeholders with an opportunity to shape the future of the manufacturing sector and contribute towards global good by advancing some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The first two editions of the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit were held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in March 2017, and Yekaterinburg, Russia in July 2019, respectively, with each edition welcoming over 3,000 high-level delegates from over 40 countries.

The Digital Restoration of Our Lives

Do you know that nearly 6,140 mobile apps are pushed out every day through the Google Play Store? Sounds astonishing right? But it is a fact and that’s why it is important that every entrepreneur know about the . Tech Trends 2020 Tech Trends 2020 Advancing Your Business Quicker than Ever These tech trends have a profound impact on the businesses that are looking to establish a strong online presence. According to Gartner report, 70 percent of enterprises will be experimenting with immersive technologies for business use. For example, the eCommerce market is famously resistant to change, but even established eCommerce brands are feeling the force of new technologies. A broader spectrum of e-commerce businesses adopting AR/VR, Multiexperience Platforms, IoT, that has a lot to do with technological success. PIM Solutions The big question for businesses is how to start leveraging all these tech trends to create true transformation. Another question is, will the tech trends offer you security to push online sales above the mark? Today users are much likely to buy a product if they understand how it is used and have some more detail through video displaying and details discussing the product features. In terms of customer service, more and more people are looking for self-serving chatbots that offer assistance on a website. Personalization, context, and localization will be the biggest challenges of tech trends 2020. Some have called Artificial Intelligence a solution for the challenges. Yet there have been a lot of hype over cybersecurity, IoT connected devices, augmented reality and the analytics of 5G. Here are seven areas of tech trends 2020 that hold potential to move your business from hype to driving true value in the coming year. Top 7 Tech Trends of 2020 Tech Trends #1 AI-Powered Business Artificial intelligence is already being used by businesses to streamline their work operations. This tech trend will flourish more in 2020, and business individuals will be working close by AI technologies. Consequently, a significant part of the AI applications will keep on managing real-time customer interactions across channels, which improve customer retention and loyalty with new insights. Artificial intelligence use advanced and predictive analysis that can predict how likely customers are to convert on certain offers. As self-learning algorithms gain exposure, this will help businesses to proactively find new customers across different channels and target them. AI Growth Stats Aside from the ability to scale customers needs, the dynamic technology AI has the ability to personalize your website content at the right time for your business. More of the eCommerce sites using AI and PIM development services for this purpose, so you can expect this number to spike in 2020. The voice assisted searches become more useful for consumers, you will see volume of AI-assisted consumer touch points represented by voice commands. In short, 2020 will be the year where you will start to see AI to tackle meaningful problems in a more realistic way as opposed to simply mimicking to human abilities. You can call this era of empowered AI where you will see some breakthrough and transformative changes in AI and ML models at scale. Tech Trends #2 Internet of Things (IoT) The Internet of Things tech trend will transform the whole user experience. Thanks to this technology that we have available and its ability to process data. Retailers can now give their consumers a personalized shopping experience that wasn’t possible before. With the help of smart equipment such as sensor-embedded shelves that track inventory will also change retail operations. Existing IoT devices will start evolving and start to become smart by default and aggregating all the data in the business process. Intelligence devices will power the next wave of innovation and seamlessly controlling systems at every stage of production. More specifically, you will see IoT innovations in the industrial sphere. IoT in Healthcare 2020 For example, IoT help doctors monitor patients health from a remote place, where special devices or telehealth systems will be installed on mobile devices to send patients health data. IoT in 2020 will help healthcare institutions monitor medical equipment to assess the real-time deployment of device. There will be wearables that can be tuned to remind patients health report, calorie count, specific illness, appointments, and the like. IoT in Retail 2020 The IoT in retail will generate a new wave of innovations with improved network responsiveness, better data connectivity, voice recognition, and better data analytics. As IoT space grows, you will see devices becoming more functional, safer, and enhancing your business. Tech Trends #3 The Edge Computing 2020 will also be the year of edge computing. Although it isn’t a new trend on technology hype cycle, however with recent advancement in technology it looks like 2020 will be the year of edge computing. The edge computing means information processing, content collection, and delivery that will now incorporates all the innovation on the Internet of Things (IoT). Empowered edge computing work on key approaches such as data privacy and security, networking, and time-sensitive applications. All three key drivers are important for shaping the establishments for smart spaces, and moves businesses and services closer to the users and devices that utilize them. Some More Stats: According to a report, there will be 20 times more of smart devices at the edge computing as in IT jobs by 2023. Overall, many business organizations will use edge computing and will adopt one of its characteristics that benefits the most. Tech Trends #4 The 5G Analytics When talking about tech trends 2020, 5G will play an increasingly important role in shaping and revolutionizing mobile communication. Right now, 5G is out in few of cities across the United States, but this will soon become in trend by the end of 2020. 5G network promises to speed up your network five times faster than 4G capabilities, which will allow users to download movies, songs, and files in just five seconds. This is a lightning-fast connection that will be soon become a an enterprise technology for data analytics and speed. Tech Trends #5 Cybersecurity With all the technological changes taking place, 2020 will be the year of cybersecurity anxiety. In a conducted by Cyber Security Hub, around 85 percent of business executives find it as one of the major cybersecurity threats. With more connected devices on IoT the possibility that those devices will be hacked. Though Google, AWS, and Azure worked hard to increase security measures, high volume data will always be vulnerable to attack and grow in quantity. survey This is why cybersecurity will also become an important tech trend in 2020 with new advancements like the AI tools for cybersecurity that can be used to detect information fraud using pattern recognition. California Consumer Privacy Act also from January 2020 that will allow data security solutions to focus on compliance to gain traction. going into effect What is CCPA? As cybersecurity systems develop, organizations will become better at detecting these attempts, but they will also face complex attacks. As this year draws to a close and all the technological advances taking place, lessons can be learned from previous mistakes that could prepare you for the onslaught of information. Tech Trends #6 DARQ New tech trend DARQ is based on the distributed ledger technology, blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented reality/virtual reality, and quantum computing. It is important in 2020 for businesses that work on procuring, training, and employee retention. The best example of company using DARQ is Volkswagen that is applying quantum computing to test traffic flow optimization and for battery performance improvement. Tech Trends #7 AR/VR MultiExperience The multiexperience technology incorporate multi sensory and multi touch-point interfaces like wearables and advanced PC sensors. This pattern will turn into an ambient experience that utilize augmented reality (AR), virtual (VR), and mixed reality that can be utilized for a simple AR overlay or a completely immersive VR experience. Though Augmented Reality is popularly known as an entertainment industry technology, developers will also develop some pretty interesting enterprise and retail web applications using PIM solutions and AR/VR into 2020. According to report published by Analytic Insights, virtual reality (VR) and AR will greatly impact sectors such as retail, education, advertising and communication. For instance, XR Labs is using VR/AR as a tool to train their low-skilled employees. Using these technologies, trainees can gain interactive experience when doing kind of dangerous tasks such as repairing windmills without having to climb hundreds of steps in the air. However, the AR applications aren't easy to develop for use cases like retailing, training the quality of features has to be high enough to justify enterprises investing in them. Final Words With all these tech trends taking place in 2020, it sometimes seems hard to keep pace. These trends are important for companies, organizations, and retailers trying to meet the demands of today’s digital era. AI is the the key trend for companies that value good and efficient business practices. Technologies like ML, PIM solutions, AR/VR, blockchain development services are moving by leaps and bounds and giving some companies an edge over the competition. Tech trends 2020 looks at all the challenges businesses face attempting to win the technology race. For more information on tech trends, contact . Syncrasy Tech Global IT Solution Company Tweet here for updates on , blockchain, IoT, AR and VR, and Edge computing. @Syncrasy_Tech PIM solutions Thanks!

­Tech Trends 2020:  Poised to Transform the Future of Enterprises

Self-driving cars are prowling the streets of California, Paris, London, Singapore and Beijing. Intel says, that the driverless tech will add $7 trillion to the global economy and save hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few decades. Also, it will devastate the car industry and its associated gas stations, drive-thrus, taxi drivers, and truckers. Some people will benefit. Many will damage. This article takes a look at the future of self-driving cars. But first, let’s look at exactly what a driverless car is. What is a Self-driving Car? And How Does It Work? A self-driving car, also known as a robot car, autonomous car, or driverless car, is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and moving with little or no human input. Autonomous cars combine a variety of sensors to perceive their surroundings, such as radar, computer vision, Lidar, sonar, GPS, odometry and inertial measurement units. Advanced control systems interpret sensory information to identify appropriate navigation paths, as well as obstacles and relevant signage. — Wikipedia. In the nutshell, a driverless car’s system takes over all driving responsibilities. The vehicle’s system uses infrared radars, LIDAR, motion sensors, cameras, GPS and complex algorithms that allow the car to drive itself. Using all of this technology, along with saved data, the car can generate a map to know where it’s going, what’s around it and what areas to avoid.The car can read road lights, traffic signs, road markings and even monitor other vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. It drives by the rules of the roads, meaning speed limits are always adhered to and obstacles and potential hazards are spotted much quicker allowing for a safer halt, with less braking and accelerating. In the video below, you can see the animation which explains the basic operation of self-driving vehicles. Self-driving Cars Advantages Safety Once a driverless technology has been fully developed, traffic collisions, caused by human error, such as delayed reaction time, tailgating, rubbernecking, and other forms of distracted or aggressive driving should be substantially reduced. Consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimated that widespread use of autonomous vehicles could “eliminate 90% of all auto accidents in the United States, prevent up to $190 billion in damages and health-costs annually and save thousands of lives.” Welfare Driverless cars could reduce labor costs. They relieve travelers from driving and navigation chores, thereby replacing behind-the-wheel commuting hours with more time for leisure or work. For the young, the elderly, people with disabilities, and low-income citizens, automated cars could provide enhanced mobility. The removal of the steering wheel would give the interior of the cabin greater ergonomic flexibility. Large cars, such as motor homes, would meet enhanced ease of use. Traffic Additional advantages include smoother rides, increased roadway capacity and minimizing traffic congestion. Currently, maximum controlled-access highway throughput or capacity according to the U.S. Highway Capacity.The video below demonstrates how the MIT “smart traffic light” system works: Lower costs Safer driving will reduce the costs of vehicle insurance. Reduced traffic congestion and traffic flow improvements will lead to better fuel efficiency. Additionally, self-driving cars will be able to speed up and brake more efficiently. It means higher fuel economy from reducing wasted energy associated with inefficient changes to speed. The average driver spends 17 hours a year searching for a parking spot, a number that jumps in dense urban spaces. New Yorkers spend a whopping 107 hours, Seattleites 58, and Detroit residents a still significant 35. Self-driving cars will save Americans 17 hours a year in parking. Parking space According to , driven vehicles are used only 4–5% time and being parked and unused for the remaining 95–96% of the time. Autonomous cars could be used continuously after it has reached its destination. This could dramatically reduce the need for parking space. Spaced Out Perspectives on parking policy report Business streamline Starship Technologies in London showed in 2016 how autonomous technology could transform businesses. Its pizza-delivery robot can deliver food from restaurant to doorstep, trundling along sidewalks using cameras and sensors to find its way. For example, Amazon could send bookmobiles roaming the streets, waiting for a customer to hail and browse the selection. Related effects By reducing the cost of mobility as a service, automated cars could reduce the number of cars that are individually owned, replaced by taxi and other car-sharing services. This would also dramatically reduce the size of the automotive production industry, with corresponding environmental and economic effects. Self-driving Cars Disadvantages Job losses in public transportation services A direct impact of widespread adoption of automated vehicles is the loss of driving-related jobs in the road transport industry. In addition, there could be job losses in public transit services and crash repair shops. The automobile insurance industry might suffer as the technology makes certain aspects of these occupations obsolete. Privacy issue Privacy could be an issue when having the vehicle’s location and position integrated into an interface in which other people have access to. In addition, there is the risk of automotive hacking through the sharing of information through V2V and V2I protocols.There is also the risk of terrorist attacks. Self-driving cars could potentially be loaded with explosives and used as bombs. Delayed driver’s reaction Once automation in vehicles reaches higher levels and becomes reliable, drivers will pay less attention to the road. Research shows that drivers in automated cars react later when they have to intervene in a critical situation, compared to if they were driving manually. Depending on the capabilities of automated vehicles and the frequency with which human intervention is needed, this may counteract any increase in safety, as compared to all-human driving, that may be delivered by other factors. Ethical and moral reasons Ethical and moral reasoning come into consideration when programming the software that decides what action the car takes in an unavoidable crash. Whether the automated car will crash into a bus, potentially killing people inside; or swerve elsewhere, potentially killing its own passengers or nearby pedestrians. A question that programmers of AI systems find difficult to answer is “what decision should the car make that causes the ‘smallest’ damage to people’s lives?”The ethics of automated vehicles are still being articulated and may lead to controversy. Experts debate whether we're ready for self-driving cars Reactions to Self-Driving Cars A safe traffic environment is dependent on interactions between people. Today, eight out of ten people seek eye contact with the driver before they cross a busy road. But what happens when there is no longer a driver behind the wheel? An international technology company Semcon decided to find out how people react to self-driving cars. According to the American Automobile Association, 73 percent of U.S. drivers said they would be afraid to ride in a self-driving vehicle, a 10 percent jump from 63 percent in October.About 64 percent of so-called millennials, ages 20–37, said they wouldn’t ride — a big jump over the 49 percent at the end of 2017. Self-driving Cars Legislation Signed by 70 countries in Vienna in 1968, The Convention on Road Traffic establishes principles to govern traffic laws. One of the fundamental principles of the Convention has been the concept that a driver is always fully in control and responsible for the behavior of a vehicle in traffic. The United States and China are the most notable examples of non-signatory countries. Legislation in the USA Each US State is responsible for its own autonomous driving legislation. For the last years, 33 states had either passed legislation, issued executive orders, or announced initiatives to accommodate self-driving vehicles on public roads. In June 2011, the Nevada Legislature passed a law to authorize the use of automated cars. Nevada thus became the first jurisdiction in the world where automated vehicles might be legally operated on public roads. In April 2012, Florida became the second state to allow the testing of automated cars on public roads, and California became the third when Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law at Google Headquarters in Mountain View. In December 2013, Michigan became the fourth state to allow testing of driverless cars on public roads. In July 2014, the city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho adopted a robotics ordinance that includes provisions to allow for self-driving cars. In 2016, Nevada, California, Florida, Michigan, Hawaii, Washington, and Tennessee, along with the District of Columbia, have enacted laws for automated vehicles. Incidents such as the first fatal accident by Tesla’s Autopilot system have led to a discussion about revising laws and standards for automated cars. Autonomous vehicles access to public roads. The USA On 19 February 2016, Assembly Bill №2866 was introduced in California that would allow automated vehicles to operate on the road, including those without a driver, steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal. The Bill states the Department of Motor Vehicles would need to comply with these regulations by 1 July 2018 for these rules to take effect. This bill has yet to pass the house of origin. In September 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation released its Federal Automated Vehicles Policy, and California published discussions on the subject in October 2016. In December 2016, the California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Uber to remove its self-driving vehicles from the road in response to two red-light violations. Uber immediately blamed the violations on “human error”, and has suspended the drivers. Legislation in Europe Autonomous vehicles access to public roads. The Netherlands When it comes to self-driving, countries like and are more likely to democratize automated transport systems nationwide than any other regions. the Netherlands Sweden The Netherlands’ Council of Ministers first approved autonomous vehicle road testing in 2015 and updated its bill on February 2017 to allow tests without a driver. In 2016 the Netherlands deployed WEpods, the world’s first electric driverless shuttle, in a central Dutch city. It holds six people, and operate on fixed lanes across the city. Autonomous vehicles access to public roads. Sweden In 2015 the Swedish government first explored self-driving car testing, concluding that it was possible to carry out trials at all levels of automation on Swedish roads. The Road Transportation Authority can, as of July 2017, authorize permits and supervise trials in accordance with the law. On December 2017, Volvo has launched a new self-driving vehicle development program in Gothenburg, Sweden named “ .” The program will provide participants with Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrids outfitted with the company’s newest driver-assistance tech. Drive Me The cars are equipped with cameras and other monitoring devices to observe how the families interact with the vehicle when the systems are in use. In 2014, the Government of announced that testing of automated cars on public roads would be allowed in 2015. 2000 km of road would be opened through the national territory, especially in Bordeaux, in Isère, Île-de-France and Strasbourg. France At the 2015 ITS World Congress, a conference dedicated to intelligent transport systems, the very first demonstration of automated vehicles on the open road in France was carried out in Bordeaux in early October 2015. Autonomous vehicles access to public roads. The UK has grand plans for self-drive cars. It wants the country to be “at the forefront” of self-driving cars and believes the industry in the UK will be worth £28 billion in the next 17 years. The UK government In 2013, the government of the United Kingdom permitted the testing of automated cars on public roads. All the driverless cars tested in the UK rank differently on the six levels of self-driving cars which are categorized from no automation, to fully automated. Before this, all testing of robotic transports in the UK had been conducted on private property. In 2018, the UK government announced it wanted self-driving cars to be in use commercially by 2021. It’s also set out plans for a new code of practice that would support tests without human drivers, albeit decided on a case-by-case basis to ensure safety. Autonomous vehicles access to public roads. Germany passed a law that allows companies to begin testing self-driving cars on public roadways. Drivers are allowed to remove their hands from the wheel and perform simple tasks such as futzing around on smartphones while the car drives itself. But, drivers must be ready to take control to handle possible emergencies.BMW announced an expanded fleet of prototype autonomous cars, and now it’s opening a dedicated autonomous-driving research lab. In 2021, BMW plans to introduce some degree of autonomous-driving levels on the iNext sedan, likely SAE Level 3 or Level 4. That means the car will still require some human intervention in certain situations. A fully-autonomous Level 5 car is likely much further off. The German parliament Legislation in Asia Autonomous vehicles access to public roads. China China fully intends to compete in the autonomous consumer car segment. In December 2017 Beijing became the first Chinese city to allow autonomous vehicle road tests. In late January 2018, China completed the first draft of its national rules for driverless vehicle road testing, including city-planning elements that are crucial to testing autonomous vehicles. The government recently released a roadmap that seeks to develop cars that can drive themselves in most situations by 2025. Passengers getting on a self-driving minibus at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai According to ’s 2018 report, Singapore received the maximum score on policy and regulations related to autonomous cars. KPMG In July 2015, the Singapore Land Transport Authority allowed 6 km of test routes and doubled the distance a year later. In 2017 the LTA expanded its AV test bed to neighboring areas such as the National University of Singapore, Singapore Science Parks 1 and 2. Self-driving cars are coming — but are we ready? Government and industry giants continue inventing and innovating technologies that can contribute to autonomous cars. But, to avoid public backlash or overreaction, they should not rush and slow the rollout down to a pace the public can adjust to. Innovations will gain public support and work to acclimate the public to the more advanced levels of driver autonomy. Feel free to add on more such advantages and disadvantages in the comments section.

Is the World Ready for Self-driving cars?

Living in 1917, it would be hard to predict that a consumer revolution was about take place in the United States. Though the Model T was approaching its tenth birthday, there were a mere . Americans , including multiple weekly trips to local food merchants — grocers, butchers, fruit and seafood markets. There, they payed outrageous prices to sustain a diet based largely on . As Marc Levinson writes in , the typical working class family devoted a third of its income to groceries, the average farm family even more. 4.7 million automobiles on the streets walked everywhere cold cereal and lard The Great A&P Other categories were either non-existent or similarly overpriced. Clothing accounted for over 13% of the average American’s wallet, compared to under 3% today. The vast majority of Americans lived in rental households, with multiple generations crammed under one roof. More than two thirds of households had . . Maintaining these crowded homes as well as feeding and clothing their inhabitants was both expensive and incredibly labor-intensive. There was no real consumer economy to speak of. retail neither electricity nor a telephone Less than 20 percent had a stove But, by the end of the 1930s, this world had all but disappeared. With 23 million cars on the road by 1930, transportation costs began to plummet. Self-service supermarkets began to spring up on the outskirts of cities. Drawn by steep discounts, self-service and flashy marketing, middle class consumers got in their cars and drove to these oversized, gimmicky combination stores, miles away from their local food vendors. King Kullen, America’s first supermarket, located outside Manhattan in the more sparely populated Jamaica, Queens. The parking lot was intended to accommodate shoppers arriving from all parts of New York City. As transformed, so did the home. adoption in cities reached 85% by the end of the 1920s. Over the 1930s, nearly half of American households where they could store their bulk food purchases for far longer than their iceboxes had allowed. Appliances like vacuum cleaners and washers took the drudgery out of housework. retail Electricity came to own a refrigerator 1930s connected home hype And thus the first consumer revolution began. As highway infrastructure came online after WWII, transportation became even cheaper and more convenient and prices of everyday goods deflated. Both homes and retail stores grew larger and more suburban. In 1962, Meijer combined the supermarket with the department store to give birth to the first big box, which, within two decades, had become the dominant American retail model. Americans came to own their homes and stored heaps of newly-acquired possessions in them. Second-order effects are exceptionally difficult for humans to grasp. In 1917, you would have been quite forward-thinking to have predicted that automobiles, electricity, the telephone and the radio would reach mass adoption. But the idea that consumers were about to start traveling miles away from their homes to buy from impersonal, warehouse-sized boxes instead of walking a few blocks to a familiar, reputable, well-stocked local merchant would certainly have sounded insane. You wouldn’t have to be nearly as optimistic a century later to look at the growth of ecommerce and see a straightforward path to well over 50% in the not-too-distant future. But predicting the bizarre consumer behaviors that are bound to emerge as technologies and business models evolve over the coming years is several orders of magnitude more difficult. To that end, it is worth taking a closer look at how the topology of commerce has continued to evolve into the 21st century. from 3.5% of total retail spending in 2008 to 9% today The Birth of Online Commerce Over the 20th century retailers learned to respect the economic laws of distribution that ensured products flowed along the cheapest path to the consumer’s home. They scheduled regular truckload shipments to their massive stores, passed on a portion of supply chain savings on to consumers and had them figure out the expensive part themselves: getting to the store, picking items off the shelf and transporting them back home. But this same lesson blindsided retailers at the advent of ecommerce. While many (most?) dismissed ecommerce entirely, others viewed it as a promising distribution innovation that could offer a convenient way for consumers to schedule deliveries to their homes — a better catalogue, as it were. Some even foresaw that the internet could cause some headaches for brick and mortar retail in the future, but could not compete with the sheer dominance of the distribution model they had built. But, as Amazon proved in the 90s, ecommerce was better understood as a merchandising innovation — creating a much larger and more personalized, ‘catalogue’ than Sears ever could. Starting from gaps in the assortments of larger booksellers, Amazon drew a critical mass of bibliophiles away from Borders and Barnes & Noble. Ecommerce and The Price of Convenience During the next wave of ecommerce growth in the early 2000s, retailers discovered that, for some products, consumers were willing to pay for the convenience of delivery. But the drive to the store still remained far cheaper and gave much faster access to products, making the physical store a far better choice for the majority of retail purchases. In fact, the delivery price and speed advantages of the offline retail remain significant for most categories and merchants today. AAA estimates the marginal cost per mile for a small Sedan driving 10,000 miles per year at . This cost includes driving costs, such as fuel, as well as ownership costs — such as insurance, depreciation and finance — amortized over the number of miles that each car is expected to drive each year. Assuming a round trip to the store of 2.5 miles each way, the total cost of driving to the store is $2.75. When paying an average of nearly $11 for two-day delivery from major retailers for a $50 cart, this cost compares quite favorably. Accordingly, Prime, which Amazon introduced in 2005, was (and largely still is) thought of as an annual tax on convenience. But, the math on frequent shoppers reveals a changing cost structure. 55 cents Without accounting for any other perks of the $99 membership, a customer making more than 36 orders per year can expect to save money on an order by not driving to the store. At an average order value of , this equates to a little over $1,700 in annual spend, not too far from the company’s average of . $47 $1,300 This is well worth it for Amazon as the average prime member spends over 50% more on the site than a non-prime member (for more details on the unit economics of prime see ). For frequent online shoppers, therefore, driving to the store represents not just an inconvenience, but an economic cost over and above the price of delivery. As such, these trips are increasingly limited to more time-sensitive purchases, such as groceries, take-out and pharmaceuticals. Indeed, that groceries and medications are the leading categories of products where consumers prefer to purchase offline rather than wait for delivery. this analysis surveys show The Race for the Last Mile To bridge the gap, emerged that charged consumers an average of $5.99 for delivery from grocers and restaurants to extend the convenience of shopping online these more instant-need categories. In 2013, Instacart felt it could underwrite the economics of Express, a Prime-like membership currently priced at $149 that covers free two-hour deliveries for orders above $35. Last month, Postmates announced Unlimited, which offers unlimited deliveries for orders over $20 for $9.99 per month. Amazon offers two-hour delivery on select items at no additional cost to Prime members through PrimeNow and same-day grocery delivery through AmazonFresh for an additional $14.99 per month. startups If we assume $1,300 annual spend on Prime over 27 orders of $47, then, with PrimeNow, consumers save on the cost of driving after just one additional order per month. That number is five orders per month for Instacart, four for Postmates and six for Fresh. Meanwhile, retailers like Walmart are catching up and piloting an array of same-day delivery capabilities, including in NYC. I about how Amazon’s pursuit of a dominant last-mile distribution network explains their recent Whole Foods acquisition. As the retail world moves to free same-day and two-hour delivery, consumers are moving an increasing share of their purchases online. Once again, both the business models and consumer behaviors are adapting to create a cheaper path for products to reach the consumer’s home. free same-day delivery previously wrote Closing the Loop As we’ve already seen with Prime, businesses are perfectly happy to make losses on delivery in exchange for reduced friction and increased product sales. But the real power of memberships is less about the transaction and more about building a deeper relationship with each customer. This gives businesses like Instacart greater market power as they modularized grocers to shoppers with whom they have an exclusive relationship at scale. It also allows ecommerce companies to gather exclusive data on their consumers that they leverage to build a differentiated service. aggregate Transactional businesses have traditionally focused more on the purchasing experience, which generates revenue and margin and less on returns. Even offline returns bring people back to the store where they are likely to make additional purchases, but the ROI for online returns used to be viewed as less clear. This is at least part of the reason why the online returns experience is terrible. Increasingly, businesses building long-term, trusted relationships with each customer that are both personalized and frictionless will fix this. This is the business model of companies like Stitchfix, which delivers highly customized apparel to subscribers and provides an extremely easy way to return unwanted products at no additional cost. Their model appears to be quite well. working More Holes, Fewer Drills The predictable result of a world with near-instant delivery and frictionless returns will be that ecommerce will devour offline sales. But, the trendlines of distribution costs and consumer behavior also suggest some more interesting conclusions. We’ve already seen how one of the behaviors the 20th century brought us, the drive to the store, is changing as commerce moves online. We still haven’t looked at the symmetric behavior in the home: stocking up. Over the last century, consumers increasingly took fewer trips, to fewer retailers, but bought more things each time. As homes grew larger, so did fridges, pantries, garages and closets. The home transformed into a warehouse for storing the excesses from our retail excursions. Many of these items such as tools, seasonal clothes, air mattresses, surfboards and ski and camping gear, sat unused for 99.9% of their lives. In a world where delivery of goods was expensive and humans terrible at forecasting their needs, owning things was the cheapest way to ensure they would be available to us when we needed them. But as it becomes increasingly convenient and cheap to quickly summon what we need and return what we don’t, will we chose to own nearly as many things? We’ve already decided we don’t need to own music or movies when we can just stream them whenever we want on Spotify and Netflix. . The same principle will hold in commerce: the cheaper and more frictionless access becomes, the less stuff we’ll need to own. These new consumer expectations in the last mile will drive growth to services like ,* which delivers everything consumers need for amazing experiences and takes it back when they’re done, for fractions of the cost of buying the equipment and with far less clutter. (*Disclosure: Lowe’s Ventures is an investor in Joymode.) More Americans are choosing Uber and Lyft over buying a car Joymode So much of what we can do is limited by what we own. We’re hesitant to try new things, lest we commit to a lifetime of owning expensive products that we may never use again. As it becomes easier to both quickly receive products and return them at near-zero marginal cost, the need for ownership will diminish. We’ve already noticed early signs of this evolution in the fashion market with businesses like and . As the new distribution paradigm of the 21st century unfolds, you can expect access to notch many more victories over ownership in the coming years. Le Tote Rent the Runway

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