At this time of year many adventurous people usually emerge – consultants, analysts, experts, gurus, companies, … – who try to guess the trends of the year that begins in a few days. Today I bring up the forecast made by WIKO, a mobile manufacturer that is not one of the best known in Spain. And this company points out that artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, the exploitation of mobile commerce or biometric sensors will continue to have their long journey in 2020.
“Artificial intelligence”, they say in WIKO, “is one of the most used and applied technologies nowadays, even in some of the situations of our day to day that we have already assumed as everyday – like when Google suggests you a word to complete your search – but that would not be possible without this set of tools ”.
Artificial intelligence is the ability of a set of technologies to simulate the cognitive processes associated with human intelligence, in order to create algorithms or smart devices that react like people. The reality is that this technology is already applied to end-user products, such as the smartphone camera, but it will continue to evolve to be refined and applied in many other areas and devices.
And it is precisely at this point, that of learning, where machine learning or automatic learning comes into play, which is part of AI, but from the perspective of learning to promote the autonomy of machines. That is, it shares with this technology the reception of data and the execution of algorithms, but in order to adjust them as they process the information and know the environment, to learn autonomously.
The Internet of Things, or Internet of Things, explains the WIKO prediction, is a current reality with infinite possibilities that will continue to develop and, therefore, will intensify in the coming years. This technology is nothing more than the integration of sensors and devices in objects of people’s daily lives, whether in work or personal environments -as well as in professional sectors such as health, security, transport or Smart Cities, among others – in such a way that they are connected to the Internet and become a source of data to adapt to user habits.
It is a very useful tool for collecting information on the environment, improving energy efficiency, achieving more sustainable cities, or developing new solutions for the end user, among other options. But we must not forget about the changes in the way of producing that this technology causes, or the challenges that it must face in the coming years, such as the standardization or the security of IoT devices.
Another of the star technologies, already today, but with a long journey ahead, is probably biometrics, such as the fingerprint reader, a mode of identification present in everyday devices, such as the mobile phone or access control systems of companies, among other options. These biometric sensors are basically mechanical or electronic systems that record the biometric data of the users of smart devices and serve as a method of identifying the person.
WIKO wonders to what extent biometric sensors are capable of identifying with complete certainty and security? It is a technology in constant evolution that plans to expand both its uses and the devices it can be incorporated into, offering convenience to the consumer. Facial recognition can be considered the most secure identification system today, as well as being one of the most popular. However, there is a challenge that all of them face in the near future, which is both one of their strengths, and that is the security and privacy it offers to the user. And is that cybersecurity has as many challenges as opportunities open with each step in favor of technological evolution.
Smart assistants and voice searches will also continue to expand in 2020. Who has not done a voice search today through any of their technological devices? Making phone calls, asking for the song we want to hear or finding the restaurant or store we want to go to, are some of the answers we look for in a voice assistant. It is a relatively recent technology that has gone from being in the end-user adoption phase to being one of the trends of the moment in just a few years.
Finally, and although eCommerce is a trend that is already fully installed in our lives, the reality is that there are many devices through which this type of commerce can be accessed. Every time we spend more time connected and more and more we do it from a smartphone. This makes the mobile environment very important, both for people and for companies, which increasingly focus their sales and marketing strategy on this format.
Currently, more than half of the visits received by electronic businesses are made through mobile phones, and it is expected that by 2020 up to 50% of the sales made will come from mobile traffic. Once the barrier of comfort and security that users buy through smart phones has been overcome, the challenge now is to go further and take advantage of the technological advances that are yet to come to offer new possibilities to the eCommerce sector. Will it be possible to have the product in hand, virtually, before making a purchase online from home and without accessing physical commerce? Only time can confirm it, they say in WIKO.
