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Popular Trends Ready To Disrupt The Tech Industry In 2018

Forbes Technology Council
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Forbes Technology Council

The new year is here, and with it comes a rush of new technology trends to pay attention to. From enhanced artificial intelligence accessibility to a rise in the use of augmented and virtual reality, these technologies are designed to allow you to operate your business more effectively and efficiently as they bring the best of the best to light.

Whether your business is looking to stay ahead of the curve with the integration of advanced digital devices or beef up your cybersecurity, the tech trends of the year are sure to help. According to a report by Deloitte, you’ll need to keep an eye out for advancements in AI, IoT and VR in particular.

Below, 13 members of Forbes Technology Council discuss the most popular trends they think have the potential to disrupt the tech industry in the new year.

1. Commoditized Artificial Intelligence

Now that some of the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning can be developed in hours on a personal computer with open-source frameworks, AI will become more pervasive and ubiquitous than it is. Software will get smarter and more multicapable as the latest in natural language processing, computer vision, recommender systems and more become as easy to develop as a CMS. - Carson KahnVolley.com

2. Chatbots

I think we will see more chatbots than ever before and we will have to learn to start interacting with these for more services. This will help us teach them what we want from the experience and interaction. - Chalmers BrownDue

3. Growing Importance Of Ethics In Tech Innovation

We are running up against ethical dilemmas that relate directly to what and how we're creating: targeting ads according to troubling demographic dimensions, angst over job automation, universal basic income, even the prevalence of sexual harassment. The tech industry is innovating faster than we are forming systems of ethics that frame the industry's work. - Kieran SnyderTextio

4. Augmented Reality

Snapchat has helped bring augmented reality to the forefront with its fun face filters. Most recently, Apple introduced ARKit to make it easier than ever for developers to integrate augmented reality into their iPhone apps, and companies such as Amazon have already started to embrace it. I think 2018 is going to be the year of augmented reality. - Thomas GriffinOptinMonster

5. Hardware And Software Features To Support AR, ML

A number of companies have produced hardware and software features to support augmented reality and machine learning. As developers take advantage of these chips and APIs, we will see apps that will let us view our world differently and better communicate with machines. I also see this tech being used to monitor security, help aggregate big data and improve the identity verification process. - Chris Kirby, Voices.com

6. Augmented Analytics

Augmented Analytics automates data insight by utilizing machine learning and natural language to automate data preparation and enable data sharing. This presentation of data helps to simplify it down to a clear result while providing access to sophisticated tools that empower business users and team members with the luxury of making day-to-day decisions with confidence versus opinion and bias. - Jeremy WilliamsVyudu

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7. Pressure To Move To The Cloud

More companies will move to the cloud because more CEOs will issue mandates to do so. These mandates will raise anxiety levels among the teams that must execute. They’ll struggle with questions over legacy apps and lose sleep over whether they have the staff and skills to accomplish it. The cloud is a game-changer, but 2018 will bring additional pressures for the companies moving to it. - Todd DelaughterAutomic Software

8. An Increase In Cracker Attacks

Cracker attacks will become more common than ever, both targeted and non-targeted. Attackers will probably aim at platforms and devices that can't keep up with the patching of security vulnerabilities or ones that have poor security design. This trend is ongoing, and the damages will cost even more. It seems “WarGames" is already a reality and will continue to be so in the future. - Ivailo NikolovSiteGround

9. Cybersecurity Investments

If anything disrupted the tech industry in 2017, it was the consistent news of cyberattacks around the globe. Investment in cybersecurity measures is critical right now, and I am interested to see how tech can help the private and public sectors to increase their cybersecurity readiness. The cloud is providing higher levels of data security, so I hope to see more trust in the cloud in 2018. - Marcus TurnerEnola Labs

10. Blockchain

Blockchain technology is the trend to watch in 2018. Cutting out the middleman in many industries is going to have a big impact on markets. Associated with blockchain is the trend toward a bankless system, which could be a game-changer in the financial sector. This may not blow up the pay industry, but we are seeing trends intended to improve consumer convenience, and solutions that do that will win the day. - Jim HigginsSolutionreach.com

11. Conversational Artificial Intelligence

Conversational AI will be the single most disruptive force in technology in 2018. Conversational applications will show up full force in the enterprise, across boring areas like supply chain, sales, manufacturing and insurance. Coupled with runaway success from consumer-driven applications such as Alexa, the Comcast remote, etc., voice and natural language interaction will slowly replace the keyboard. - Ram Menon, Avaamo

12. Visual Media (Voice Assistant Tech Integration)

The Amazon Echo Show is one example of how visual media is a key element of the smart assistant experience, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Advancements can be made through smart collaboration between voice assistant technology companies and media providers, and we should expect to see a wider range of capabilities and real-time personalization of visual media from voice assistants in 2018. - Zohar DayanWibbitz

13. 3-D Printing

3-D printers are changing the way multiple industries manufacture their products and are being integrated frequently into company manufacturing pipelines. There are now portable 3-D printing options and simple-to-use guidelines that allow these printers to be used in a consumer's home. As the price for these printers falls and accessibility increases, 3-D printing will keep disrupting industries. - Alexandro Pando, Xyrupt