What Are Emerging Technologies?

By Heather Moyer on April 4th, 2019

The term “emerging technologies” is relative and includes new innovations in tech that are in development or will be developed in approximately the next decade. In September 2018, the World Economic Forum released a list of its Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2018: “They’re all breakthrough technologies that are likely to shape our lives in the near future.”1

The importance of these emerging technologies to businesses goes beyond revenue potential. According to scientists and experts, “each one has been identified as having the potential to be disruptive by altering deep-rooted practices or shaking up whole industries.”1 To that end, businesses of all sizes, across industries, must keep a pulse on these developments if they want to remain sustainable and competitive.

Predictions by different industry experts and media may vary, but even they agree that “it’s not about whether these themes will become the new normal, it’s more about how soon.”2 Innovations in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have applications throughout daily life, from business communications and online shopping to social media and streaming on an array of devices.

 

What Emerging Technologies Means to Consumers

Common themes between any experts list of the top technology developments in the next decade revolve around deeper and improved personalization (from healthcare to help and advice from smart devices) and current technologies take a leap into their sophistication (from sensing cities to immersive reality).

As smart cities and custom medicine makes its way to our hometowns and families, many feared that automation, for example, could put us all out of work. In fact, in a 2017 McKinsey report, some predicted that as many as 800 million jobs could be lost worldwide to automation by 2030.3

But despite this, there are others who argue that innovation is driving job growth more quickly than jobs are disappearing. “Entirely new industries have emerged in recent years, creating jobs that didn’t exist ten years ago. Technology has disrupted industries in new ways, creating investments and job opportunities for people.”4

As technology proliferates more and more applications, it was found that very few professions could fully automated.3 Furthermore, the fact that a function could be automated was not the only factor influencing the adaptation of such technology. Furthermore, the same group that estimated the millions of jobs lost due to automation predicted that jobs related to implementing technology would grow.

“Overall spending on technology could increase by more than 50 percent between 2015 and 2030. About half would be on information-technology services. The number of people employed in these occupations is small compared to those in healthcare or construction, but they are high-wage occupations. By 2030, we estimate that this trend could create 20 million to 50 million jobs globally.”3

What Emerging Technologies Means to HNM

HNM currently recruits and staffs in a few key areas of emerging technologies, including services offered through the Cloud (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS), mobile, e-commerce, and digital marketing. Each of these areas are the way these emerging technologies are reaching everyday consumers, and each offers the flexibility to evolve as technology evolves.

Because these types of companies touch many customers through a single platform, service, communication, etc., the need for expert, effective, and reliable expertise is critical to their business. Staffing highly skilled, high-impact positions is no small task, and knowing how to find the right set of skills and the right culture fit is a serious challenge with serious consequences.

Cloud IT Solutions: The right skill and expertise are critical when staffing a Software-as-a-Solution (Saas), Infrastructure-as-a-Solution (IaaS), and Platform-as-a-Solution (PaaS) company. Their work builds the primary offering of these businesses, and though the end result should be a solution that is easy to use, the development of the solution is far from simple. These industries are highly competitive and the time from ideation to market can decide a company’s fate, so missteps and delays caused by a poor staffing choice can be very costly.

Commerce (Mobile, E-commerce): Customer experience is everything in today’s referral- and review-based world. Consumers are armed with more information than ever, but more importantly, they are armed with first-hand commentaries on experiences with businesses. In fact, a recent report from Bazaarvoice, cited by Forbes magazine, stated that “82% of smartphone users consult their phones on purchases they are about to make in-store and 45% read reviews before making a purchase.”5 Poor experiences have major impact. A negative customer experience is the reason 86 percent of consumers quit doing business with a company, but good customer experiences lead 42 percent of consumers to purchase again. A mobile or e-commerce business must have its technical staff tightly buttoned up, from leadership through to execution.

Digital: The world of SEM, SEO, display advertising, and paid media is ever-evolving and requires not only a strategic understanding of how each impacts a business, from reputation to revenue, but also technical know-how of how to effectively execute in each area. The market is saturated with new companies popping up daily that claim to be “experts” by way of reading a few blogs posts on the latest trends, but to make a true impact on any business’s marketing, staff responsible for these areas much have depth of knowledge and a drive to test and learn. Oftentimes, company leadership do not understand the value of these tactics or the methodologies overall, and hiring the right employees for these roles can be especially difficult.

Software: Change is difficult for any business, but implementing new server or software technology or developing new policies can be far-reaching and deeply impactful for employees. The right team that can create a strategy for effective and smooth transitions and understands the new technology can also understand the environment they are walking into and collaborate effectively.

Networking: Innovative engineering and effective management for global network infrastructure is important for any business that relies on connectivity. From the hardware and equipment to software and servers, from maintenance to security, there are a wide range of needs in this area. The right staff for these roles have the ability to understand business needs and goals as well as their limitations to find and execute creative yet effective solutions while also having the quick thinking to troubleshoot. The right employees in these roles have a positive and productive impact on the business daily.

Why a Staffing Solution?

Effective recruitment in these key areas of emerging technology requires highly skilled knowledge and experience in implementation and long-term maintenance, which fast-growing companies do not have the luxury to wait for. HNM Systems is a trusted partner in these industries with valuable experience with some of the largest technological innovators across industries.

Sources

  1. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/top-10-emerging-technologies-of-2018/
  2. https://medium.com/predict/50-emerging-technology-themes-to-watch-out-for-in-2019-b9a37a555a23
  3. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages
  4. https://chiefexecutive.net/how-emerging-technology-is-driving-job-creation-new-industries/
  5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnellett/2018/02/08/new-research-shows-growing-impact-of-online-research-on-in-store-purchases/#6e84956b16a0
  6. https://www.inc.com/andrew-thomas/the-hidden-ratio-that-could-make-or-break-your-company.html