Top 3 emerging technologies of 2020

According to CompTIA’s second annual Top 10 Emerging Technologies report, released Monday, the Internet of Things (IoT) is the emerging technology that offers the best opportunities to create new business and revenues.

The 10 technologies that the report named were ranked according to the near-term business and financial opportunities created for IT firms and other technology companies and selected by the organization’s Emerging Technology Community.

1. IoT
IoT is driving business changes by providing the data needed to improve marketing, decrease costs, and increase sales. Frank Raimondi, a member of the CompTIA Emerging Technology Community leadership group who works in the strategic channel and business development for Chargifi, said in a press release, “Everybody in the technology world, as well as many consumers, is hearing the term Internet of Things.”

However, “to say it’s confusing and overwhelming is an understatement,” he added. “IoT may mean many things to many people, but it can clearly mean incremental or new business to a channel partner if they start adding relevant IoT solutions with their existing and new customers. More importantly, they don’t have to start over from scratch.”

2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is already significantly impacting the way customers interact with businesses via intelligent websites and bots, and these tools are becoming increasingly commoditized and integrated into daily work, the report noted.

The largest impacts across all industries are felt when AI improves decision-making speed, data security, accuracy, and employee output and training, Maddy Martin, community vice chair and head of growth and education for Smith.ai said in the release. “With more capable staff, better-qualified sales leads, more efficient issue resolution, and systems that feed actual data back in for future process and product improvements, companies employing AI technologies can use resources with far greater efficiency. Best of all, as investment and competition increase in the AI realm, costs are reduced.”

3. 5G
According to CompTIA, the rise of 5G networks is increasing our ability to move, manipulate, and analyze data across wireless platforms. As 5G rolls out more fully, it will drive the development of more complex apps to increase growth across industries.

“The development and deployment of 5G is going to enable business impact at a level few technologies ever have, providing wireless at the speed and latency needed for complex solutions like driverless vehicles,” Michael Haines, community chair and director of partner incentive strategy and program design for Microsoft, said in the release. “Additionally, once fully deployed geographically, 5G will help emerging markets realize the same ‘speed of business’ as their mature counterparts. Solution providers that develop 5G-based solutions for specific industry applications will have profitable, early-mover advantages.”