Technology has soared through the 2010s. Based on this exponential trend, we can expect that the 2020s will bring us even better technologies in even greater amounts. Technological advancements greatly benefit the workplace. They help us become more efficient and effective. We don’t know what the future holds, right? Well, maybe we can take an informed guess. We know for sure that we have so much to look forward to. Let’s take a trip to the future and make some technological speculations!
1. Virtual Reality
If you think the current beginnings of virtual reality are cool now, imagine what it will be like in a few years! The workplace could be completely changed by this! We’ll go through a few of these technologies and see how they will bring the workplace to new frontiers.
Google Glass
See into the 2020s with Google Glass 2020 vision! Google Glass looks like a futuristic pair of glasses. It creates a display just above a person’s line of sight. It basically seems like you’re looking at a TV screen from the perfect point of view no matter which way you turn your head.
Google Glass started out in the consumer market and failed. It’s currently in the industrial world. The third-generation device is currently in the works, but not much is known about it. All we know is that it’s dropping some weight and looking more like normal glasses.
This adaptation could bring the lenses into the corporate world. After all, corporate employees don’t want to wear goggles, right? For the future workplace, think of the increased efficiency that this will bring. Workers can stop flipping pages, they won’t be limited to a designated area with a screen, and more!
Microsoft HoloLens
The HoloLens uses hand-tracking and voice controls to manipulate a virtual reality. The second version came out this year. The feature that distinguishes the HoloLens from other VR technologies is eye-tracking. You don’t have to move your head anymore: just your eyes.
Currently, its bulky headset is aimed at factory workers. Imagine what could happen if something like the HoloLens becomes more suitable in appearance. The entire workplace could go digital! Perhaps most importantly, think of how simple it would be to train new employees. Just put them in a virtual workplace with visual instructions, and let the technology do the rest!
2. Artificial Intelligence
The film industry has consistently portrayed AI as human-like robots. While that might be the case someday many decades from now, technology in this era is becoming more and more compact. We’ll look at several of these technologies and imagine how they’ll change in the 2020s.
Amazon Echo: Alexa!
Alexa is the personal assistant that can control basically everything in your home. Scary, right? Well, it could get scarier – unless we realize how beneficial future Alexa could be for businesses. The potential change here is different than the other technologies we’ve discussed. The greatest change to business here could influence marketing.
Amazon has hinted at a wearable version of Alexa that could detect emotions. Well, what’s the biggest piece of individuals’ data that marketers need but don’t have? Emotions! We can access location and Google searches, but emotional data could be even more telling than anything else. We could be aware of what products/services individuals would want in order to “better” their emotional states.
Of course, the idea here is to benefit Amazon sales. But what if other companies developed similar technologies to benefit the marketing industry as a whole? This would be a definite game-changer!
Apple’s AI: Siri!
Perhaps the most prolific AI of the 2010s, Siri is the world’s favorite speech recognition personal assistant. However, Siri is a little bit behind its competitors. Other assistants have been able to recognize multiple voices for a while now. We’ll focus on this feature here since it’s Siri’s newest addition.
In the workplace, Siri can distinguish between co-workers’ voices. This feature will likely improve in the 2020s so that Siri can create individualized experiences with just one device. Imagine this feature in a business meeting. What if a future personal assistant could bring individual employee ideas together to form a collective suggestion? It might not be out of the realm of possibilities.
Google Assistant
Yet another speech recognition assistant, Google Assistant might be the “smartest” version. Google recently announced its latest expansion of the Assistant: Duplex on the web.
The next-level Duplex will allegedly be able to fill out online forms. It is currently limited to forms as simple as buying movie tickets. Imagine its growth to complex forms. This will save the workplace an unbelievable amount of time and cut down on the number of errors humans inevitably make when filling out forms.
3. Apps
This year, there are 1.96 million Apple apps. Statistical projections predict that by 2020, there will be 5 million apps. That’s a double-and-then-some jump in just one year! Think of how many apps we’ll have by the end of the 2020s. 2029 could bring us billions of apps!
Microlearning Apps
These are apps that function as teachers. Think of Duolingo for language learning and Simply Piano to learn how to play keys. Imagine having apps that could personalize corporate learning for new employees and continued education. Apps are more engaging than reading instruction manuals, so this should get your employees more interested. Turn training into a game!
We mentioned this training idea regarding virtual reality, but this could be even more versatile. Employees wouldn’t be limited to the workplace with an expensive headset. They could learn at anytime from anywhere with a mobile training app.
Chatbots
We’re used to using chatbots on our company websites. They’ve been a great technological innovation to help customers. Chatbots reduce the need for customer support, freeing employees up for other tasks.
In the 2020s, we’re likely to see chatbots modified for mobile apps. These chatbots will also become more useful to customers through AI technology. They’ll act as personal assistants within your company’s app, reaching more consumers than ever as the world goes digital. If your company doesn’t already have an app, you’ll definitely want one thanks to this technology!
4. Facial Recognition
Apple shocked the world with facial recognition on the iPhone X. In the 2020s, this facial identification will likely expand to unlock cars, houses, etc. Facial recognition has moved security to a new level, which could definitely benefit businesses.
What if facial recognition could be centralized for multiple users? This will be possible in the next few years. Imagine employees being able to unlock individual data from one device without having to log in. Project collaboration will become easier, and meetings will be more efficient.
5. Mobile Translation
Translations have gotten more automated throughout the 2010s. We have Google Translate, DARPA, automatic translations for social media posts, etc. These are likely to become more prolific and more automated in the 2020s. We will likely see these perfected automatic translations extend to text messaging.
Think of the impact this will have on international business relations. This would reduce the need for human translators. Human translation involves delayed communication. This technology would speed up communication and make international meetings far more efficient.
6. 3D Printing
Businesses use 3D printing to create test products instead of using real materials. This saves a lot of money. Major upgrades are expected for 3D printing in the 2020s. Printing speed should increase by 50 to 100 times what it is now. This will boost efficiency and save businesses an unimaginable amount of time.
Better yet, 3D printers will go “smart.” Combining with AI technology, products will be printed using voice commands. There are plans to make these customizable by industry, so every business will likely benefit from 3D printing innovations in the 2020s.
There’s no way to know for sure what 2029 will look like in the workplace. The above speculations only come from prototypes and predictions. What we can be certain of is that the workplace will greatly benefit from any new technologies that appear in the 2020s.
Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash