Consumers have a lot of tech news to keep up with in 2020, with anticipated advances in autonomous vehicles, folding touchscreen phones and new video game consoles. But what are tech professionals gearing up for this year?
The answer depends on who you ask. For example, Executive VP of Product at Arrive Logistics Michael Senftleber is watching how business processes — particularly in the world of freight — will be affected by the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Meanwhile, Vikram Phatak, founder of cybersecurity firm NSS Labs, is monitoring how 5G, IoT devices and other infrastructure will affect the future of digital protection strategies.
These are just a few of the upcoming tech evolutions the following professionals are paying attention to. While each tech leader is harnessing different technological developments for different reasons, all paths lead to improved customer satisfaction and a continual evolution of their businesses. From robotics to 5G networks, these are the trends that will be shaping tech in 2020.
Top 10 Technology Trends
- Ubiquitous high-speed internet and true 5G networks
- Open-source tools that make AI accessible
- Quantum computing making new tech possible
- TV advertising becoming fully digital
- Technology geared toward building trust into their products
- Alternative datasets for predictive analytics and pattern recognition
- AI task automation
- Continued growth of ML and AI hype
- Car as a Platform (CaaP)
- AI becoming less artificial
NSS Labs
At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, IBM unveiled the world’s first quantum computer designed for commercial and scientific use. NSS Labs Founder Vikram Phatak said further developments in the world of quantum computing will play a significant role in moving cybersecurity forward, and his company is gearing up for that change.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
The adoption of cloud computing, ubiquitous high-speed internet like 5G wireless, internet of things, artificial intelligence and quantum computing will drive major shifts in the way the world works, including how we protect people. IoT devices will operate more efficiently and autonomously as AI evolves. And quantum computing is a transformative leap forward that makes possible new technologies that we haven’t even imagined yet.
Modern encryption that takes thousands of years to break with current computing technology can be broken in seconds using quantum computing. Our research indicates that as the virtual and physical worlds merge, cybersecurity will naturally evolve to focus on protecting people regardless of whether they are using mobile devices, computers or IoT devices connected to the cloud. This new paradigm will spur a scalable, zero-trust alternative to current cybersecurity architectures.
"As the virtual and physical worlds merge, cybersecurity will naturally evolve.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
We select test topics based on enterprise customer demand. The world is rapidly changing and our plans for 2020 reflect that. This year we have a lot planned, including testing cloud security offerings like secure access service edge (SASE), and security for cloud computing, like cloud network firewall. We are also initiating research on how 5G will change cloud computing, practical uses of AI and getting prepared for a post-quantum world.
SteelHouse
As streaming services offer more shows than ever, more viewers are cutting the cord on cable. But with limited or no commercials, how will advertisers reach consumers? CEO Mark Douglas explains how 5G networks allow SteelHouse to “make TV advertising a full digital, direct response marketing channel.”
What are the top tech trends you're watching in 2020? What impact do you think these trends will have on your industry in particular?
The rollout of true 5G networks destroys the cable monopolies and gives America back the $100 per month every household has been overcharged for years in their cable and internet access bundle. You’ll instead get 5G home internet access bundles with your cell phone plan for less than half the price and continue streaming Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu for dollars rather than hundreds of dollars.
"The rollout of true 5G networks destroys the cable monopolies.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
Streaming TV isn’t just a revolution in TV viewing, it’s also a revolution in TV advertising. SteelHouse is one of the companies leading the charge by making TV advertising a full digital, direct response marketing channel. We’re having fun making TV advertising approachable for internet retailers and other marketers of any size. We’re turning connected TV into performance TV and seeing huge growth from our customers as they add TV to their primary mix of marketing channels alongside paid search and social.
Single Grain
If clients could automate their own successful ads, many advertising executives would be out of a job. Paid Media Manager Justice Ekhaguere explained why he “sees automation working positively in the year ahead and beyond” for Single Grain.
What are the top tech trends you're watching in 2020?
A tech trend we’re seeing more of is automation in digital marketing ad campaigns with the use of AI and machine learning. Google and Facebook have introduced ways to automate campaign creation and optimization in 2018 and 2019. Amazon Ads is right behind them, allowing you to automate bids for keywords. These platforms are only going to continue to release more dynamic capabilities as AI continuously collects more data and learns about an audience’s behavior.
"I see automation working positively for us in the year ahead and beyond.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
This challenges the digital marketing agency model because small and medium businesses may decide to stop working with technical experts and try to do ads on their own as platforms become “smarter.” I see automation working positively for us in the year ahead and beyond. Of course, automated ads will take some of the control away from us, but it’s also taking out the guesswork and the time it takes to make small adjustments. In the end, I believe this will give us the opportunity to be more creative and strategic in helping clients grow their businesses.
DUST Identity
In 2020, DUST Identity’s Head of Strategic Partnerships Peter Gillooly said his team will be fighting through the ongoing “trust crisis” in the consumer world. The company plans to use machine learning and nanotechnology to help clients ensure their products are always authenticated.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
Increased digitization, IoT connectivity and automation are creating what the Wall Street Journal refers to as the “trust crisis.” This goes beyond privacy and social networks. Automobiles, airplanes, medical devices, electronics and luxury goods have all been in the headlines for counterfeits, dangerous recalls or false regulatory claims. The erosion of trust in corporate institutions means companies are under greater scrutiny from investors, employees and customers.
We will see companies in both consumer and industrial sectors invest heavily in technology geared toward building trust into their products. Tools that allow total transparency into a product’s lifecycle will become incredibly valuable.
"We are partnering with industry leaders to address the trust crisis head-on.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
We are partnering with industry leaders to address the trust crisis head-on by integrating unique DUST fingerprints on individual components and products in supply chains. By leveraging cross-disciplinary technologies such as nanotech, cybersecurity and machine learning, we are enabling trust by realizing a security tool for the provenance of products.
Traceability provides organizations of all sizes the power to shed significant supply chain risks, boost efficiency and tighten quality control. But most of all, it lets them regain confidence across the value chain.
Yaguara
CEO of Yaguara, Jonathan Smalley, said that this year, he’s watching how artificial intelligence is altering the retail space and helping customers make sense of their data.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
Headless e-commerce is a major trend in building custom front-end experiences powered by APIs rather than monolithic platforms. Several of our e-commerce clients sell physical products they want to help customers experience in order to drive purchases. Artificial intelligence and 3D renderings allow such customers to imagine a pair of shoes on their feet or a couch in their living room.
Expedited purchase is another trend we’re seeing across multiple channels, whether that be through voice orders, one-click purchases or Apple Pay. This allows for faster transactions, especially on mobile devices.
Finally, data utility is a multi-factorial opportunity. In the 2010s there was a huge focus on big data infrastructure. In the 2020s, it’ll be about how to leverage technologies like artificial intelligence to deliver real business value.
"Data utility is a multi-factorial opportunity.’’
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
At Yaguara, we are focused on the data utilization piece for our customers. We look to help them unify and contextualize their data in order to empower end-users to make meaningful decisions better and faster. With that in mind, we focus heavily on understanding the changing levers for e-commerce and retail companies so we can accurately share success metrics with our users.
Stateless
For Murad Kablan, Stateless’s CEO, the future is about connectivity. Below, he told us why he believes that deep networks are a thing of the past. His team is working to allow data center managers and their employees increase the speed and efficiency of their network connections.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
We see a few trends gaining traction in 2020. The first is the emphasis on DevOps in enterprises to connect company applications to remote resources without the need for deep networks. A good example of this is multi-cloud automation, which is driven by both innovation and demand. Hyperscale clouds will reach a state of interoperability that will unlock the ability for companies to automate across multiple clouds.
A second trend is the displacement of 5G last-mile access, where these wireless networks will allow businesses and operators to connect to each other in places previously unfathomable. Finally, security experts have discovered there is no such thing as a trusted network. So DevOps and network users will push to leverage lightweight microservice-based solutions to enable the encryption of every network connection.
"Security experts have discovered there is no such thing as a trusted network.’’
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
Our software ecosystem allows engineers to build networks while addressing the new challenges that 5G, IoT and the cloud are placing on our current legacy network infrastructures.
Our Software-Defined Interconnect (SD-IX) Luxon platform helps DevOps engineers and network users create networks in a simple and scalable way. Our DevOps-enabled software-based technology gives users access to build, program and rapidly deploy connections. In 2020, we are continuing to implement microservice-based solutions so customers can meet their future needs.
Invisible Technologies
Invisible Technologies has 100 agents in 16 countries worldwide working in what CEO Francis Pedraza calls a “digital assembly line.” The company is a destination for businesses to outsource work that can be automated. Pedraza said his team is focused on simplifying automation so anyone can use it.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
The top tech trend I’m watching is not a tech trend, but a labor market trend: rising wages. With record-breaking, nearly full employment in the United States, wages are rising fast and may continue to rise faster than they have in 50 years for all non-executive positions. To maintain margins, companies are going to have to make up the difference through process efficiency, outsourcing and automation.
"Traditional business process outsourcing providers are stuck in the 1990s.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
Traditional business process outsourcing providers are stuck in the 1990s, with clunky fixed-cost solutions targeting large enterprise departments. The new robotic process automation industry, as well as emerging low-code and no-code workflow automation tools, can be too technical for the average knowledge worker to manage.
We’re positioning Invisible as the everyman’s solution. We make it easy for anyone, on any team at any sized company, to delegate any task, process or workflow via email or a Zoom video call.
Curalate
Curalate’s CTO and Co-founder Nick Shiftan is looking forward to advancing the relationship between humans and AI at the social commerce solution provider. His team has seen success using a human-in-the-loop AI system and plans to continue honing its finer edges this year.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
I’m excited about AI becoming less artificial. Much has already been made of the incredible strides in machine learning. The models available to us today are substantially more accurate and more efficient — in terms of CPU, memory and cost — than those of even six months ago. But there remain classes of problems that humans perform substantially better in. I believe this is an opportunity, not a challenge, and that the next wave of AI applications will seamlessly integrate human input to deliver magical results.
"I’m excited about AI becoming less artificial.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
We’re very bullish on human-in-the-loop AI. It’s been three years since we first released “intelligent product tagging”, our AI that finds products in images. The accuracy level of IPT has steadily improved, but it’s still a few percentage points short of perfect. By using humans-in-the-loop to rapidly verify the products that IPT finds, we’ve been able to close the accuracy gap to 100 percent. This allows us to fully automate the sourcing, filtering and tagging of great user-generated content for our clients. The result: an order-of-magnitude increase in content to publish to Instagram, Google and clients’ e-commerce sites.
Unacast
Unacast uses data science and analytics to give its clients insight into how people move though the physical world, and VP of Sales Adam Slackman said the company plans to use automation to help those clients build cities, marketing campaigns and more.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
We are closely watching the wide adoption of alternative datasets for predictive analytics and pattern recognition. Enterprises are leveraging data from privacy-first sources to create knowledge and wisdom. The convergence of the digital and physical world offers an opportunity to use data for good. There is a major upward trend of “be good, do good” and using data to make the world a better place.
"The convergence of the digital and physical world offers an opportunity to use data for good.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
In 2020, we will continue our work with retailers, real estate developers and smart city governments in their mission to support convergence of the digital and physical worlds. We are using data and automation to enable these fields to accommodate the needs of the evolving world: more efficient cities, mixed-use real estate properties, pop-up stores and more compelling digital advertising. We recently launched our own “be good, do good” initiative called eco-location, which enables users to use their data for carbon footprint displacement.
Talkspace
Amir Eitan said Talkspace is making it easier for users to share details of their health with the over 5,000 providers in the company’s digital network. The product manager said AI has been key in facilitating better patient care.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
In recent years, we’ve witnessed how technology has transformed the healthcare space. Increased central processing unit power and advances in AI are paving the way toward more personalized medicine and more precise treatments. These advances are made possible, in part, by a tectonic shift to wearable technology and connected health spaces. Heart-rate-measuring t-shirts aren’t in mass markets yet, but we all have smartphones through which we store and share healthcare information.
Twenty years ago, nobody put their real name on public internet pages. Today we voluntarily share our intimate moments and opinions on social platforms. This same shift in our willingness to share our personal information is also occurring in the healthcare space. Our ability to collect and share information with our doctor in real-time will be a game changer.
"Advances in AI are paving the way toward more personalized medicine.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
We’ll continue to focus on building the necessary tools that enable our clients to share what they are going through, tying their journey to other aspects of their lives. We want to help them by providing a more holistic picture of their mental health.
DomainTools
This year, DomainTools Data Scientist John “Turbo” Conwell is examining the trajectory of data-based technology trends and staying ahead of cyber threats rooted in artificial intelligence. The availability of up-and-coming tools like offensive ML makes it easier than ever for hackers to access modern tactics and workflows for, well, evil. Below, he told us what that means for companies like his.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
Over the past year, there has been an increase in open-source tools that make artificial intelligence much more accessible to people without AI expertise. These tools will undoubtedly make their way into what’s called offensive machine learning, or AI for offensive security. Offensive ML can be integrated into a hacker’s kill chain. While the accuracy of early offensive models will most likely be low at first, as people get more experienced in AI workflows, it will probably improve. Take, for example, the proliferation of tools available to create deepfake videos, a tool that has been operationalized in the past year.
"This year I’m going to keep monitoring GitHub for new offensive ML projects.’’
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
About six months ago I started combing through GitHub looking for offensive security projects that take advantage of AI. So far, I have identified a handful with some teeth to them. This year I’m going to keep monitoring GitHub for new offensive ML projects while looking for any evidence that these projects are being used in the wild.
I’m also interested in experimenting with several deepfake toolsets to see how difficult it is to make a video realistic enough to fool someone. My own interests are purely academic, of course.
Arrive Logistics
Arrive Logistics’ EVP of Product Michael Senftleber said his team is planning to use AI and machine learning to enhance the overall capabilities of their freight prediction tech, while also improving the usability of their platform.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
I often hear people talk about data science, AI and machine learning like they’re magic silver bullets for every problem; they are not. AI and ML are best applied when there’s significant data, a computationally complex problem and repeated samples or transactions. In 2020, the AI and ML hype will continue to grow. But so will tangible business applications that leverage those technologies and data science to solve real challenges and provide unique insights.
"In 2020, the AI and ML hype will continue to grow.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
The opportunities for data science, AI and ML in the logistics industry are enormous. We are leveraging these technologies with market and proprietary data to predict the future cost to move a load of freight, match the right load to the right truck, alert on opportunities or deviations and make business decisions in real time.
However, while powerful, often complex technologies end up in complex, hard-to-use platforms, it’s critical that we continue to build technology to harness opportunities and enable business workflows, while building an interface to enable a simple, seamless experience for our users.
20spokes
As a development agency, 20spokes specializes in helping startups plan, build and scale innovative products. CEO Ryan Fischer said he is looking to AI and machine learning to design better chatbots and wrangle large data sets.
What are the top tech trends you're watching in 2020? What impact do you think these trends will have on your industry in particular?
In 2020, we expect AI to play an even bigger role for our clients. When we talk about AI, we are really discussing machine learning and using data to train a model to use patterns and inference.
Working with machine learning continues to get easier with many large providers working on simpler implementations, and we expect the barrier to entry to continue to lower in 2020. We also have more user data which allows us to use machine learning to design more tailored and intelligent experiences for users.
"We are using machine learning to improve chatbots to create more dynamic dialogue.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
At 20spokes, we use machine learning to provide a better user experience for our clients' customers by leveraging data on individual user behavior to make more accurate recommendations and suggestions. We're continuing to look at how we can apply it to different sets of data, from providing better insights of reports for large data sets to sending us real-time updates based on trained patterns. We are also using machine learning to improve chatbots to create more dynamic dialogue.
Label Insight
In order to deliver trusted insights on consumer packaged goods, Label Insight’s Senior Data Scientist James Buban said they have to first process large amounts of data. Using machine learning and automation, data collection processes can be finished quickly and more accurately for customers.
What are the top tech trends you're watching in 2020?
The top tech trends that we’ll be watching in 2020 are artificial intelligence and machine learning, with an eye toward task automation. In particular, we are interested in advancements in computer vision, such as object detection and recognition. We are also interested in natural language processing, such as entity tagging and text classification. In general, we believe that machine learning automation will play a big role in both the data collection industry and in e-commerce, particularly in the relatively new addition of the food industry in the retail space.
"We plan to use computer vision and natural language processing to automate tasks throughout 2020.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
At Label Insight, we are building up a large database of attributes for consumables based on package information. To do so, we first need to collect all package data, which has traditionally been accomplished through a team of dedicated data entry clerks. Due to the huge volume of products that need to be added to our database, this data entry process is expensive, tedious and time-consuming.
Therefore, we plan to use computer vision and natural language processing to begin automating these tasks throughout 2020. We are also planning to use this technology to make our e-commerce solutions more scalable.
CirrusMD
In 2018, Google employee Jacob Devlin and his colleagues created BERT, a language processing model to help the team better understand user searches. CirrusMD CTO Gabe Varela believes Devlin was on to something. This year, the virtual care platform is using modern technologies like machine learning to make the most out of the data they have access to. Below, Varela explained how he sees such information allowing his company to expand reach and improve care.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020? What impact do you think these trends will have on your industry in particular?
Artificial intelligence and machine learning will continue to change the technology landscape. These technologies are really still in their infancy and require a tremendous amount of data to reach the current state of the art in terms of results and accuracy. We will begin to see innovations (such as Google’s BERT and ImageNet) that will help to provide insights with less domain-specific data because of larger data sets. We keep a close watch on natural language processing technologies to see which ones we can leverage based on the amount of data we have.
"It is critical to begin to harvest value out of large enough data sets with modern AI/ML technologies.’’
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
We will be diving much deeper into NLP research and development with our data in 2020. We believe that we will be able to drive better automation, efficiency and insights through the use of such tools. It is critical to begin to harvest value out of large enough data sets with modern AI/ML technologies. With improved data, we are able to gain better insight into how we can improve care.
StackHawk
StackHawk Co-Founder and Chief Security Officer Scott Gerlach sees a future where tech tools are made for the end user rather than executives with only a broad understanding of the software. With that in mind, he encourages his team to build a product that makes the most sense for their target audience: developers.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
The DevOps movement has already consumed the functions of classic operations teams. Engineering-related security functions are next on the list. Continuous integration and delivery is increasingly becoming a reality, with features being shipped fast and frequently. Engineering teams can keep up with application security in a rapid delivery environment by taking back control of their security posture. We built StackHawk for engineers instead of traditional security teams. The ability to find and fix security bugs pre-production, by the engineers who wrote the code, will speed innovation and improve a company’s security.
From monitoring capabilities to pipeline and test automation, engineers have more power than ever to use software that supports the mission at hand. This drives the trend of software that is built end-user first, rather than for executives making top-down purchase decisions. This is a good thing, as incentives are better aligned to create software that helps employees do their best work. Companies focused on product-led growth, as coined by OpenView, will be the winners in B2B software moving forward.
"We are building StackHawk to give software engineers the capability to find and fix security bugs themselves.’’
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
We are building StackHawk to give software engineers the capability to find and fix security bugs themselves. Modern engineering teams are fully equipped to fix security bugs in the same way that they would fix a user interface bug, but the tooling out there does not make it simple. We are empowering developers to confidently deploy quality code and minimize security risks.
In addition, nearly every product with the word “security” as part of its value proposition is marketed and sold to CISOs at Fortune 2000 companies. Our product discussions are centered around the developer as the user. We encourage our software engineers to advocate for tooling that supports their workflow and improves efficiency.
Radar
Alan Curtis, CEO of Radar Relay, said in 2020, he will be busy identifying blockchain use cases and finding learning opportunities. In the near future, he believes Fortune 500 companies will make greater use of the decentralized ledger.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
We’re watching blockchain trends. Over the past few years, $23 billion of capital has poured into our industry. We’re going through one of the largest A/B tests the technology world has ever seen. Every blockchain company around the world, including ours, is hard at work identifying use cases, building applications and learning. Looking ahead to 2020, I think we’ll continue to see more viral, breakout consumer use cases and a few Fortune 500 companies using blockchain in critical ways.
"We’re going through one of the largest A/B tests the technology world has ever seen.’’
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
In order to keep up over the last two years, we’ve built three products: a peer-to-peer exchange, a new payment rail and a blockchain NodeOps platform. Each product focuses on low-level infrastructure and scaffolding, the “train tracks” of our frontier industry.
iHerb
As health and wellness continue to trend, some tech will help consumers reach heightened states of wellbeing. Director of Software Development Edmund Chang says AI and automation help customers find natural products easier and faster through iHerb.
What are the top tech trends you're watching in 2020?
As an e-commerce company, iHerb will be influenced by AI and automation because they have the potential to make our business more efficient and automatically personalized for our customers.
"Our data science team is already using AI for recommendations and search suggestions.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
Our data science team is already using AI for recommendations and search suggestions, and plans to leverage AI for even more insights. On the automation side, every group is moving towards automation with GitOps, infrastructure as code (IAC), CI/CD and many other initiatives. This is already making operations run much smoother with less manual overheads and headaches. And we are just getting started.
Emotive.io
For Brian Zatulove, CEO of Emotive, the future is all about evolving the relationship between businesses and consumers. As AI develops, he predicts customers will be making more authentic relationships with brands.
What are the top tech trends you're watching in 2020?
Emotional customer engagement is a category that will continue to explode heading into 2020. Business-to-consumer engagement is harder than ever as channels continue to become more saturated. In order to truly stand out, brands will need to connect emotionally with their audience.
"Emotional customer engagement is a category that will continue to explode heading into 2020.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
Up until now, all B2C communication has been in the form of one-way blasts that are spammy and don’t solve customer problems. Through human-assisted AI, Emotive scales two-way conversations to build authentic relationships at scale.
RepairSmith
There are no limits on what the tech industry can update, including car repairs. Senior Vice President of Technology at RepairSmith Kay Lee told us which tech trends he is investigating to make car repair more convenient for customers.
What are the top tech trends you're watching in 2020?
The Car as a Platform (CaaP) trend has huge potential to change the game and take convenience to the next level for consumers, with services ranging from in-trunk retail deliveries to mobile car washes. At RepairSmith, we’re harnessing this type of connected tech to transform the entire car repair and maintenance experience — something that hasn’t changed in 50 years — and deliver what car owners really want.
"The Car as a Platform (CaaP) trend has huge potential to change the game.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
RepairSmith is transforming the car repair industry by leveraging technology to deliver super convenient, high-quality service. Instead of the traditional, time-consuming chore of car repair, RepairSmith makes it as easy as tapping a button on your car’s screen when it needs service, which is delivered right in your driveway.
Vrbo
Kuldeep Chowhan has his head in clouds...of cloud computing. The engineer at vacation property rental site Vrbo said his team is watching public cloud computing.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
Innovation and scale at the major public cloud computing providers continues to accelerate. Many platforms that were difficult to operationalize are becoming managed services that are easy and cost-effective to consume. Many of these services lower the bar for entry for data science and machine learning, which are blossoming in sophistication and applicability.
"Vrbo is accelerating its migration to the cloud.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
Vrbo is accelerating its migration to the cloud so we can leverage the power of the Expedia Group travel platform. We want to provide travelers with a rich product offering that is personalized and relevant to them. That strategy includes a hybrid cloud data platform for all of Expedia Group that will power new AI capabilities to help our travelers find their perfect vacations.
Banyan Water
Janani Mohanakrishnan said the water sector will experience a significant number of evolutions in the coming year. And as a result, the VP of product innovation and delivery said her team at water conservation technology provider Banyan Water is adjusting their approach to automation and user data.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
In the water sector, I’m keeping an eye on more utilities and commercial customers leveraging digital solutions to improve operations. These operations include the following: keeping privacy in mind, detecting issues faster and reducing costs associated with troubleshooting and resolution. We’re also watching the identification of improved uses of water, more businesses considering migrating to a circular economy, reduced truck rolls and improved customer communication and engagement.
"We will be updating our take on user research, data analytics and automation.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
Our products help commercial customers save money and water through the optimization of irrigation and indoor water management. We will be updating our take on user research, data analytics and automation to maximize value for customers.
We will be smart about how we make research an inherent part of the process, knowing we are resource-constrained. We’ve trained select team members to collect feedback from users whenever they can. We accept that some research is better than no research, and that it’s OK for us to be brave with predictions.
We’ll also improve the intelligence of our existing models, leveraging tailored interventions as applicable to help buildings dramatically reduce indoor water consumption when there are inefficiencies.
BHE
BHE’s platform allows organizations to quickly analyze and collaborate on data across multiple data sets. Founder and CEO Joe Menzin said life science analytics teams are growing, so the BHE team is working on improving their platform by applying user feedback to assist those expanding squads.
What are the top tech trends you’re watching in 2020?
Digital health has transformed healthcare, fueled by the growing availability of data, faster computer processing and powerful analytics. We have seen the use of analytics mature in life sciences and healthcare over the last few years and interestingly, it is expanding outside of the typical analyst realm. Life science organizations are building bigger analytics teams across the product life cycle because they are looking to make data-driven decisions sooner and more widely.
In terms of trends we are watching, we will see an uptick in machine learning being adopted more as its value is recognized. It has the potential to not only evolve how we evaluate the efficacy and safety of drugs but also how we value them in the marketplace and deliver them at the point of care.
"We are working with our clients to help them scale their in-house analytics capabilities.”
How are you applying these trends in your work in the year ahead?
First, we are working with our clients to help them scale their in-house analytics capabilities so they can make better, faster, data-driven decisions that impact their bottom line. We do this by continually enhancing our platform, Instant Health Data, with user feedback. We provide a support team that ensures users are optimizing the platform and getting the assistance they need to be successful.
We will also be rolling out a data science module that will allow users to apply sophisticated machine learning techniques to projects built in our core analytics platform. We want to help companies do more with the data they already have and unlock potential new sources for novel insights.
