AI, 5G will drive the technology revolution

Technology solutions built around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G wireless networks will have the biggest impact on companies involved in the business of technology in the coming years, according to the Emerging Technology Community of CompTIA.

AI and 5G lead the community?s third annual list of the emerging technologies that offer the most immediate opportunities for tech firms to generate new business and revenues.

The Table below shows the list of top 10 emerging technologies for 2020 as well as that of 2019:

Table: Top 10 Emerging Technologies for 2020

As can be seen from the Table above, AI and 5G each have moved up one spot from last year?s list. The Internet of Things (IoT), number one in 2019, ranks third on the community?s 2020 list.

?Both technologies will have an enormous impact over the next few years and both will drive the technology revolution,? said John Rice, president of Think Channel, LLC and member of the CompTIA Emerging Technology Community Executive Council.

?Of the two, AI is probably going to have the most short-term impact as it becomes embedded in almost every software system and is used in process automation to make increasingly smarter systems,? Rice continued. ?5G?s effect will take a little longer to be seen, but will be no less impactful, providing the increased speed and decreased latency to give other technologies the foundation they need to reach their potential.?

?We always saw the marvelous opportunity in AI,? said Michael Haines, director of partner incentive strategy and program design for Microsoft and chair of the CompTIA Emerging Technology Community. ?It?s literally been moving up the list. It?s one of those interesting ones to watch. AI is now being evaluated as we see it by nearly every organization for possible application to drive insights and better solutions.? 

According to Haines, solution providers can leverage AI in a variety of ways?from chatbots to automating tasks to virtual assistants and much more. 

?Among the biggest opportunities for IT solution providers are applying robotic process automation using onscreen agents to replicate human action and starting to replace some data entry and repetitive tasks. Improving enterprise processes, such as sales or marketing or customer service by integrating customer data with prebuilt cloud-based AI services also represents a really rich opportunity,? said Haines. 

Haines added that the key to AI claiming the top spot is that solutions are not only implementable, but also will resonate with customers, providing solution providers with near-term revenue opportunities. 

Augmented and virtual reality and biometrics also moved up on the 2020 list, while blockchain and robotics slipped a few positions. Natural language processing and quantum computing were added to this year?s list. Drones and 3D printing dropped out of the top 10.

?They are still very important technologies that have tremendous application, but we are seeing them as increasingly moving towards mainstream,? said Haines.

For Haines, no one technology stands out on its own?the real opportunity lies in leveraging multiple technologies for powerful solutions. 

?The innovation that will be delivered by these technologies, especially as I said, when they’re leveraged in tandem will be staggering over the next few years and will enable customer solutions that will actually have paradigm shifting impact for those that act on them. They’ll also provide some great new opportunities for IT companies and IT solution providers that decide to build offers around them,? said Haines.