What technological innovations promise to change the third decade of the 21st century?

Date: 2019-03-25

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Two decades ago, every business wondered why they even needed to spend money on creating a website. But today you don't even exist in the business world if you don't have a website and also social media engagement.

As we enter a new decade, technology is making more and more strides for us in terms of the blockchain.

BLOCKCHAIN:

The blockchain is one of the technologies that will reshape the foundation of many industries and the system on which they function. Just like the internet, the potential applications of blockchain are so broad and unknown in the near future that it's a hard question to respond to accurately but we can focus on the industries that will probably benefit first.

We’ve seen the obvious financial industry applications whether it's through cryptocurrencies themselves or more blockchain enterprise implementations like Trudatum but we’ve already seen successful pilots and implementations within shipping/logistics for example and my personal favourite is around applications in digital media.

One wouldn’t say its the new internet but its a trust layer in addition to or on top of the internet that actually helps solve some of the issues the internet presented.

In some ways the internet changes our user interface and access to data and information, blockchain is going to change more of the back end of the systems we use and add a new trust layer to that data and information.

If we’re taking bitcoins inception as the beginning we’re only at 10 years for this technology, the progress it has made in this amount of time is actually a very fast pace, with that said a pragmatic and realistic approach is a must to successfully bring both blockchain and cryptocurrencies into the mass and traditional market.

Currently, there are a lot of great projects that aren’t receiving too much press that involve some of the largest companies in the world that are dedicating a lot towards this technology. Whether we’re talking about one of the largest banks in the world using their own stablecoin or the largest social network in the world potentially developing their own blockchain based ecosystem.

Enterprise data management is a global challenge and distributed ledger technology is the answer. Organizations around the world are wrestling to fully understand and implement blockchain to ensure superior business solutions and to avoid being left behind, or even excluded, as new standards are established. This digital transformation of the speed, security, trust, and traceability of transactions benefits just about every business.

A distributed ledger lasts indefinitely, and its information can be relied upon by any party, anytime, anywhere. The information being exchanged transitions from being single dots of underutilized and inefficient data to be fully and accurately integrated into a single audit trail that is a secure, smart, automated system where all information is related and sequenced.

We can talk about things successfully achieved using blockchain technology like supply chain, digital identity, certification, registries, privacy, copyright, and countless other companies that want to integrate and save a fortune (Nigerian Customs Service, Chilean design, POS in Nigeria, Rwandan raw materials, Congolese cobalt, US patents, British component manufacturing, US assembly, global sales …). And if you're really thinking about the future, forget a company, forget a country, what about a continent!?!

Blockchain is often talked about in terms of revolutionizing our world, and so it is. The Author of The Business Blockchain - William Mougayar stated "‌A blockchain cannot be described as a revolution, it is a tsunami-like phenomenon, slowly advancing and gradually enveloping everything along its way by force of progression. "

What has been less of a focus is that, in Africa, blockchain is poised to liberate an entire continent from the residual ropes (and other chains) of colonialism that have held it back. This is the true trillion-dollar opportunity where blockchain will shine as it helps the African continent get its groove back.

AUGMENTED REALITY (AR):

Augmented Reality is the new digital communications channel that Is going mainstream in 2019. Activate and engage with consumers on their mobile phone which they are obsessively attached 24/7 every day and even more important to them than television and sex according to Statista (https://www.statista.com/chart/1861/things-americans-could-not-live-without).

When Pokémon Go was launched in July 2016, nobody imagined millions of people chasing cartoon characters around the world and generating over $600 million Revenue in 90 days for the software developer.

That was the keystone mobile application which put Augmented Reality on the map - literally. Almost three years later, Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon are making huge bets on AR becoming part of everyday life. Initially on mobile phones and then migrating to wearable lenses in 2020 and beyond.

Today, Augmented Reality delivered on a mobile phone is the hottest new activation tool for brands, advertisers, and professional sports. Delivering interactive engagements such as an in-store brand AR video experience for shoppers or a sports stadium scavenger hunt collecting e-digital cards of team players, augmented reality is becoming the most effective innovative marketing campaign tool. And it can be measured and reported to calculate the true ROI.

But AR still faces two major challenges as it becomes mainstream: Education and Adoption. 95% of consumers still do not understand what is augmented reality and the benefits it can provide to them. Also, AR requires downloading a mobile application and consumer phones are already filled with lots of apps today. Are they willing to add another just for augmented reality?

By rewarding consumers with sweepstakes, scavenger hunts, unique e-collectables, and coupons, AR engagement will grow significantly throughout the world. Free SWAG or limited edition is a tremendous motivator to drive consumer behaviour.

Virtual Reality was a big hype and bust since it is a singular user experience and you cannot even leave your seat for fear of an accident. Augmented Reality is a social experience allowing consumers to engage with the real world as they have never imagined. FAGMA is betting on it too! (FAGMA stands for Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon) .