The Top 10 Tech Trends In 2024 Everyone Must Be Ready For
What technologies are gaining the most traction? What are the most important trends that business leaders should be prepared for?
1. AI Everywhere
In 2024, artificial intelligence will become real in organizations. No-code AI, with its easy drag-and-drop interfaces, will enable any business to leverage its power to create more intelligent products and services.
We’re already seeing this trend in the retail market. Stitch Fix uses AI-enabled algorithms to recommend clothes to its customers that match their sizes and tastes.
Contactless, autonomous shopping and delivery will also be a huge trend for 2024. AI will make it easier for consumers to pay for and receive goods and services.
AI will also augment nearly every job in every business process across industries. More retailers will use AI to manage and automate the complex inventory management processes that happen behind the scenes, so convenience trends like buy-online-pickup-at-curbside , buy-online-pickup-in-store , and buy-online-return-in-store will become standard.
AI will also be the engine behind the newest autonomous delivery initiatives that retailers are piloting and rolling out, and more and more retail workers will need to get used to working alongside machines to do their jobs.
2. Parts of the Metaverse Will Become Real
I don’t particularly care for the term “metaverse,” but it’s become shorthand for a more immersive internet where we’ll be able to work, play, and socialize on a persistent platform.
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology will continue to advance. One area to watch is the work environment in the metaverse in 2024, I predict that we’ll have more immersive meeting environments where we can talk, brainstorm, and co-create together.
In fact, Microsoft and Nvidia are already developing metaverse platforms for collaborating on digital projects.
We’ll also see more advanced avatar technology in the new year. An avatar the presence we project as we engage with other users in the metaverse could look exactly like we do in the real world, and motion capture will even enable our avatars to adopt our unique body language and gestures.
Companies are already using metaverse technology like AR and VR to conduct training and onboarding, and this trend will accelerate in 2024. Consulting giant Accenture has already created a metaverse environment called the Nth Floor. This virtual world features replicas of real-world Accenture offices, so new hires and current employees can carry out HR-related tasks without needing to be present in a physical office.
3. Progress in Web3
Blockchain technology will also advance significantly in 2024 as companies create more decentralized products and services.
For example, at the moment, we’re storing everything in the cloud but if we decentralize data storage and encrypt that data using blockchain, our information will not only be safer, but we’ll have innovative ways to access and analyze it.
4. Bridging the Digital and Physical World
We’re already seeing an emerging bridge between the digital and physical worlds, and this trend will continue in 2024. There are two components of this merger: digital twin technology and 3D printing.
Digital twins are virtual simulations of real-world processes, operations, or products that can be used to test new ideas in a safe digital environment. Designers and engineers are using digital twins to recreate physical objects inside virtual worlds, so they can test under every conceivable condition without the high costs of real-life experiments. In 2024, we’ll see even more digital twins, from factories to machinery to cars to precision healthcare.
For example, Formula 1 teams currently collect data transmitted from sensors during races, as well as race track temperatures and weather conditions, to see how cars change during races. Then they stream the data from the sensors to digital twins of the engines and car components and run scenarios to make design changes on the fly. The teams then 3D print car parts based on the results of their testing.
5. Increasingly Editable Nature
We will live in a world where we can make changes to material, plants, and even humans by editing them. Nanotechnology will enable us to create materials with completely new features, such as water resistance and self-healing capabilities.
Gene editing works a bit like word processing, where you can take some words out and add others in but you can do it with genes. Gene editing can be used to correct DNA mutations, solve the problem of food allergies, increase the health of crops, or even edit human characteristics like eye and hair color.
6. Quantum Progress
Right now, there is a worldwide race to develop quantum computing at scale.
Quantum computing, which uses subatomic particles to create new ways of processing and storing information, is a technological leap that’s expected to bring us computers capable of operating a trillion times more quickly than the fastest traditional processors available today.
7. Progress in Green Technology
One of the biggest challenges the world is facing right now is putting the brakes on our carbon emissions so we can tackle the climate crisis.
We’ll also see progress in the development of decentralized power grids. Distributed energy generation using this model provides a system of small power generators and storage that are located in communities or individual houses so they can provide power even if the main grid is not available. Right now, our energy system is primarily dominated by huge gas and energy companies, but decentralized energy initiatives have the potential to democratize power worldwide while decreasing carbon emissions.
8. Robots Will Become More Human
In 2024, robots will become even more like humans in appearance and capability. These types of robots will be used in the real world as event greeters, bartenders, concierges, and companions for older adults. They’ll also perform complex tasks in warehouses and factories as they work alongside humans in manufacturing and logistics.
9. Progress in Autonomous System
Business leaders will continue making progress in creating autonomous systems, particularly around delivery and logistics. Many factories and warehouses have already become partially or fully autonomous.
Ocado, a British online supermarket that describes itself as “the world’s largest dedicated online grocery retailer,” uses thousands of autonomous robots in its highly automated warehouses to sort, lift, and move groceries. The warehouse also uses AI to place the most popular items within easy reach of the robots. The Ocado company is now rolling out the autonomous technology behind their successful warehouses to other grocery retailers.
10. More Sustainable Technology
Finally, we’ll see a push toward more sustainable technology in 2024. Many of us are addicted to technology like our smartphones, tablets, and computers but where are the components coming from to manufacture our favorite gadgets? People will be thinking more about where rare earth components for things like computer chips originate and how we’re consuming them.
We’re also using cloud services like Netflix and Spotify, which still run in huge data centers that consume vast amounts of energy.
