It’s easy to see the impact of technology all around us. Just take a short walk outside and look around – you’ll probably see countless examples without even trying. But these are just the obvious ones. There is a lot more going on beneath the surface that some people don’t even realize, and that’s somewhat sad because there are some major revolutions going on right now in some industries, and many of them are directly related to our everyday lives. Even if you’re not involved in these fields professionally, it’s still exciting to just think of the many clever solutions that have been introduced to the market lately. Many businesses are looking for new technology, many of them have been recommending this Name Matching software.
1. Finance
The growth of fintech has been interesting to follow for anyone involved in the financial sector. The link between technology and money is a very strong one at this point. Cryptocurrencies are widely believed to be the next big thing on the global stage, and we’re already seeing a noticeable growth in their sector.
Financial analysis has also been positively impacted by recent technological developments, and many professionals operating in this sector are now capable of processing large volumes of data, identifying patterns in them, and filtering them according to their needs. This is not even a matter of something becoming simpler – this kind of in-depth analysis was simply not possible in the past.
2. Communications
Talking to other people has changed significantly over the last couple of decades, and we’re likely going to see even more changes in the near future. Text-based communication is a standard part of life in many parts of the world right now, and many people expect you to participate in that as a basic part of your life.
It’s also easier than ever before to get in touch with someone on the other side of the planet, and you can exchange ideas and knowledge in an instant. You can talk to people face-to-face without any issues too. And this has changed many parts of society. Whether all of those changes have been for the better is hard to tell. It’s noticeable that isolation is becoming a worrying trend in some parts of the world, especially in more developed countries.
3. Medicine
The link between technology and medicine is not hard to see already, but there is much more going on beneath the surface that most people are not even aware of. The sector is going through some major transformations right now, and there has been a huge shift towards computer-assisted diagnosis and treatment.
Even more complex operations like surgeries can be carried out with the help of robots, AI, and other systems that can simplify the process significantly for healthcare specialists. It’s also easier than ever to train new specialists on advanced procedures with the help of virtual reality and similar solutions. And when it comes to diagnosing more complex conditions, hardly anything can work better than a modern AI-driven system.
4. Education
Many countries have been taking a long, hard look at the current state of their educational systems lately, and for a good reason – it’s becoming painfully obvious that many of the established elements of this system as a whole are obsolete and need to be replaced. Technology has opened up many new doors in this regard, with people now having much more convenient and simplified access to educational materials, professional help, and advanced tools that can help them in their learning.
Studying to be anything from a neonatal nurse practitioner to a computer engineer can be done largely remotely these days, and you can approach your studies at your own pace. Not only that, but you can get in touch with various people who can help you make the most of your education too.
5. Game Design
It shouldn’t be surprising that game design is a field that’s seen major changes as a result of the various technological advancements in that sector, but some of the improvements are not very obvious, and not all players tend to appreciate them. Content production is a major example. Creating the world of the typical modern video game can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and a lot of manpower if it’s approached the old-fashioned way.
AI-assisted production tools can streamline many parts of that work, generating content on the go to fill the gaps where details are necessary. This can allow artists and designers to focus on what truly matters – creating vast, immersive worlds with rich stories and sensible gameplay mechanics. And on that note, testing those mechanics is also something that’s largely driven by AI tools these days. Testing automation in general is a very attractive field for AI specialists.
6. Movie Production
On a similar note, producing movies is also something that has benefited a lot from various advances in technology. CGI is a controversial topic among some movie fans – especially purists – but it’s hard to argue its positive impact on the industry. Some productions like “Avatar” have pushed this concept all the way, and we’ve seen some amazing products of those efforts. What we said above about procedurally generated content is perfectly valid here too, as film producers typically benefit a lot from the ability to populate their scenes with more detail without too much effort.
Technology is also useful for analyzing things like color shifts throughout the movie’s scenes, pacing, and more. It can be hard to catch those details even for an experienced producer, but the help of the right assisting tool can make a huge difference in this regard.
7. Insurance
Insurance companies have been among the most active adopters of new technology, and that should be of no surprise to anyone familiar with the work done in this sector. AI in particular has proven to be a very useful tool for addressing some of the common problems of the industry. Reconciling conflicts in claims, identifying potentially risky customers, and negotiating better terms across the industry are just a few examples of how modern tech has helped insurance companies establish a better place for themselves on the current market.
Statistical analysis is another important aspect of the work of every insurance company, and it’s something that can be assisted by modern solutions quite heavily. This is even more valid for companies that have managed to integrate deep analytical systems in their work on a fundamental level, and are already collecting a lot of data about their work and their performance with different clients.
8. Customer Service
Providing high-quality customer service should be the top priority of any consumer-facing company. But at the same time, it can also eat into your operational resources quite significantly, and can prevent you from investing in other areas of your business. This is not an easy problem to resolve unless you’re willing to outsource, and even that comes with its own set of potential problems that you need to keep in mind.
With the right technological solutions, providing good customer service can become a piece of cake, and you’ll be able to get the most out of every interaction with your customers, both new and recurring ones. In some cases, you may be able to completely automate certain parts of the service process, leaving it in the hands of an AI chat bot. In others, you will still need to rely on human operators, but they will be assisted in their work and will be guided to the correct responses by the underlying system.
9. Security
It shouldn’t be very surprising that security is another field that’s seen a lot of advances thanks to technology. It goes both ways, unfortunately – as companies continue to tighten their grip on their technological operations, hackers also have access to more advanced tools to overcome those defenses. Thankfully, it seems like defense specialists are in the lead for now. But it’s hard to say if this will remain the case in the future.
In fact, a lot is under a major question mark in this sector. Take encryption for example – quantum computing is predicted to make any modern form of encryption obsolete overnight. And we’re getting closer and closer to having quantum computers in a fully usable form, rather than a proof of concept. Of course, this will probably just lead to the creation of entirely new security protocols and algorithms. But it’s just one example of a major change that’s coming up not too long from now, which most people are likely not even aware of.
10. Marketing
Marketing has always relied on analyzing a lot of information and personalizing your approach for each individual customer. This was somewhat challenging to do before computers took over, though, and marketing involved significant amounts of menial work that drove some of its specialists nearly insane. Today? It’s a completely different story. While the analytical engine is quietly processing its workload in the background, the modern marketing specialist can focus their efforts on actually pushing their field forward. It’s easier than ever to explore new markets, experiment with new approaches, and recover from failure (as long as you were prepared for that possibility in the first place).
And the best part is, this all feeds right back into those same analytical systems. The more work gets done in this sector, the more information becomes available to the AI systems that are constantly trying to identify hidden patterns. To this end, it’s important for any company operating in the marketing field to integrate these solutions into their work as early as possible – postponing this can result in a significant delay in catching up to the competition.
11. Architecture
Architecture is a more creative field, but this doesn’t mean that technology has no place in it. Far from that – pretty much all of the important work in this sector is done on a computer these days, rather than working with large paper sketches and technical drawings. Even better, modern design systems can assist the architect and complement their own skills, suggesting minor corrections and adjustments that can either improve the building’s functionality, or make it more aesthetically pleasing.
After all, aesthetics is a combination of various factors, and it’s not impossible to train a computer to recognize pleasing combinations and direct the operator to them. It’s actually shocking to see how much more “creative” a computer can be compared to an experienced architect when given a lot of freedom. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the job of the architect is on its way out – far from it. But it’s a field that has gone through some serious transformations in just a couple of decades, and will likely continue to evolve for some time.
12. Politics
The impact of technology on politics is hard to deny. However, unlike the examples above, this a more controversial one, and many people would argue that technology has only caused more trouble in politics. It’s not hard to find recent examples. Many are still speculating about possible interferences in the 2016 US Presidential elections. The “fake news” trend has died down a bit by now, but its impact is still echoing through the corridors of politics, and the phenomenon has raised a lot of questions about the implications of media on the way the world is being run. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg – technology that can produce entire videos of a person saying pre-written statements is already right around the corner. The implications are scary, but in the end, this kind of progress was inevitable – so the important thing right now is to focus on weeding out the bad effects.
Still feel like technology is all about that smartphone in your pocket? Go back to where we were in the beginning of the article, and take another look around. You’ll probably see many examples of technology’s impact all around you, even if you’re not directly looking at any gadgets. It’s important to understand just how much computers have changed our lives, because those changes are likely going to keep coming at an even faster pace in the near future.