Information Technology Landscape 2021

The landscape of information technology (IT) is one of the most fluid sectors that we regularly engage with, with technology evolving in massive ways yearly. Keeping up with current trends is hard enough, and predicting where IT is headed is even harder.

However, staying up-to-date is a great way to make sure you are making the best decisions for yourself regarding finances, your social life, and your security. Here are a few aspects of IT that are on track to continue growing far past 2021.

What Is Information Technology?

Information Technology on its own is a very vague term, compromising every kind of hardware and software technology imaginable. Every business in the world needs to have a foot in IT, and strong IT departments and support facilitate strong business practice and growth.

Everything from word processing updates to AI and robotics requires IT support, making it necessary to express the vastness of IT as an umbrella term. The important thing to understand is that everyone deals with information technology regularly in the United States. And understanding how IT will continue to evolve will allow you to engage with the current trends as they emerge and become accessible.

How is IT changing?

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

It has been estimated that the artificial intelligence market will grow to become a $190 billion industry by the year 2025. When you think of AI, many people think about robotics and systems that are meant to replicate the human mind.

In reality, businesses around the country use different kinds of artificial intelligence daily to automate tasks and reduce busywork for their companies. The healthcare, retail, automotive, and agriculture industries are only some sectors in which artificial intelligence is becoming a huge part of the system.

AI has become increasingly important to retailers who use it to build algorithms based on customer satisfaction data to increase retention and product quality. No matter what your field of work is, you will work with AI at some point or another.

WORKING FROM HOME

By 2020, the percentage of Americans working from home rose from 5% to 60%. As nationwide lockdown policies start to relax, the infrastructure working from home will likely continue to grow.

Workers are reporting higher levels of satisfaction and productivity, a difficult trend to ignore for employers. People are starting to use platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom to stay connected and keep their businesses running.

Workforces around the country have had to familiarize themselves with teleconferencing software. As time goes on, more services will be built around flexible infrastructures that don’t tie employees down to an office.

VIRTUAL REALITY

Virtual reality and augmented reality have taken the gaming world by storm, creating immersive virtual experiences for people invested in VR headsets. However, VR and AR have a wide array of applications outside of gaming as well.

The automotive industry uses VR to create visual prototypes, and VR has been used to facilitate exposure therapy in behavioral health. The applications for VR and AR are increasing fast, and more and more industries are beginning to use the technology in creative ways.

COMMUNICATION AND SECURITY

As technology evolves, it becomes harder and harder to mask your digital footprint. With that comes an increase in demand for communication platforms that allow you to retain your anonymity.

Services like Burner let you expand your network while decreasing the level at which your personal identity plays into your interactions.

With Burner, you can get a second phone number that you can use to call and text without your real phone number showing up. All of this happens on your personal device, but you functionally have the features of two separate phones.

Methods of maintaining your privacy without removing yourself from the loop are only going to increase as the demand for secure, private forms of communication increases.

Conclusion

These aren’t the only ways the tech landscape will evolve, but they are some of the biggest. The world as we know it will change drastically because of these realms of information technology in the next few years, and it will be beneficial to stay on top of these changes.

Markets for AI and VR are transforming entire industries, while apps like Burner are empowering people to take control of their privacy and security. As the landscape changes, so will the ways in which you interact with it, so it is in everyone’s best interest to stay informed on all the latest IT trends.

Stay up to date by starting your free, 7-day trial with Burner today.

Sources:

Next Wave of Artificial Intelligence Market Worth $190B by 2025 | PR Newswire

Home working The rise of working from home | The Economist

21 Industries already using Virtual Reality | Virtual Speech