This is what to expect in technology in the new year

By Aukins Moruri

Data gets monetized

We are in the information age, a period of massive data production and consumption. For a long time we have allowed this sea of data to overwhelm and drown us, but not anymore.  In 2014 social networks, mobile operators and mainstream organizations will appreciate the competitive and converging business environments. This will prompt an inward evaluation of their vaults of data and an outward capitalization of the market opportunities.  Your status updates, check in, tweets, mobile transactions, text messages and GPS locations will offer a veritable source of insights for market trends that will be visually packaged and sold to create new streams of revenue.

Mobile stamps its authority

The year 2014 will certainly be a mobile year, more tasks that have conventionally been handled by the PC will increasingly get integrated into mobile devices particularly connection to social media networks like twitter and Facebook.  Mobile money as a wireless service is also bound to get better, especially in Africa and Asia. This will present fabulous opportunities for major banks, organization and online retail shops to meet their client needs more conveniently.

Social media goes mainstream

News organizations will need to adapt to the fact that they will no longer have monopoly on breaking news. In effect, they will have to organize themselves to be more reactive in real-time.  Co-orporate organizations will increasingly market to their current and potential clients through social branding consequently presenting a lucrative venture for social media savvies.

Demand for online courses skyrockets

Open online courses have in recent years gained notable growth. These free courses have progressively become popular among thousands of students across the globe and the fact that most offer certificates of completion makes them more flattering. I believe in 2014 we are likely to witness massive adoption of these courses among the youth as a means of knowledge acquisition. This adoption will be fueled by the ever growing willingness among Ivy-League professors to share knowledge. Online students in developing countries will begin to comfortably compete with their counter parts in developed countries as they leverage the coffers of knowledge from respected institution such as Stanford, Harvard, MIT and many more that are championing this prospect.

3D printing slices its way to the tech industry

3D printing can be likened to the CNC machining process where billets are trimmed into given shapes. But instead of trimming objects to given shapes you actually print the object. Sounds like science fiction, but this is a reality we are about to come to terms with in 2014. 3D printers will “print” objects, but in place of ink, more substantive materials like rubber, plastic or metal is used. An existing scan of an object is sliced into layers which are in turn converted into a physical object. This will yield products that are closer to their real – world equivalent. It means extracting objects from the computer screen into the hands of researchers for analysis and students for in-depth inspection further empowering the education frontier.

Cloud computing goes hybrid

The evolution of cloud computing in the recent years is not in doubt. More business are adopting the model with the view of cutting down on infrastructure and operational costs. In 2014 a hybrid model of cloud computing is bound to be highly adopted in an effort to synchronize operations and mitigate the security challenges posed by cloud computing with regards to mission critical data. This will entail the seamless integration of a private and public cloud with the existence of several touch points between both spectrums. The private cloud will largely be used to handle critical and highly confidential data while the public cloud will offer to the business or organization the scalability and cost-effectiveness associated with it.

Developers rule

Software development will be a highly sought after skill in 2014, catalyzed by the surging demand of digital solutions in major industries. The fact that not many are equipped with the skill will rise a developers worth making them smile all the way to the bank of course after scratching off their hair in such for solutions that work.

Have a digitized year, won’t you?