Three Emerging Tech Trends to Keep on Your Radar

7/26/2018 - By Ron Gregg

Every few months there is more news on the “Next Big Thing,” and why you should get it. It is staggering to try and keep up as you wonder if this technology even works for your needs.

Let’s look at a few upcoming technologies that are on everyone’s radar.

5G

This is most likely the biggest one we’ll mention. If everything is as promised, it will usher in a new way technology is handled. By now everyone is familiar with 4G speeds that are offered by almost all cellular providers. The next generation, dubbed “5G”, is being boasted to reach peak speeds up to twenty times faster than 4G. Upgrades in technology will also allow for increases in devices supported, longer range and other enhancements that will ultimately change the way we use the internet. 5G is expected to begin rollout by the end of the 2018. It may not be this year that most cities will get to experience it, but 5G is fast approaching.

Increase in IoT Usage

IoT (Internet of Things) is the connection of devices that are quickly becoming household musts. These devices include phones, tablets, digital assistants (Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Home, etc.) and are getting increased coverage throughout the world. With the addition of 5G Technology and mobile hotspots, IoT devices will only continue to grow.

Automation

To continue with the increase of both above technologies, automation will see new breakthroughs as well. New ways to streamline tasks to avoid mistakes or simply save time will make their way into the workforce. The idea of AI taking over is still a bit out of reach, but the speeds at which tasks will be to be completed could cut back some work load.

Preparing your website and system for these technologies

At first glance, taking advantage of upcoming technology could seem like a huge undertaking. On the contrary however, making a website flexible enough for the future could only be a few steps.

Make sure your website is always updated. This might not have any effect on what the consumer or employees see, but patches for operating systems and programming languages come out periodically. This may either be security based, or new built in procedures that haven’t been introduced before. With new speeds also comes a bigger risk of hackers. Updates to software may also include additions to password security that could prevent a disaster from happening.

Responsive websites need to keep up. Adjusting to screen sizes has been relevant for years, but it never hurts to check and see if the website still works with current phone sizes. With new speeds on the horizon, workers at home or out in the field will have an easier time accessing data on their phones.

Flexibility for editing is a must. Although this may take a little more time and effort during development, changes in the future will be a lot easier. When outsourcing, ask to have editors for certain pages so changes can be made on the fly when needed. Try to get as much control as possible for items on the website that might change frequently. While you may only need certain aspects of the website built during development, inform the developer of the future features so that they know how to build it efficiently. This will help with reporting down the road and any automation that may become a necessity.

Finally, make sure you keep up to date with all security measures. This was stated earlier but cannot be stressed enough as it is sometimes overlooked. Most APIs (Application Programming Interface) are starting to be configured to only work with Encrypted Websites. Stay up to date on SSL Certificates, make sure they’re renewed year after year. Hackers are always evolving and so does Password Security. It should always be updated when new patches come out. Stray away from sending emails with automatic logins to a system. Emails are easily hacked, and detrimental code could be put into links.

Prepare for the future and avoid any surprises. We may not know exactly what’s to come, but any measures taken now can increase success transitioning to future technology.

How Can Saltmarsh Help With This?

With Saltmarsh Fully Managed IT Services we can monitor and manage these critical and security patches to make sure your protected and up to date. Contact a member of our Information Technology team for more information.

About the Author | Ron Gregg
Ron is a developer for the Information Technology Services Department of Saltmarsh, Cleaveland & Gund. He currently specializes in back-end custom websites for business operations. He has experience in software engineering/development and database administration with expertise in languages covering C#, Ruby, VBScript, and Java.

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