Every tech trend piece relies on a few buzzwords — the Internet of Things, Fintech, or blockchain, for instance. But over time, those terms become a little less relevant. Remember when we only listened to non-music audio on iPods? We still have’t come up with a better term for “podcasts.”
In 2017, tech trends are moving as fast as ever, and more than a few well-established bits of jargon aren’t quite as useful as they used to be. Speaking as a frequent tech trend writer,I’ve managed to isolate a few examples.
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Given that CES is this week, now seems like a great time to try redefining a few of the new year’s big tech concepts. Here’s a look at how two industry focuses are shifting in 2017.
“Internet of Things” Will Become “Intelligent Things”
The Internet of Things, or IoT, is a term that refers to internet-connected versions of daily household appliances like a smart fridge or a thermostat that connects to your smartphone. But reducing these improvements to their internet connection misses the biggest change coming up: AI.
The replacement term, “intelligent things,” aims to describe devices that rely on AI as well as an internet connection to improve the services they provide. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what the research firm Gartner had to say about it:
“As intelligent things, such as drones, autonomous vehicles and smart appliances, permeate the environment, Gartner anticipates a shift from stand-alone intelligent things to a collaborative intelligent things model.”
“Big Data” Will Become “Dynamic Data”
Jeremy Waite, Marketing Evangelist at Watson Marketing EMEA, offered the followng prediction in IDM’s 10 Key Marketing Trends for 2017 report. I covered it earlier, but the shift in terms is worth focusing on:
“I believe that the smartest executives in 2017 will be more focused on making sense of the data they already have versus trying to capture more of it. The vast majority of organizations (88 percent by some accounts) don’t even share their own customer data between their own sales and marketing departments, so this is the real battleground.
Aim to find insights, behaviors and buying patterns in the data you have, rather than just trying to capture more leads and email addresses.”
This shift highlights the direction that all user engagement is going in 2017, from mobile to social media networks: Away from massive scale and towards a higher engagement with a specific, often niche community online.
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