Pagoda Blog

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It is 2016 and we are developing technology at a faster rate than ever before. The Internet of Things (IoT) is getting larger, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting smarter, and the wealth of technology at our fingertips is staggering. However, this wealth of technological innovations comes with a price. We have compiled a list of things that you may not have considered when it comes to our recent technology advancements.

 

          1. Employees Will Be Required to Wear Fitness Trackers

 

It is a common practice nowadays for employers to offer FitBit like trackers and similar products to their employees so that they may be a part of a health initiative in the workplace. These are typically optional for employees to participate in. However, it may become common practice to have police officers, pro athletes and industrial workers wear fitness trackers as a way to track performance and note when medical assistance is required. Not necessarily a huge problem, but may make some uncomfortable that their biological data is being tracked, recorded and monitored.

 

2. Six Billion Internet-Connected Devices Will Be Requesting Support

Like we said earlier the IoT is growing every day. With devices like smart refrigerators, smart A/C units, sleep trackers, lights and more needing tech support. It is going to be a full time job just standing by to make sure that the devices don’t malfunction, or when they do, to have someone to fix the problem. When it happens that there are over 6 billion devices needing support, that is a lot of work to be done!

 

3.    Smart Machines Will Outnumber Employees in the Fastest-Growing Companies

By 2018, half of the fastest-growing companies will have more smart machines than employees. Smart machines use AI and machine learning algorithms to make important choices and solve problems without human involvement. Examples of this are driverless cars, smart locks that message your phone when they are opened and doorbells that allow you to facetime the people at your front door. It is believed that startups and newer companies will be able to first fully embrace these smart machines because machines are much more scalable than human talent. It is also easier to start with smart machines than to switch to smart machines after you are a large company, especially since employees won’t like being replaced by machines.

 

4. Digital Vandals Will Strike 20 Percent of the Smart Buildings Connected to the Internet

As technology improves hackers, cyber criminals and digital vandals will also improve. With the addition of smart technology in hospitals, movie theaters and schools, it is likely that cyber vandals will attempt minor acts of vandalism by hacking into the systems and turning off the lights or switching up the signage on buildings. Most of these attacks would be harmless, but if they happened to turn the lights off in a hospital for instance, things could get more complicated and potentially dangerous.

 

Image from itproportal.com

5. ‘Robo’ Bosses Will Become Our Supervisors

‘Robo’ bosses are not robots or androids similar to characters you see in SciFi films, but rather they are smart machines that take on supervisory duties. These ‘robo’ bosses might monitor workers performance based on measurements tied to their output or other such duties that can be monitored automatically by smart machines. This means that ‘robo’ bosses will be making choices that were previously made by human managers. What are the potential risks of that?

 

 

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About Pagoda Technologies IT services

Pagoda Technologies is a globally recognized IT support company doing business in Santa Cruz, San Jose and all over the world, and who is working to help businesses and their IT departments run smoothly and efficiently. To learn how Pagoda Technologies can help your business, email us at support@pagoda-tech.com to schedule a no cost business assessment.