How Technology is Disrupting Leading Industries

If you use a mobile phone, have ordered products online or even streamed a video, then you have participated in technological disruption - even if you weren’t aware of it at the time. Despite concerns, some emerging technologies have the potential to disrupt the status quo, alter the way people live and work and rearrange value pools in beneficial ways. [...Continued]

In the following, Artur Meyster offers a positive perspective on how disruptive technologies are transforming society.

CHANGING WORLD

Disruption is a constant phenomenon that we encounter throughout the entire human history. It is all about replacing old ways with innovative means. For instance, tasks like heavy-lifting at manufacturing companies are a thing of the past; we let robots do the job now.

Cashiers at our favourite supermarket don’t really play an important role anymore, they were substituted with self-checkout machines as a result of automation. However, as we commented above, this isn’t anything new. We’ve experienced disruptions over and over again.

The problem isn’t the technology, it is the ability to prepare for the changes.

Horse carriages were replaced by cars, electric lights replaced candle lights, and the list goes on. Numerous examples exist of businesses misinterpreting the positive impact of new technology, leading to their own demise.

Today, there are other tech advances such as machine learning, data science, or artificial intelligence.

Despite some bleak predictions about where this technology may lead, some industries are being influenced in a positive way by these advancements.

If you’d like to know which industries are more affected by technology disruption these days, keep on reading.

BLOCKCHAIN

Blockchain is the type of tech trend that has the potential to transform almost every industry. It is a decentralized payment method that provides more transparency and reliability to transactions.

Therefore, companies won’t have to spend too much time validating the data on every single transaction. Instead, they’ll just look at the records.

Blockchain works by sharing a single version of the records to all parties involved so that every time the records are changed, it’ll be reflected on the other version of it.

Before this technology, companies had to spend hours just on verifying data.

A recent study conducted by three members of the Technical University of Munich Blockchain Research Group revealed the impact of blockchain in the economy:

“First, our results show that blockchain startups are present across all industry segments and are most prominently represented in the Finance & Insurance and Information & Communication industries.
A fine-grained analysis of financial services yields increasing novel applications in existing service offerings.”

This isn’t the only industry being shook up in a positive way by disruptive technologies.

TRAVEL INDUSTRY

Travel is another industry that we take for granted on a daily basis. Gone are the times of spending days to drive across the country, as well as long and strenuous flying processes as an alternative.

The travel industry is one of the leading fields that has been disrupted by the latest in tech. Almost every level of services — from concierge, to delivery and even customer support — has been replaced by automation.

Have you heard of a delivery robot? This is just one of the things that tech-driven tourism can offer.

For example, there has been plenty of buzz about successful start-up companies like Airbnb and Uber.

These two start-ups are among a growing number of technology-driven service providers that are changing the nature of leisure and corporate travel. Both the consumer and business are decentralised and it offers more benefits to each party as a result of technological disruption.

HEALTHCARE

One of the most notable tech trends in the healthcare industry is virtual reality and augmented reality.

Doctors and healthcare teachers use these technologies to practice complex surgery procedures. This way, when the day of the actual process comes, doctors are more prepared and will provide better outcomes.

But this isn’t the only trend that’s changing the healthcare field; the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) also plays a massive role in technological advances in the healthcare systems.

According to a recent report, IoMT will reach $27 million by 2023. And of course, we also have telemedicine.

Today, remote patient monitoring is more common than ever. This has become an excellent tool for patients who need an urgent consultation but are not able to make it to the doctor’s office right away.

This has helped regional Australia, specifically. Since March 2020, more than 7 million Medicare-funded telehealth consultations have been reported, with the vast majority (91%) being done by telephone.

Although this doesn’t count for more severe procedures, it’s still an excellent way to get answers and diagnosis for some mild health conditions.

That’s why the demand for software engineers in the healthcare industry has also increased.

CONCLUSION

When it comes to technology, there will always be new trends and tools that shape the future of many industries. And although it may seem overwhelming at first, change can always bring new solutions.

We just need the right people in place to bring about these changes.

Some of the most in-demand trends such as artificial intelligence or machine learning are making a significant positive impact on industries. Don’t turn away from the benefits just yet.

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