What makes the fourth industrial revolution so different from previous industrial revolutions is the convergence and interaction between multiple technology trends at once.
As processing power has increased and the size of computer microchips has shrunk, we’ve quickly become used to computers and devices getting smaller, lighter, cheaper, more powerful, and more ubiquitous. (As an example, the average smartphone today is more powerful than the supercomputers of 10 years ago.)
Looking ahead, probably the next big leap in computing power will come from quantum computers – computers that are so fast and powerful, they could be used to complete new, previously impossible tasks that traditional computers aren’t capable of.
No doubt you’re familiar with the Internet of Things (IoT) from devices like smart TVs, smartwatches, and smart thermostats. The IoT refers to the increasing number of intelligent, connected devices and objects that are capable of gathering and transmitting data.
In the future, anything that can be connected, will be.
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The key lesson from all these trends is we’re entering an era of continual and rapid evolution, where multiple tech trends combine and feed into each other to deliver huge changes. For businesses, this means the days of incremental tech upgrades are gone forever.
