Top 8 technologies to learn in 2020 and beyond - Trending technologies in 2020

How well you do in your career or business doesn’t just depend on how well you use the technologies of today but how prepared are you to deal with the things coming in the future.



If you are a student or a professional, it is very important for you to know the latest developments in the market because once these technologies come into use, the employers will hire people who possess these skills. And, if you are a business owner, how well you adopt these new technologies will decide where your business goes.

1. AI/ ML/ DL

AI or Artificial Intelligence is the buzzword at the moment. There’s a general confusion among people where they equate AI with humanoid robots but AI is not humanoid robots. Tesla (Self driving cars), Amazon Eco, Siri are all applications of AI.

Its purpose is to get the machines do the things that humans do. But the machine can’t do everything that we do due to their own limitations. So, we try to train them to do one thing properly rather than trying to make them a replacement for a complete human being.

For e.g. Getting them to navigate us to a place or forecast the weather conditions on a particular day in a city etc.

AI and ML is not about just next 2 or 5 years. The business in future will be done based on them. And, to be a part of this domain, you can either be its user or developer.

For e.g. as a user you can be an HR, Sales or finance professional, and if you are a technical person and interested in development you can be a developer. There is and will always be a place for both kind of people in the market.

If you are a businessperson, it is not necessary that you invest in developing the AI products yourself.  You can simply use AI as a service. To do this, you can simply buy or integrate some AI algorithms developed by big companies in your product and use them to improve your own service. A lot of people are already using AI as a Service for their business.

Now, to learn what is AI, how the world is using it and what can you do take an advantage of this new development, you can see some YouTube videos that discuss this technology, read articles online or in the newspapers, subscribe to some renowned technical newsletters that discuss how other people are using these technologies. All these will give you a fair idea about how can you make a place for yourself in this market.

2. 5G Data Network

When I say 5G Data Network, it doesn’t mean just a better version of 4G or a bigger and faster network for faster streaming of videos and music. This is another development which is going to change the way the business is done. It is an altogether new technology.

What 5G is going to do is, it is going to reduce to latency rate that is the lay between sending and receiving the information. This will make things almost real time, allowing this technology to be used for real time interactions.

Now, if you try to see the practical applications of this, it  means that the expert surgeons from different parts of the world will be able to perform surgeries online where there’ll be a robot on one side and the surgeon on another side connected by 5G Data Network.

Also, things like self driving cars, delivery trucks, will become a reality with this because all of them would then know their positions in real time. This will even allow construction vehicles to be handled remotely and a surge in IoT devices.

All these advance things will happen in steps which means that they may take some years to become a reality but with the roll out of better broadband connectivity, the businesses will be able to deliver their services online to the customers in a better way, their internal processes will become better.

So, definitely a technology that is going to have a massive impact on our life and you must learn more about it to have a better career or develop business around it.

3. Augmented Reality / Extended Reality

Augmented Reality is another revolutionary development in the world of technology. Using this technology, you are provided with additional computer generated information to enhance your perception of reality.

It is rendered to you through display devices like Head-Mounted Display, Eyeglasses, Head-Up-Display, Contact lenses or by incorporating AR cameras into your smartphone applications etc.

If you try to see the practical applications of this, you see that you are able to try the watches on your wrist online before you buy them or you are able to see online how a pair of glasses or a particular pair of earrings looks on your face. All this is the application of AR and all of these are very basic examples. But, they should be sufficient to tell you, how your online business can grow with the application of AR.

AR is expected to find an application even in the field of architecture, education, manufacturing, archaeology, e-commerce etc. So, definitely a technology that can’t be ignored if you are serious about your career and business.

4. BlockChain

Now, you can understand BlockChain technology as a File Store System. The records here are saved on different computers and can’t be altered. This improves the level of security it offers to your records and the trust it builds in the authenticity of data.

It is also called as non destructive way to track data changes over time.

This technology is expected to play an important role in simplifying the banking processes, property transactions, personal identification, stock trading, creating digital ledgers etc. In fact, we have been talking about online voting since many years. This technology may have a pivotal role to play in developing that system as well in the years to come.

It will also bring a lot of trust in how companies transact financially with each other.

5. Quantum Computer

Another revolutionary technology that is going to change the way our computers work. Our current computer process data in bits that 0s, 1s but Quantum Computers can process data in the states between 0 and 1, called cubits. When you are able to process the data between 0 and 1, imagine the amount of data these computers can process.

Some of the early applications of this technology are in Mobility sector where it is being used in cars to fight traffic. Also AI & Healthcare is beginning to see some use. Unbreakable encryption keys are already under test by banks.

The advent of Quantum computers is going to bring in a massive change in the computational world. So, definitely a thing of future and worth learning.

All this just tells you what these 4 technologies can do independently. But, when they work in co-ordination with each, they will do wonders. And, together they are called DARQ Power which Accenture is experimenting with at the moment.

6. Edge Computing

It is also called as fog computing. This technology allows performing the data analysis on your device rather than collecting and sending it to cloud.

It handles two problems:

i.) Latency
ii.) Cost of sending the data to and forth.

Some of the applications of this technology are Finger print recognition, Facial recognition, Digital Security cameras that send records only when they realize something is happening rather than sending the data all the time, Intelligent headphones that can translate a language on the spot etc.

Some of the other applications of this technology that we can see in future are Smart Irrigation system, Door Unlock system etc.

In fact this technology allows to predict the faults in the machines by analyzing the way work is getting done which makes it instrumental in development of self driving vehicles.

7. IoT

IoT or Internet of Things is another term that we have been hearing a lot lately but trust me what we see as its application at the moment is just the tip of the iceberg. The technology will come to a lot of devices we use everyday like our cars, washing machines etc.

This will allow companies to rethink the way they deal with their customers and improve their services because with this technology they’ll know how their customers are using their products and it’ll help them identify the maintenance cycle.

So, imagine, how it’ll allow your car manufacturer to predict the breakdown and maintain your car even before the actual breakdown occurs.

Another technology that’s going to have a far reaching impact on the way of doing business in the times to come.

8. Cyber Security

Well, rather than a technology, it is a domain altogether but one of the most important things in the age of computers.

Cyber crime is a crime against humans using computers and Internet. So, anywhere the computers enter, will enter the crime. Faster the computers get, faster gets the crime.

Any development that happens in the area of Cyber security is always a thing to learn and follow.

So guys, these are the 8 most important technologies that will shape up the world in the years to come. Make sure that you start learning more about them in the year 2020 so that you can harness their power in the future.