Cloud, cybersecurity, AI and eco-design: the 4 tech trends of 2021

The tech world continues to change at breakneck speed. Already, some major underlying trends seem to have emerged on the eve of this year 2021. There are four of them: the cloud, cybersecurity, AI and eco-design.

The Cloud

It is certainly one of the biggest developments in the technological landscape of recent years. It itself is moreover at the origin of certain trends that we will discuss below.

So if it’s not new, why is the Cloud still taking centre stage? Perhaps you already guessed it: Covid-19 is no stranger to it. In fact, the global pandemic that resulted from the emergence of this virus has swept away pre-established patterns. Starting with those of companies.

In the context of successive lockdowns  as well as the generalisation of teleworking, the Cloud has proven to be an asset of choice. Throughout 2020, new operating models were put to the test … Sometimes successfully. So it seems that they are intended to be long-term.

Whether the crisis persists or not, the development of the Cloud within companies is therefore underway. And with it, a whole procession of administrative, commercial and legal questions.

While the Cloud is emerging as the new keystone of their internal operations, companies are forced to review their infrastructure from top  to bottom .

To be profitable and optimal, this change indeed implies an understanding of this model in its entirety: from its virtues to its constraints, including  changes which will have to be made… as well as the pedagogy which will have to be carried out in this direction.

Cybersecurity

A major stake. And for good reason: colossal work awaits companies considering  transition to the Cloud. In terms of education, the fears expressed around security and data protection are not negligible.

In early 2020, Sophos commissioned a survey of IT managers from 26 different countries. The results are clear: 96% of companies would be concerned about the security of the Cloud.

In addition, the media coverage of cyber attacks occurring here and there does not help. No one is spared, at a time when organisations have found themselves forced to resort to the Cloud to ensure their economic survival. Most often, without having been able to anticipate this upheaval.

Lack of knowledge and experimental use of this scheme heighten concerns about cybersecurity issues.

Hence the emergence of the famous “Zero Trust”: a concept based on the systematic verification of people seeking to connect to an organisation’s systems.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Subject to heated debate, Artificial Intelligence may be on the verge of entering a new chapter in its evolution. What is in question: how it is viewed . We are therefore seeing renewed attention to questions linked to its use, but above all to the real needs to which it is likely to respond .

So sanity and moderation are needed . Are we moving towards a more responsible development of the famous “AI”? May be.

Here again, in view of the new constraints with  which companies have been forced to comply, Artificial Intelligence is also emerging as a major trend for  2021.

Encouraged to dematerialise their processes, many companies could thus invest in smart technologies. In the line of sight: the automation of certain tasks, but also the support of the growing number of teleworkers (for IT questions, for example).

Industry, too, could expand AI development beyond fault detection. The object of his reflection? The deployment of robots in places requiring a physical presence (in factories, in particular).

Be careful, however, because here, as in cybersecurity,  educational work will be crucial.

In 2019, nearly a quarter of French people perceived Artificial Intelligence as a threat. Not an opportunity.

Eco-design

At the dawn of 2020,  Microsoft  declared that it wanted to be carbon negative by the end of the decade. The finding was alarming: a year earlier, digital technology was responsible for 3.8% of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. An environmental footprint that we can hardly hope to have improved over the past year…

The reason for all these evils? A constantly increasing production of digital equipment. Products whose manufacture is generous in producing greenhouse gases and consuming metals. Combined with booming data traffic and legions of data centres on the verge of overheating, the cocktail is explosive.

Awareness of these issues, however, is general. Pressed by the warning signals that are lighting up from all sides, digital players are busy looking for solutions. A clear sign of this shift, the human resources field is looking for new talents specialising in sustainable development, in all areas: eco-design and recyclability project manager, carbon neutral transition advisor, etc. Examples are numerous!

Additional source of motivation: societal and even political pressure. Faced with consumers and managers increasingly attentive to environmental issues, companies must bet on eco-design. It is for their long-term sustainability.

Without a doubt, in 2021, this trend will be  one of the most powerful groundswells in the tech world.