Tech Update from NYC

In a week when the US celebrates Columbus Day let’s celebrate the explorer who disrupted how the world was viewed by looking at technologies which are disrupting businesses right now and take a forward look into what is just over the horizon. My focus is sharing real life examples of how businesses are adapting to the future of work, health, transport and finance, as well as some new areas of economic growth.

Let’s start with the future of work and the debate around AI. Did you know that business spending on AI jumped 54% in 2018? And governments are also investing heavily. In its quest to secure global leadership China launched its New Generation AI Development Plan in 2017 with a $30bn investment to catalyse the sector and the UAE has become the first country to have a Minister for AI to oversee a 50 year strategy with a goal to deliver $96bn to the economy by 2030 (that is 12% of GDP).

Most of the early talk was about how AI will replace humans and eliminate whole categories of employment. Now many of the new wave of AI solutions are instead focusing on augmenting workers to increase our productivity and help us deliver a better customer experience. They are starting to integrate learning into day to day workflows and deliver new experiences, often in real time. Intelligent automation which combines RPA (robotic process automation) with AI is giving rise to a new set of offerings. An agile workforce of software robots can be deployed across platforms to support our workplace and help us engage with customers, motivate staff and innovate. AI EAs can sort our emails, check for gaps in our calendar and send out meeting invitations. They can pull data out of different systems (HR, finance, CRM) synthesise and analyse for example who our best performers are and how we reward them compared to the average. Check out what companies like UiPath (which raised $560+m earlier this year) and LiveTiles are doing in this space to get a feel for how this will impact your business.

All these changes to how we engage with digital technology mean the demand for lifelong learning is growing fast. Deloitte Access Economics predicts there will be one billion lifelong learners across 29 markets by 2026 and the global market for edtech products to support these learners will top $250bn in 2020.

The skills we need to cope with rapidly changing ways of working will not be acquired by pursuing full time degrees on a campus. We are moving to more online and blended learning, delivered through flexible short courses to address specific workforce needs. Micro-credentials are providing a set of skills or knowledge in a specific field in a strictly defined and outcome oriented way which is more efficient and based on real time needs. These courses can be developed faster, regularly updated and expanded through modularised add-ons giving us recognised competency based credentials that make us sought after by employers who need staff to help them capture the benefits of new technologies across their business. Check out what DeakinCo and Factor5 are doing in this space and of course Linked In Learning on this platform.

Next up… the future of transport