These issues will also involve implications from the point of view of marketing strategies and the logic of "customer journey", as we see the emergence of a new generation of consumers, more informed, more demanding and able to create contents: The Prosumer.
In fact, in 2018 there will be more than one billion "smartphone users" capable of creating "Augmented Reality" content. What does it mean? AR is the enrichment of human sensory perception through information, generally manipulated and conveyed electronically, which otherwise would not be perceptible with the five senses, for example: the dashboard of a car, the exploration of the city pointing the smartphone or robotic surgery at a distance.
300 million creators every month, tens of millions every week, a reality capable of generating a direct gain of 1 billion dollars by 2020. The future is marked by the development of "smartphones", which are evolving in a silent manner. What do you mean? We are entering a real revolution, an "era of invisible innovation". Many changes are underway from a technological point of view and very few people really realize this.
The innovations introduced regarding the development of smartphones are inherent to: better connectivity, more and more innovative processors, camera quality, software improvement, memory increase, development of more sensors and finally an exponential increase of the "augmented reality". In 2018 about 85% of people in developed countries are currently using smartphones, and it is predicted that the percentage will rise to 90% for 2023. An increase of 1.85 billion units each year, an increase of + 19% expected only for 2018.
But there are also negative aspects to consider, in fact, smartphones are very useful, but often distract us. It is interesting to note that 45% of people who use this technology are worried about using the phone too often and another 45% try to limit the use of the smartphone in different ways. 2/3 of people aged 18 to 24 consider using it too much, but only 3% think they have a real dependency.
Another novelty that we will see during 2018 will be the development of "artificial intelligence", thanks to the evolution of "machine learning". New and innovative "machine - learning chips" have been created, which will allow companies to be more competitive. They are simpler, cheaper and faster, in this case we are talking about the FPGAs chips (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) and ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits). Not surprisingly, for 2018 an increase in chip sales is expected in the data centers of 800k (compared to 100-200k in 2016).
The use of Machine Learning will be intensified by small and medium enterprises. The number of similar projects will be doubled in 2018 compared to 2017, and even quadrupled by 2020 compared to 2018. But what are the factors that mark technological progress in this field? The "artificial intelligence" makes it possible to have machines that learn and self-regulate, and can interpret patterns by repeating operations continuously according to preset algorithms, but what are the concrete advantages of this novelty? Having the possibility to have crucial strategic information, moreover, it is not necessary to have many people monitoring the machine, they are very young and constantly changing tools and finally, finding data is a difficult and expensive job that is made simple by ML.
Another forecast for 2018 will be the increase in revenue expected for broadcast and "live" events, amounting to around $ 545 billion. But why in a digitized world where the "matra" is accessing content in a personalized way: "what you want, when you want and how you want", is there such a high demand for "live" events? Because often the way we want to consume is "now", because of the thrill that gives the direct and its convenience from the point of view of surrender. It is convenient, because it exploits the laziness of consumers who prefer to have pre-set programs rather than creating personalized routes. Moreover, thanks to the development of social networks, "live" events become an opportunity to share their opinions and impressions with other members of the community, filling that need for intrinsic involvement in our society. Finally, a connotation of the "direct" is the exclusivity, in fact the digital tools allow to emphasize the experience of "live" giving the possibility to create a restricted network, which everyone wants to be part of.
Another forecast for 2018 is the 580 million online subscriptions, for a total of about 350 million users, an increase of 20% per year. 375 million subscribing to portals of video on - demand, 150 million people accessing online music, 35 million are those who access games and finally, 20 million users want to have updates about the news. A percentage destined to increase, given that 50% of adults in developed countries in 2018 will proceed to 2 annual online registrations on average, and the figure will increase to 4 by 2020.
Of note, as 2018 will be marked by the spread of an epidemic: "adlergic epidemic". What are we talking about? "Adblocking" is an activity that is growing, more and more people become intolerant in the face of online advertising spots, so as to download ad hoc programs to block them. 80% of adults in North America use at least one "ads" blocking program, 50% use 2, and 10% use as many as 4 (these can be called "adlergic"). It is also interesting to note that the intolerant are more present among young people: 25% of people between 18 - 25 years use at least 4, compared to 5% of those over 45.
These implications put 2018 as a strategic year for companies that want to keep up with the times. It will be necessary to structure increasingly personalized activities that respond concretely to the needs of new consumers. All this can be monitored and integrated thanks to technology and its continuous development. E-Business Consulting is a valuable consultancy and strategic support for CRM activities, Data Mining, Omnichannel analysis and data enrichment, so we invite companies to request a free consultation without obligation.
