A smart city leverages technology and innovation to improve the lives of its citizenry. Social and economic development, safety, proper disposal of waste, safe drinking water, transportation, and greenery are some of the aspects that make an ordinary city a smart city.
Over the years, digital transformation is a trend that has been enhancing the lives of the people to the extent that smart cities are often termed as digital cities or cyberville. So, what will be the state of smart cities in 2020? Quite obvious, drifting on the technology tide, we are sure not to descend anytime soon but sail higher with more considerable momentum. The next question that inevitably arises is which technologies will be instrumental in making our cities smarter in 2020? Let us find out:
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5G & WiFi6
Better and faster connectivity not only at home or office but also in transit is what both these technologies promise to offer. The reliability and speed of the connection will improve processing, manufacturing, and providing services like smart vehicles. Poor connection, seemingly eternal loading time, waiting to get connected to your cab, etc. will all become a thing of the past with these two networking technologies.
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Machine Learning & AI
Automated tasks performed by machines are not only faster and highly scalable but also prone to very few or nil errors compared to the functions performed by human beings. These two technologies will enhance further in the days to come for computing large sets of data at a moment’s notice without jeopardizing accuracy.
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Analytics
The right customer information allows businesses to focus on personalizing their campaigns for higher conversions. But the question is, in the age of big data, who is going you to provide the right customer information? Analytics is the answer. If you fail to harness the enormous amount of data being churned out every minute through Analytics tools, you are sure to fail in the competitive market.
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Blockchain
Infamous as an overhyped phenomenon the past year, Blockchain will find prominence in 2020. And this argument can be backed by the fact that industry leaders like Microsoft, IBM, Alibaba, and Samsung have patronized it, while Amazon Web Services has democratized it with the blockchain-as-a-service platform that can be subscribed by users. In the future, Blockchain is anticipated to move beyond cryptocurrencies to other fields, which has started already.
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RPA
Man to perform higher tasks requiring cognitive intelligence while leaving the tedious, repetitive ones to machines.
In 2019, UiPath, Blue Prism, and Automation Anywhere got a lot of investments from enterprises all around the globe. A big name among enterprises, Cisco has patronized it as well in quest of developing smart solutions. The year 2020 will see a higher proliferation of automation in every affair of our lives, making both our lives and our cities smarter.
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XaaS
Technological innovation and the success of cloud computing have resulted in a paradigm called everything-as-a-service (XaaS). With the evolution of the methods like on-site, off-site, hybrid, cloud, etc. and the improvement of networks with 5G and WiFi6, delivering products, tools, and technologies to the users as a service over the internet has gained a lot of momentum. The effects of XaaS have started to become conspicuous in most of the industries like healthcare, transportation, hospitality, logistics, etc.
Summing it up
Technology evolves and impacts our lifestyle. The more it enhances, the better we are in making our cities healthier for us and the coming generations. Being left behind is not only undesirable but also awful from the feeling of dragging your city down by not being competitive enough. The list, as mentioned above of six technology trends for 2020, will enable you to stay competitive and make progress by leaps and bounds.
