IT as a Solution Center
Crowdfunded Startups
It would not be a stretch to say that the 2014 was the year of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. Wherever millennials saw a problem, they tackled it by turning and asking communities to fund their solutions.Take "One Fast Cat" as an example; it's a company which makes exercise wheels similar to hamster wheels but for Bengal cats. For over five years low quality cat wheels were being sold at high prices with cheapest being $500 dollars. In 2014, California resident Sean Farley managed to design his own wheel using Solid Works software and a 3D printer. Thinking he could help others with his solution, he took his prototype to Kickstarter and raised more than $320,000 in initial funding and thus the "One Fast Cat" was born. Today, they have more orders coming in than they can fulfill and are taking reservation orders with shipping dates of more than two months in the future.
Stories like "One Fast Cat" will become the new norm in our society and 2015 will bring a new batch of fresh millionaires.
Internet of Things
A well-known statement by Mark Weiser published in Scientific American (1991) was "The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it." Today Mark's quote is true in every aspect of technology we look at. Facebook used to be a personal profile website meant for students to share pictures. Today, we use Facebook for many more purposes that just a mere profile. In 2011, it was used for revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia; something never been done before that.IoT (Internet of things) will follow the same suit as Facebook. It will creep up slowly such that living without intelligent devices will be considered weird. Although we will not see a full scale implementation in 2015, it will however appear in larger frequency throughout the year.
At the moment notable advancements in IoT include Fuel Band by Nike, FitBit Bands, Nest's Thermostat, intelligent fridge and the majority of smart watches. IBM's "smart planet," Samsung's "smart things" and Google's acquisition of Nest indicates that big businesses are paying attention. So the question is not if Internet of Things will become reality but "when" will they integrate themselves into the fabric of everyday life.
Data Analytics
The healthcare industry will utilize data analytics as part of their "Population Health" initiative. Physicians will be enabled to see a 360 degree view of their patients and receive suggestions from their analytical engines. Insurance companies will be able to provide better and appropriate care to their consumers. IT departments will mine healthcare data to help shift focus from treatment based models to value 7 prevention based care models.
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