With technology being a great leveler, the world has become flat and offers equal opportunities to all. Whether you are someone born in the Bay area or a remote village in Africa, your opportunity to create an impact and to make a difference in the world is the same. 

In India, for instance, the government is adopting technology readily with initiatives like JAM (Jan Dhan-Adhaar-Mobile) trinity and offering a level playing field to all its citizens. Close to 47% of India’s GDP gets transacted on this platform and my recent interaction with a local tea seller showcases how this tech adoption is making a difference at the grassroots.  

I curiously asked this young man from Kerala who operates his tea shop single-handedly, the reason to adopt UPI payments. He explained how it saves his time in giving change to customers after each transaction and that now he doesn’t need to go to the bank to deposit cash.

On the other hand, the bank to which his UPI transactions are linked now knows that this young man is generating INR 30,000/- per working day. Therefore, their risk profiling AI software is now able to analyze this data and recommend him a loan for his business expansion with better certainty of loan repayment. This was not possible 3 years ago. This is the beauty of what is happening around us!

In the past few years, India has undergone significant economic expansion, with the adoption of new technology such as AI, Robotics, IoT, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, and Big data. In this article, I would like to discuss few technology trends that are gaining significant mindshare and will continue to do so in 2023.

Web 3.0: Web 1.0 was “Read-Only”, Web 2.0 is “Read-Write”, and you can imagine Web 3.0 as “Read-Write and Execute”.  This is the next level of internet where the internet will be more interactive and immersive and will be led by user generated content and interaction. For example, to imagine next level of AI in Web 3.0 – AI would be used for natural language processing, to recognize your emotions and facial expressions to render relevant content. This means, when you frown while watching an Instagram reel, it automatically moves to the next genre when you swipe up. This space would therefore be great for enterprises to present relevant content to their users. 

The way we consume gaming and financial instruments, “DeFi” (Decentralized Finance) will also change big time. Several Web 3.0 apps are gaining popularity and are worth mentioning. For example, “Brave” browser that allows one to block all ads and evade trackers while rewarding good content through “BAT” (Basic Attention Token), it could change the way people look at digital ads. Also, the widespread use of “NFT” (Non-Fungible Token) will help the content creators’ music, video and photo content get better recognition and revenue for their work by ensuring traceable ownership and minimizing the middlemen in between.

Cybersecurity: The travel and tourism industry is embracing emerging technologies to redefine products, services, and consumer experiences, but doing so makes their cyber ecosystems more exposed to security risks as these technologies handle massive volume of financial transactions and priceless customer data. Travel firms are, therefore, a prime target for cyber-crime. Ransomware and phishing attacks are two of the major concerns in this sector. Due to the current dependence on data, organizations are also at risk from human mistakes brought on by their own staff. To keep the data secure, organizations must invest in cybersecurity as well as a variety of hardware and software solutions. It is evident that a step change is needed, and a more comprehensive, business-driven, and risk-based approach to building cybersecurity capability is going to be the norm in the coming years.

Metaverse: Metaverse travel has the potential to dramatically revolutionize how people engage with the travel industry, imagine digitally touring a hotel from the comfort of your home on the other side of the world. By creating three-dimensional replicas of real locations, metaverse travel will create new experiences and new possibilities for people to choose hotels and activities. In 2023, metaverse will emerge as a grand concept, that will be based on a single interconnected ecosystem, like the internet. Soon, autonomous metaverse platforms with different economies and the capacity to transport assets and things between worlds may become possible. There has been a lot of conversations around the governance, so things are going to get tricky, as there would be no single controller. There will be a shift in viewpoint, and it will inevitably give rise to new travel patterns and an increasing demand for virtual reality and metaverse travel services. As several companies continue to compete for this space, the future is surely going to look very different, especially with the possibility of creating multiple identities in the metaverse.

Cloud:  In recent years, the travel sector has seen an increasing interest in cloud computing investments. However, there are still several issues that are delaying the rate of cloud adoption. But as client expectations rise and the travel sector’s technological environment becomes more dynamic, a lot of travel organizations have come to understand the benefits of cloud computing. In the travel tech industry, we deal with a lot of personal data. Through growing computational power and capacity of the cloud, data storage becomes simpler thereby enabling us to provide personalized travel experiences.

Wearables and IoT: The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most significant and potent emerging technology topics that must be understood and explored by individuals and businesses. According to me, this is merely the tip of the iceberg, as we will see additional wearables with cutting-edge capabilities soon. For instance, non-intrusive wearables for HbA1C monitoring are very close to reality, which would benefit diabetic patients around the globe to monitor and act in real-time. IoT devices are also bringing transformation in many industries, including agriculture. Now there are devices that can tell a farmer the exact amount of water needed per square inch of the farming land. These devices make it possible to identify the crops infested by pests and then, separately treat only the affected yield, instead of the entire crop. Such devices are not only feature-rich but are also the primary driving force behind the Internet of Things.

Many of the bigger cross-industry breakthroughs were anticipated in the upcoming year and beyond are likely to be built on the patterns indicated above. Furthermore, it is gaining ground and is probably going to be precursors to the technology that will define the overall course of human technology.

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