The world’s digital transformation started as early as 1940. Home computers emerged in the 1970s, and the World Wide Web was invented in the 80s. It wasn’t until the early 2000s, however, that the digital revolution started taking place all over the world. Then, with the advent of Industry 4.0 ten years ago, the world’s digital transformation gained momentum thanks to advanced automation.

The world was already headed towards digitization and automation, but the global pandemic in 2020 sped things up for all industries. We’re now looking at a future where technology plays a significant role in any business operation.

Below are examples of technologies that businesses will need more of in 2021 and beyond.

Contactless Facilities

Automatic and unmanned facilities like biometric door systems and intelligent dispensing solutions (e.g., food vending machines, machines for healthcare inventory management) are nothing new. We can, however, look forward to a more widespread use of automatic office facilities and sophisticated “contactless” solutions for the employees’ use.

RFID security systems, or the use of proximity access cards, are one example. The use of radio-frequency-tagged ID cards to grant employees with clearance access to certain rooms or storage units not only reduces skin-to-surface contact but also enhances security for any facility. RFID cards are ideal in hospitals, food manufacturing plants, laboratories, and other facilities where controlled environments, among other things, are crucial.

• Commerce Facilities

2020 is the year that businesses that didn’t use to do business online discovered the vast opportunities in e-commerce. We are now in a digital world: shopping and paying for products and services through a smartphone is now as natural as breathing. Consumers even look for online shopping and payment options because they are the easiest and most convenient methods of buying products and services.

Online stores, reservation, registration, and customer service portals are other examples of e-commerce facilities that businesses should think about incorporating into their business. Those that cannot or refuse to keep up with this trend will lose out on profits and potential repeat customers.

SaaS and Cloud Products and Services

Many analysts and researchers say that remote work is here to stay; that a lot of employers are considering making work-from-home permanent even after the pandemic is over.

For company-wide remote work to be successful in the long run, companies will need to invest in various SaaS (Software as a Service) technologies for human resource management, all-in-one e-commerce platforms, expense management, project or product life-cycle management, and more.

Software products with impressive cloud support and bandwidth will also be valuable. Cloud is crucial for remote working because it allows people to access unified data and software regardless of their geographic location. SaaS and cloud are the keys to successful collaborations among teams that are working remotely.

Robotics and Automation

Automation is widely acknowledged as beneficial to businesses. It is no question that automating payroll, inventory management, invoicing, customer relationship management, and sales order processing can help growing businesses scale up and accommodate increasing demand.

Robotics, on the other hand, is still a subject of debate (e.g., can business efficiency justify replacing human workers with robots?). Still, large companies that want to streamline processes and reduce interruptions to their business recognize that robots and autonomous technology are sound solutions to their problems.

One example is Walmart, which experimented with self-driving delivery trucks in 2020 and is now preparing to launch driverless delivery routes in 2021.

Last year, Amazon finally got clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for Amazon Prime Air, the air carrier or drone that the company developed to carry out commercial air deliveries. Other retail and logistics companies like Wing, FedEx Corp., and UPS Inc. also have drone fleets that they’re already using for short-distance deliveries of goods and medical supplies.

Video Conferencing Apps

People are now getting used to holding video conference meetings with team members or potential clients. It’s a good thing because it is inevitable that video conferencing apps will continue to be a primary tool for collaboration at work.

Zoom, Skype, and Google Meets are some of the most popular video conferencing apps today. Their free versions are good enough for many users, but they also offer premium accounts with upgraded features at reasonable prices. They are also so easy to use, people who aren’t tech-savvy quickly learn how to use and navigate these apps.

There’s still plenty of room for improvement for video conferencing apps and software, though. The existing platforms are already hard at work at improving their services and solving issues that users are discovering. It will be unsurprising if new video conferencing apps and software will also emerge in the following years.

Tech trends are driven by current needs and innovations are guided by expectations and goals. Businesses that recognize their usefulness and are willing to invest in them can reap massive rewards in the future.