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Q1 of a new year is a time for many businesses to start fresh. To do so, many managers look back at the previous year and reflect on how to improve in the next. Looking back, 2012 was an interesting year, especially for technology. The question many businesses are asking is what tech goodies and changes will happen in 2013? It’s hard to be 100% sure, but based on what we know it will be a good year for hardware.
Here’s our prediction of the top three hardware trends small to medium businesses can expect this year.
Phones and tablets that fly
The processing power and capabilities of both smartphones and tablets are advancing at a rapid pace. From the looks of it there should be an octo-core mobile processor (8 cores) introduced along with increasingly powerful quad-core processors. If an 8 core phone surfaces in 2013 it will give many modern computers a run for their money.
Four-core processors will also increase in power. For example: Samsung is rumored to be working with a new processor that could very well see speeds of up to 2Ghz (on par with entry to mid level computers). Sound like overkill for a phone? Perhaps, but put that processor in a tablet and you could see a mobile device that can handle almost anything.
Regardless of if these rumored processors make it into devices or not, small business owners should expect to see a wealth of phones and tablets that are not only affordable, but are powerful enough to either implement as an extension of the modern desktop, or even replace it.
Increasing demands for BYOD
People have gone gadget happy. Take a look around the office. How many employees have a smartphone or tablet? Chances are high it’s nearly 100%. With the sheer number of devices available at affordable rates you can bet that tech gadgets were a top gift unwrapped on Christmas morning. Come New Year, employees will be itching to bring their brand new devices into the office.
BYOD – Bring Your Own Device – is a growing demand and trend of employees. Who doesn’t want to work on the system they are comfortable with? You can expect an increase in the number of requests for employees to bring in their own device. We’re not here to discuss the pros and cons, but it may be time to look into developing a BYOD policy and ensuring your systems are secure enough to support this.
NFC
NFC – Near Field Communication – isn’t a new idea, but it is just now starting to make its way onto phones. Google and Android device manufacturers are leading the way on the mobile front and companies like Square are pushing the mobile wallet.
The goal of NFC technology is to allow your phone to be a wallet, and handle transactions wirelessly without the need for credit/debit cards or cash. Google is pushing NFC, and it’s rumored that Apple will integrate it into new versions of their iPhone. If they do this you can bet that there will be a legion of smartphone users suddenly demanding to pay for things on their phone. This could become a major trend of 2013 that all small to medium businesses could capitalize off of.
These are just three trends that we could well see in 2013. Time will tell how these three ideas pan out. What do you think will be the the top tech trends for 2013? Let us know.