Technological Innovation Assignment: Adopting New Technologies

Question

Task:
Write a report on current trends on technological innovation and disruptive technologies. Identify few examples of current trends in technological innovation and then focus the report on one innovation in detail. You must be able to identify and synthesise relevant information.

Answer

Introduction
Herein technological innovation assignment, innovation can be defined as the creative ideas and imagination that can bring any solutions to meet new requirements of the business environment or market needs.With companies going global, innovation in business is considered as one of the most important factors that influence market share and growth of the organization. With the help of innovation, organization incorporates new ways to fulfill needs and requirements of the market in a better way. It ensures business organization to gain competitive advantage or to compete with new trends in market.Technological innovation is bringing technological or technical aspects in the activity or product that helps in improving business performance and market value. It is basically an advancement of process or method that builds new creative and demanding product to match market requirement. Technology is evolving continuously at much rapid pace. As a result of fast changing technologies, new entrants of companies in the market have a bigger scope then companies already sustain in the market from long time but do not evolve in its technology. One of the biggest examples taken in the present context of technological innovation assignment is Nokia when after having a great market share; it was defeated by iPhone, Samsung and others because of poor technology advancement. In today’s time company’s current position is of no matter to survive or sustain in the market, growth depends upon the evolution of company’s product as per the market trend and requirement to meet customer’s needs (Ge, et. al., 2018). And it can be achieved by incorporating emerging technological trends in the business. Emerging technological trend can be defined as development of new technology or advancement of existing technology, these are mainly technology trends that have potential to grow further in the market and are expected to create difference in the operations of business.

Market environment is changing faster and to progress in the global market, it is necessary for the company to deliver or provide products and services which include comfort and meet all the current requirements. Profits in technology-based companies solely depend upon innovations, scientific and technological knowledge.Evolution of technology made people very dependable on technology these days which includes- shopping, communication, travelling and even living life. Even regular business which are not related to IT or technological field are so dependent upon innovation and technology that has created a market environment or potential customers easy to approach that leads to growth and development of business organization.In other words, because of evolution in technology it has become easy for business organization to reach to end users more conveniently and to gather information of their needs and requirements, which ultimately helps in maintainingcustomer’s relationship. Therefore, it can be said in the technological innovation assignmentthat, innovation and technology in the business organization plays a vital role in growth and development (Ignat, 2017).

Current Technological Trend
Trend refers to existing demand or popularity in the market environment. Technology trend is the new techniques that brings change in the present way of working and will help to shape the working environment more developed and advanced.It has been observed that rate of change in technology is accelerating exponentially. This is the reason that, evolution of technology is a continuous operation. It is observed in the technological innovation assignment that current technological trends include- Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Jobs, Cloud Computing, Blockchain Technology, Virtual Reality, Cyber Security Jobs, Internet on Things (IoT) (Cearle, et. al. 2016).

Source: Cearley, D., Burke, B., Searle, S. and Walker, M.J., 2016
Artificial Intelligence- The research on technological innovation assignmentsignifies that AI is one of the most adopted and accepted technology in the civilization, where AI is been used in every sector in our daily life and is influencing our lives on a regular basis. Some of the examples of artificial intelligence used in our daily life are- Google maps which can assess speed of the traffic at all the time, Using Uber and other riding applications that can examine the fare of the ride and time to be taken, Autopilot feature in flights, social networking sites which can recognize face in the picture and the most trending AI technology is automated vehicles and robotic technology (Siau, & Wang, 2018).

Cloud Computing- It is a method of storing, managing, controlling and retrieving data on an online platform using internet. Now a days,internet is accessible by majority of the population and with the increase in trend of eliminating physical storage of work papers, documents, pictures or any other relevant product of the organization. Cloud computing is an effective and efficient method that helps to control costs and time in managing and retrieving data. Examples of cloud computing are- Netflix and other OTT platforms are using cloud facilities that enable to run video streaming service smoothly around the world, Dropbox, Gmail, Microsoft Azure.

Virtual Reality- It is an artificial environment created with the help of technology which appear as a reality. It is a process that helps user to experience the content in the artificial environment.Further, as mentioned in the technological innovation assignment it is used in U.S. Navy Army for the purpose of training. Some of the examples of virtual reality noted in the technological innovation assignment are- HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Sony’s PlayStation.

Internet on Things (IoT)- In today’s scenario, IoT is the most emerging technology in the world. There is a lot of dependency on internet now a days, many home appliances, office, car are already enabled by IoT. It also helps in business in decision making process as it helps in collecting, storing and analyzing data with safety and efficiency. It has enhanced productivity and performance in the business organization.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)- It is a technique that is developed to provide aid by interpreting requirement, processing the data and providing solution by using automated technique and often use in repetitive process in the organization. It is used in customer services by organization as it helps to provide solution to frequently asked questions by the customers,call center operations, pay roll services in the company and others (Wang, & Siau, 2019).

Blockchain Technology- This technique considered in this segment of technological innovation assignment is the fastest growing technology or the most emerging technology in the current business circumstances as it is mainly because it provides security and safety to the information or data and the financial transactions globally. It involves transparency in the financial transaction even if the third party is not trusted. One of the major examples of blockchain technology is cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, IBM to keep a check on supply chain, Accenture to ensure efficiency in insurance industry, MedRec and many more.

Cyber Security- Techniques in cyber security is evolving continuously as crimes in cyber are increasing rapidly, it provides protection to the data or personal information on the mobiles, cloud or internet and other devices from unauthorized access. With the increase in dependency on internet and cloud service, Cyber security is emerged vastly. This is growing as fast as other technological sector. Example – Centrify, Deep Instinct, Kount, Mimecast and others are some example of cyber security companies.

One current technology trend identified in this study of technological innovation assignment is Artificial Intelligence. AI is used in normal daily life or in business operations and the most used technology by mass people. It has an influence in saving both time and money that is the reason it is considered as one of the most emerging technology in today’s time and is currently trending as well. Few examples of Artificial Intelligence are- Email categorization which is used by both people and business organizations, plagiarism which is used by institutes and various publications involved in writing speech, google maps used by mass people in their daily life, Siri and etc. Basically, there are four types of AI- Machines, Memory, Theory of minds and Self- awareness which almost covers major areas of the work and personal life methods. Therefore, in coming years AI will be having much scope for improvements and development in our daily routines and make everything easy and approachable.

Company using technological innovation for its competitive advantage
Space X is one of the best examples noted in the technological innovation assignment when it comes to innovation and creating monopoly in the market with its aerospace products. It is founded in 2002and is the only company that drives worldwide attention for creating spacecraft capable of returning. In 2012, SpaceX launched its first space craft named as Dragon Spacecraft which delivers cargo to and from International Space Station. And after that it has successfully attempted to land spacecraft, Falcon 9 is the first ever rocket that involves orbit landing. Space X has a vision to take humans to the Mars.With its vision SpaceX has developed reusable rockets which were considered impossible before Elon Musk developed a vision and achieved it with its innovation and optimism. SpaceXhas successfully delivered 48satellites since 2012. Hyperloop technology is one of the best inventions of 21st century where travel becomes super- fast. Time is the most valuable thing in the current lifestyle. This technology can save more than half of the time in travel. It is a technology that uses pods which are designed to float on air above ground to reduce friction and result in fast travel. With the vision of creating travel based on hyperloop technology Elon Musk has developed a project that can reduce the travel time between San Francisco and Los Angles to 30 minutes. He is the only person working on this technology across the world. It was observed in the technological innovation assignment that he has achieved a speed of 288 MPH till yet and determined to increase up to 700 MPH.

Elon Musk is famous for out of the box thinking. His visions and goals first sound as unrealistic but with his optimism and technical skills, he has achieved a competitive advantage (Meissner, & Kotsemir, 2016). It can be seen from Tesla which is an electric vehicle and can be said as world’s biggest transition to sustainable energy, SpaceX, Hyperloop TransportationSolarCity, PayPal, Zip2. All his innovations did wonder with the users and the market. In 2014, he was awarded the World Technology Award. With his vision, he foresees the future requirements and adopt technology, or develop innovations by bringing products when there is no competition in the market. Global warming is the most common ecological issues in the world, Elon Musk with his great vision and technology develops electric cars and further became one of the largest solar electrical system. Hence, it can be observed in the technological innovation assignment that company can do wonders with technology advancement and innovations. Elon Musk with its various ideas and products has proved that innovations bring fortune. Therefore, it is necessary to use technological innovations to achieve competitive advantage.

Role of technological innovation in business and society
Technology builds a bridge between modern business and its success. Every business management method is digital now a days whether it be marketing, planning, security or any other controlling process. Hiring of employees is also based on technology skills. Skilled employee helps in growth and development of business organization by increasing productivity and performance in an organization. With the presence of dynamic environment and changing trends on a continuous basis technology innovation play a critical role in profitability of any business and in order to bring competitive advantage? Hindustan motors which had a monopoly in cars, was dominated by Maruti and other new generation cars in India because of technology development.It is important to understand while developing the technological innovation assignment that innovation is necessary in the development of products and services, but it is also important at the workplace also (Kolaski, 2018). Google is a great example for creating innovative workplace where working environment has been created in a way which is friendly and filled with energy which resulted in increase in productivity of employees.

Herein technological innovation assignment, disruptive technology can be defined as bringing new techniques or innovations that contemplate consumers or market to shift to whole new market and network which leads to disruption of existing market or established market. The most important factor that brings growth is the out of the box thinking, idea of creating technology should be beyond the industry. Netflix changed its course of business from developing and selling DVDs to streaming online videos through OTT platform and emerged as a leader in this industry. Vanishing of DVD market with the new technology of OTT platforms is one of the great examples of disruptive technology. Few examples of innovation in business and society-

• Businesses must be open for change and be futuristic and visionary. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was unable to bring home PC but Compaq with its vision made it possible.
• Recognizing opportunity in innovation is very important. The research on technological innovation assignmentsignifies that Brian Acton had created WhatsApp, after not being hired by Facebook, Twitter which resulted in a huge success.
• Skype made long distance calls and video chat possible. When skype came into existence in the market there was no competition and this innovation has made employees and managerial personnel approachable even across boundaries. It was a huge success and great innovative idea.
• Innovative technology is also useful for business information system. Business information system is the set of technology that helps in business performance. Examples of information system commonly used in business are- Transaction Processing System, Management Information System, Decision Support System, Expert System and others.
• Even in food industry innovation and technology plays a great role in profitability. PepsiCo intend to reduce sodium content in the snacks manufactured by them, which can be done from consultation and innovation in food industry.

What are the advantages and disadvantages based on the case scenario of technological innovation assignment?
With a view to meet future requirements in the current environment, it is necessary to adopt technology and innovation in the business to grow faster. Customer satisfaction plays a crucial part in growth and development of any business organization. Technology not only brings easy and fast process but also bring convenience to customers in many ways (King, 2017). Few advantages and disadvantages observed in technological innovations are discussed in the next section of technological innovation assignment-

Advantages- It helps in improving communications with the present scenario of Covid-19 where there is a guideline to follow social distancing. Many workplaces started working from home. It was made possible because of technology and innovation of many products like Zoom, Facebook chat, Google meet and others. Creating and adoption of technology is also assisting in marketing tool and method in the organization with the use of various social media platforms.It further aid in decision making process as with the help of technology tracking on customer and analysis of market data becomes easy.Moreover, it ensures assessing weak areas with the use of algorithm and result in accuracy.Gaining competitive advantage, customer relationship, brings efficiency in operations, cost minimization are few other benefits of adoption of technology and innovation in business and society (Mazur, et. al., 2016).

Disadvantages-It is not staticis the biggest disadvantage of innovations and techniques. Technology is changing rapidly. It is stated in the technological innovation assignmentthat business organizations involves great cost in developing and executing an idea to bring product in the market but with companies going global results in attracting huge competition from around the world. There is a lot of dependency on technology now days in the normal routine.Further it creates shortage of jobs in the market. As everything from data management to analysis and decision making can be done using Artificial Intelligence. Because of the dependency on internet and technology, there isan increase in risk of malfunction and unauthorized use of data through hackers which can damage the whole security system (Lee, Park, & Kang, 2018).

Conclusion
It is realized from the overall discussion on technological innovation assignment that to grow in the current dynamic market it is important to adopt innovation by the organization. Even if the organization is in existence since long and has a great market share then also it is necessary to evolve or accept techniques and innovation to maintain stability in the market. It can be concluded that innovation and technology play a vital role in growth and development of organization and to gain competitive advantage, it is necessary to develop and adopt technology changes.It has further observed in the technological innovation assignment that there are certain advantaged and disadvantages in adopting technology in the present environment. However, technology increase efficiency and effectiveness in the business operations that results in saving time and cost. There are various trends observed in technology that includes Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Blockchain Technology, Machine learning, Virtual Reality, Cyber Security, Internet on Things (IoT). With the help of this technological trend it has created business environment and lifestyle more comfortable and convenient.Therefore, innovation and technology has developed quality performance that results in development and overall growth of any business organization.

References
Cearley, D., Burke, B., Searle, S. and Walker, M.J., 2016. Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2018. Technological innovation assignmentThe Top, 10.

Ge, B., Yang, Y., Jiang, D., Gao, Y., Du, X. and Zhou, T., 2018. An empirical study on green innovation strategy and sustainable competitive advantages: Path and boundary. Sustainability, 10(10), p.3631. Ignat, V., 2017, August. Digitalization and the global technology trends. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 227, No. 1, p. 012062).

King, K.P., 2017. Technology and innovation in adult learning. John Wiley & Sons.

Kolaski.R. 2018. The Role and Importance of Technology in Business. [Online]. Assessed from. https://industrytoday.com/the-role-and-importance-of-technology-in-business/

Lee, C., Park, G. and Kang, J., 2018. The impact of convergence between science and technology on innovation. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 43(2), pp.522-544.

Mazur, V.V., Barmuta, K.A., Demin, S.S., Tikhomirov, E.A. and Bykovskiy, M.A., 2016. Innovation clusters: Advantages and disadvantages. International Journal of Economics and financial issues, 6(1S).

Meissner, D. and Kotsemir, M., 2016. Conceptualizing the innovation process towards the ‘active innovation paradigm’—trends and outlook. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 5(1), p.14.

Siau, K. and Wang, W., 2018. Building trust in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics. Cutter Business Technology Journal, 31(2), pp.47-53.

Wang, W. and Siau, K., 2019. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation, robotics, future of work and future of humanity: a review and research agenda. Technological innovation assignmentJournal of Database Management (JDM), 30(1), pp.61-79.