Autonomous devices are part of life already – we just haven’t noticed

We notice autonomous devices like self-driving cars or diggers without realising how much we are already using, from from CCTV to cloud-based teaching tools. Where will the future take us?

About this time last year I pointed to an article of an autonomous digger.
Now you can transform your “normal” digger into an autonomous digger. And if you don’t want to go that far, you can rent a pre-converted one by the hour.
How hard is it to convert? Less than a day’s work, apparently.

Things are automating rapidly

This shows you the pace of the tech industry. A few short years ago, nothing was autonomous. Now it seems there are prototypes for everything that has a human to be autonomous now.

The pace of change is a bit slower in business and education computing… but not by much. Sure the hardware of a laptop or table hasn’t changed much in 10 years, but it’s all the other bits that aren’t as obvious which are changing rapidly.

New schools are being built with gardens on the roofs, as insulation. Walkways between buildings are being installed, for solar power generation. CCTV automatically checks faces against student and staff approved lists, for instant safeguarding. Cloud based teaching tools and software allow fully remote teaching and learning, by default.

Businesses using auto plate reading tech can now chain actions from that system to do complex workflows. More than a website, businesses can link all sorts of data into a multi-channel marketing system to better support and service customers, as if they had a personal assistant always on hand. Access control and be seamless, ubiquitous and hidden so customers feel welcome on premises yet intruders aren’t.

Are you planning ahead?

You should have a 10 year plan for your IT usage, showing how it will improve your business as it grows. If you don’t have that, speak with your account manager or one of our consultants to build that for you. It will help you plan your yearly capital spends while giving you confidence you will always be on the front foot with changes in tech.