TOP 10 TECH TRENDS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2021

The pandemic has set the precedent for new businesses to leverage technology as the focus shifts from mobility to continuity, which will further spur innovation.

The year 2020 will forever be etched in the memories of businesses and employees alike. Not only because businesses have gone tech, but also because the tech start-up ecosystem has proved to be resilient and emerged as the gamechanger. Equally promising is one of India’s most lucrative sector, namely, the Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), which contributed around 30% to the GDP. The SMB base in India stands at 75 million, with the numbers expected to swell to 105 million by 2025 as per figures reported early last year. Out of this current base, only eight million are digital SMBs. Given the technology boom, this translates into a hotbed for tech companies to enable the remaining 67 million to go digital. Cisco’s 2020 Asia Pacific SMB Digital Maturity Study corroborates this fact too, on a much wider geographic landscape. Nearly 70% of SMBs across the APAC region were accelerating digitisation amid Covid-19. As of 2020, India formed a part of the league of Digital Observer, along with other South East Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand. In a story by Zinnov, when Level 1 SMBs evolve from basic digital infrastructure to more advanced technologies, they are expected to stoke opportunities from other ecosystem players. Players such as aggregators, large enterprises, start-ups, NGO/NPO, government and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) will enable SMBs go tech. Also, mature tech players will help SMBs leverage the tech advantage by computing products, providing cloud and software solutions and personalised partnerships among others. While Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and cybersecurity technologies will be carried forward, here’s a list of the 10 tech trends that SMBs can look to adopt in 2021.

1 SAAS TO BE ON TOP OF THE GAME