The global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has forced almost all industries to adapt to digital technology. The goal, of course, is to survive or for a sustainable business. Already entering the beginning of 2021, Amazon Web Services (AWS) predicts technology trends and developments in the future.
Not only large companies, small business units such as MSMEs and the government must overhaul their systems from all fronts, if previously they have not adapted technology so that they can survive through the pandemic era. One year passed, Dr. Werner Vogels, Amazon’s Chief Technology Officer, put the thoughts together and designed an analysis.
The analysis contains eight main predictions about technologies and their development that will have a more important role this year, even in the following years. Presented by Paul Chen, Head of Solutions Architect, ASEAN, AWS at a virtual press conference, he mentioned that his prediction is very relevant to the dynamics of Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia. Like what?
As with the current way of working anywhere, companies will begin to leave centralized storage systems such as data centers. More and more cloud-based applications will be found for uses such as on boats to airplanes. AWS itself has launched several services to support this, such as IoT Greengrass and Outposts.
AWS Outposts can bring the cloud ecosystem to an enterprise-owned on-premises environment. Strengthened AWS Wavelength which enables the telecommunications sector to deploy a 5G network. AWS itself has completed the construction of 24 Regions, 5 local zones in the United States, 12 proximity zones plus 6 new regions. One of them is Jakarta, which will be completed this year.
Era of Internet Machine Learning
The presence of big data in more sectors such as pharmaceuticals, research and government has sparked a data boom. The amount of data that must be analyzed requires the use of tools that have an ingestion function, as well as aggregation with a machine learning model. Where at this time, machine learning has reached various industries, even in the world of agriculture.
AWS itself has provided machine learning solutions, which have been used by one of the startups from Indonesia. HARA has a vision to bring digital transformation to 1 million Indonesian farmers. Through machine learning, small farmers can reach creditors by uploading data as important indicators, such as yield projections and others.
HARA can also deliver crops to areas where it is most in need of food. With the AWS ML stack, there are many machine learning solutions to take advantage of. Starting from image, voice and text recognition, search, chatbot, forecasts to detection of fraud attempts.
Visuals and Audio Will Dominate Over Text
Just as the social media trend has shifted from typing text on Twitter to uploading photos / videos via Instagram. Internet users are starting to feel more comfortable sharing visual media to sound. Adds a new dimension of convenience for users, especially those with issues such as illiteracy or typing difficulties.
AWS itself exemplifies the use of voice for essential work commands. Like the Cowtribe company in Ghana, where to refill food supplies, vaccines to other essential ingredients just by sending a simple voice command.
Technologies That Drive Digital Transformation
The existence of mobility restrictions during the pandemic accelerates the digital transformation process. For example, city administrations can now use data analytics technology to analyze pedestrian movement patterns. The information obtained can be processed to improve public health.
Later, the insights from the stored data can also be processed to create more enjoyable tourist experiences, such as stadiums and museums. AWS explained, in Indonesia itself it was applied in urban planning for a new capital city in two districts in East Kalimantan.
Distance Learning System Improves
Even though before the pandemic there were quite a number of campuses offering online courses, there are still many educational institutions (including Indonesia) that still have to operate offline. In that sense, coming to school or campus to study, then returning home. Now ‘forced’ is transformed so that it can be held online.
This year is considered to be proving how successful online learning is as a student facilitator. Although indeed, there are several benefits that can be felt. Like a child who is sick, he can still take online classes even though they are not optimal.
Small-Scale Businesses Will Race to Implement Cloud
Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (especially Indonesia) will become a number of countries where the majority of business actors consist of MSMEs, and implementing technology such as the cloud. This is because it is estimated that they are not burdened by old technology, and are open to new technology.
The Growth of Quantum Computing Technology
After being just a dream, quantum computing is slowly becoming available in real terms, starting with only reputable research institutes or companies that use it first. Until now, AWS itself has a quantum computing service called Amazon Braket, making it easy for scientists and developers to explore & experiment with quantum computing.
In 2019, Amazon Braket is only available for these two groups. Until then in 2020, it is declared available to everyone and can be used starting at only 30 cents. Although it is still very early days, it is important to ensure the availability of quantum computing so that it can be used by those who have big ideas to realize.
Space Exploring as a Last Line
According to Paul Chen, outer space or space is a field of interest for many agencies and organizations, including AWS itself. Satellite technology, for example, has many functions such as making food supply projections, maintaining underwater biota, forecasting weather, observing natural phenomena and so on.
will also be able to make the most of satellite technology, as an archipelago consisting of thousands of islands. Scanning no longer needs to be done horizontally, which then takes time, money and effort. AWS also provides Ground Station solutions to control the communication process with satellites, without having to build your own earth station infrastructure.