A recently published survey by the Evans Data Corporation shed light on a growing trend in the world of technology development. It showed the high-profile shift in focus of data-driven corporations towards artificial intelligence, robotics, and the Internet of Things.
This survey, which included 1,441 developers, found that of all the industries impacted by big data analytics, the Internet of Things was ranked at the top with 15.1% followed closely by telecommunications and professional scientific services at 10% each.
Among data mining app developers, robotics, automobiles, and entertainment were being focused on by over half of those surveyed. The sensors used in IoT technologies offer data mining applications valuable insights that go beyond the data traditional systems could obtain.
For example, a fitness tracker or a smartwatch will monitor and track all sorts of things. Your footsteps, times of day you are most active, heart rate, diet through associated food tracking functionality, and more.
For a data miner, this is all absolutely valuable information. Advertisements can be targeted even more specifically and companies will be able to get a much clearer picture about who you are and what your needs are as a consumer.
This is why 45% of respondents indicated that IoT development is very important to their overall development strategy.
Two-thirds of developers expect to deploy cloud-based apps soon
The survey also uncovered that 66.9% of developers are expected to create and deploy cloud-based apps within the next 12 months. Cloud-based applications provide an extraordinary amount of flexibility and access to data. They also enable developers to add functionality on the fly without having to make sweeping changes to hardware. Cross-platform compatibility is also a chief advantage of cloud-based application development.
Now in this new era of big data gathering and parsing, there needs to be a new generation of artificial intelligence to make sense of it all. Companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are actively working on artificial intelligence.
The age of simple algorithms and gathering information from what a user types into a keyboard is quickly giving way to a new age, filled with devices that gather and report information about us and our lives automatically to servers housed in giant data centers we never even see.
Developers are working on technologies today that will create a more connected, more automated world.