​How Technology Has Evolved Over the Last 5 Years

The thing about technology is that the more advanced it gets, the quicker it becomes more advanced. More’s Law dictates that every two years the number of transistors in a microchip doubles (while at the same time the cost of the computer itself halves) meaning that exponential growth occurs as tech evolves and becomes more accessible and affordable. As we enter the world of quantum computing, we can expect that growth to speed up even faster as we unlock even more processing power in our devices, and develop even more interesting and powerful ways to integrate tech into our everyday lives. In this article we’ll look at how some key areas of technology have evolved during the past five years.

​With our heads in the clouds…

There is no doubt that during the past five years we have seen cloud computing go mainstream.  Cloud computing is simply a remote, digital storage solution for our data. It enables us to put everything safely in a space that is accessible from all our devices, all the time. Gone are the days of risking losing all that critical client data just because somebody left a laptop on the train, in fact, gone are the days of needing to spend every day near a desktop computer with all our business relevant information, contact lists and important files. Increasingly people can work from wherever they like with just a smart phone and access to the Internet.

​…but not in the sand

As technology moves ever forward and the devices, systems and software that make everything work together become more ingrained with our daily personal and business lives, our reliance on these technologies also increases and we form a dependency on them. That dependency doesn’t just reflect our personal attachments to devices and access to social networks (although that is becoming an unpleasant side-effect), it also has a direct connection to the profitability of our work and businesses. If things break or get hacked and disrupted, then all our tech and data dependent work can come to a halt. At worst this can lead to financial loss or, in some cases, the closure of businesses of all types and sizes. As the risks become greater, the network security technologies needed to protect them have evolved significantly over the past five years. Like guardian angels watching over our data, our business critical files and our digital identities, vastly more sophisticated hardware and software has been developed, like these ad-vanced solutions at Watchguardonline.co.uk, to keep our digital worlds intact.

​The rise of the robots

Love it or fear it, another significant leap for technology over the past five years has been the increased integration of AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning in to our personal and work arenas. Restricted for now to advanced, virtual customer support reps (chatbots) and life planning assistants that can organize our calendars on our behalf, we can expect to see more processing power leading to more sophisticated AI soon.
Over the last half decade, we’ve seen technology evolving. How and where our data is stored means advanced code is starting to behave a little more like a human brain. Therefore, increased IT security protocols needs to help keep everything safe and sound.