The next three years of technology

By Optus Wholesale

This year’s Optus Spark – our annual conference bringing together service providers and experts to shed fascinating insights on not only the future of technology, but the impact these innovations are going to have on the day-to-day lives of every Australian.

In this two-part series, I’m going to explore further into the changes we can make today to set our industry up for future success. In part one, we draw insights from award winning global futurist Chris Riddell on the role technology will have on the future of business, and why he believes from an IT standpoint now is the most exciting time in history to be on earth.

The mobile phone is the root cause of technological revolution. And it’s the fuel for further change.

As someone from the telco industry, of course I’m going to champion our trusted mobile devices. But when you stop to think about the impact they have their influence becomes clear.

Mobiles have evolved to be a pocket-sized computer; more powerful than the laptops many people have. With it, they have shaped consumer expectations. All interactions are required to be fast, frictionless and available at any time of day.

At Optus Spark futurist Chris Riddell outlined a world on the brink of technological reinvention, driven by exponential growth in technology; Artificial Intelligence (AI), block chain, Augmented Reality (AR).

Chris believes the amount of change the world will see over the next three years will shape the next hundred.

I’m inclined to agree – and mobiles will be at the forefront of it given how we use the device to engage with the world around us.

Customer experience is a core lever for all businesses to compete. In fact, many would argue it’s more important than price. It’s for this reason service providers must focus on equipping brands with innovative market propositions that deliver the seamless and integrated services consumers expect across all devices.

If we look at the next wave of technology there is significant opportunity, because – as Chris said – upcoming trends are going to be even more pervasive and will fundamentally change the way we do business and collaborate:

Artificial intelligence: Instead of being a replacer of humanity AI will act as an extender, allowing human beings to do tasks that were once unthinkable.

Augmented reality: AR will untether us from screens to fuse technology and reality together and turn all businesses into technology companies.
Blockchain: This new technology will make it easier and safer for consumers to transact with businesses.

More important than ever before, these changes mean we need to reinvent ourselves to be relevant for tomorrow. A critical first step is ensuring intelligent networks and devices are in place that make these changes possible.

At Optus Wholesale, we’re launching new solutions to give our wholesale partners access to the innovations which will shape tomorrow, and conducting research and experiments to build our capabilities further. This includes the recent launch of Leo for Optus Wholesale, a robotic process automation tool designed to make nbnTM rollout easier to manage.

I encourage our partners to ask themselves what it means for them. The challenge is that we tend to see the future as an extension of our past – but it’s not. It’s a complete reinvention of the way we live, work and engage. The changes we make during this crucial moment of change are going to impact the future direction and role we take in the digital global economy.

We look forward to supporting you on that journey.