The year 2023 brought forth many firsts — from India’s tenure at the G20 table to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) blazing a trail on the Moon’s South Pole.
More and more companies began mandating their employees to work from the office for specific days every week. With the growth story remaining robust, challenges conflicted with certain regions, leading to a potential global economic slowdown.
Technological development, which heightens our living standards, further raises our expectations of what it means to live in a safe and secure society. While many cities are still grappling with public safety services, tech advancements are benefiting consumers and businesses. Such innovations are leading to maximizing business impact, but there is a growing need for wider adoption.
And with the world set to enter a new scope of opportunities, it is time to explore and predict the new ideas that will define the year ahead.
2024 is set to bring a new wave of opportunities and challenges, offering businesses strategic choices for their time, resources, and budgets. By leveraging their growth strategies and paying close attention to this year, businesses can further augment their success.
Ideas that will Change the World in 2024
Predicting what's set to follow is challenging. However, there are several ideas and technologies that hold the potential to impact and change the world in the coming years. With these speculations in mind, let's explore some areas of innovation and research that will bear fruit in 2024 and could potentially change the world.
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The AI Boom Will Become Critical for All.
The growing popularity of generative artificial intelligence will surge and follow through in 2024. With people and businesses across the globe rapidly experimenting with technology to meet this growing demand, generative AI models will become larger and more sophisticated. However, training these models will also require immense computational and data processing power. As per the reports from the International Energy Agency, about 1% to 1.5% of global electricity is used by data centers. More global energy is being used to fuel the AI era, due to which businesses are exploring ways to shift and regulate AI and power it in a way that does not place added stress on existing energy infrastructure.
In 2024, businesses will witness a narrower AI solution. While ChatGPT has emerged as a great general AI assistant, it is unlikely to win at every task. AI platform purpose-built for researchers will be tailored to fit their use cases based on a special workflow built around it. Companies will have a chance to own the data and workflow for this new era of technology.
Read more: Market Research Tools: A Comprehensive Guide
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Powerful Performance and Privacy
With the emergence of AI in the realm of digital marketing, ensuring durable performance increasingly hinges on navigating the evolving landscape of privacy and user expectations. Rising user expectations are compelling businesses to necessitate a privacy-centric approach. This involves respecting the users while integrating a performance-driven approach. Privacy readiness will emerge as an integral component to achieving business objectives, with privacy and performance going hand in hand. To power performance, businesses will have to integrate systems to exchange data without compromising personal information. Additionally, the launch of AI solutions will further enable automation trends and tailored solutions based on user behavior.
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New Applications for Video Intelligence
In 2024, businesses will see new applications of computer vision and video intelligence. Leveraging insights from video data today has become commonplace across enterprises, enabling them to make better-informed business decisions. This capability will become even more powerful in the real world with the more comprehensive nature of the data being made available. However, many industries are still lacking modern systems to capture and make sense of video. Customers have no existing video infrastructure, making it difficult to integrate them with modern software. Businesses are also tackling this concern by leveraging a hardware + software model and tailoring their go-to-market approach to target specific customers and best serve their particular needs.
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Community Building by Fostering Value for Data
In a world where trust and loyalty are invaluable, the power of community cannot be understated. Consumers are willing to become loyal to a brand if they feel a sense of belonging within the community. Every day, more and more customers are becoming increasingly savvy about their data and privacy. This is the reason why businesses need to flex their creativity and communicate with their audiences by providing full transparency on data collection and usage. In 2024, businesses will feel the need to highlight their incredible potential for brands and foster loyalty by creating spaces where customers can connect with one another.
Moreover, community-building further helps in seamlessly setting the theme of content strategy. By unlocking consumer trust, businesses can embrace the realm of earned media while also nurturing a community of consumers that resonate with their brand. Providing and communicating value for opt-in data capture enables businesses to foster trust with their target customers, ultimately allowing them to build richer data profiles. They can offer customers discounts or special access to products or services in exchange for purchase data. Businesses can also engage their customers on a deeper level and incentivize revenue-generating activities like purchases or referrals.
Read more: Ways to Enhance Digital Customer Experience
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Employers and Gen Z Will Tackle in a Great Negotiation Face-off
The growing tensions between young workers and their employers will follow through in 2024 as well. The great negotiation will give rise to a new conversation surrounding healthy compromise and demographics. In 2024, companies will have to rethink their concept of employee loyalty. More Gen Zers will be working multiple jobs as they struggle to gain the kind of economic security that came more readily to previous generations. And with job inequities building up over time, young workers are aspiring costs more than most entry-level salaries, giving rise to a new condition for the economy.
The mismatch between the economic realities of employees and the expectations of employers is evident. While the organization's efforts are expected to gain strength in the coming year, Gen Z is leading the charge. This is leading to a growing need for a significant union or labor movement to settle the market conditions.
If employers and employees are not able to bridge this widening gap by introducing and embracing flexibility around when and where we work, as well as establishing renewed trust between managers and their staff, businesses are likely to suffer economic consequences. It has, therefore, become vital to address the long-standing unrest, overpay, and other labor conditions and leverage the right technology so as not to exacerbate things further.
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ChatGPT's Hype Will Fade? New Generation of Tailor-made Bots Will Rise?
2023 witnesses a big and impressive rise of generalized AI chatbots. And 2024 will follow the same trajectory with narrow and more specialized solutions.
OpenAI's ChatGPT demonstrated how computers can have intelligent conversations with people. Following on the same path, Bots will be embedded in document storage platforms, enabling workers to interact with their documents. Legal bots will assist lawyers with discovery. Meta is betting on introducing 28 different special-purpose bots. 2024 will witness a step forward from bots like ChatGPT being replaced with specialized, open-source models that will deliver performance on par using far fewer resources.
In 2023, groundbreaking bots such as ChatGPT made a straightforward science fiction AI dream come true. 2024 will be a year of iterations.
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Voice-First Apps will become an important part of our lives.
AI is unlocking voice-first apps in 2024, particularly in the companion and productivity categories. The most common form of human communication, voice, has never worked as an interface for engaging with technology. However, with the emergence of large language models, businesses are integrating virtual assistants to achieve human-level conversational capabilities. Importantly, voice is such a distinct modality for interaction that existing apps are not equipped to build these experiences. AI features being incorporated across applications will help in introducing AI voice interfaces to different applications, making it more useful and integrated into our lives.
Read more: Striking the Right Balance Between Personalized Customer Experiences and Data Privacy
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Biogas-fueled Cars will make an Appearance.
Biogas-fueled vehicles in India are set to make an appearance on the road. While biogas has been used for cooking and lighting across Indian households, the emergence of biofuel as a renewable alternative to conventional fuels such as petrol, diesel, and natural gas will likely revolutionize the sustainable mobility space.
Top names in the mobility space, like Maruti Suzuki, are working on developing a vehicle powered by biogas. Two-wheeler giants such as Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company, and Hero Moto Corp are also planning to launch one flex fuel-powered model in 2024.
Bio-fuelled cars will help decrease dependence on petrol and diesel, thereby lowering the burden of crude oil imports. But a question prevails. How will this emergence impact the electric vehicles sector?
Electric vehicles shine in urban settings with established charging networks, whereas biogas-fuelled cars will offer a familiar refueling experience. So, a future where the streets will be filled with a harmonious mix of both.
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The Sleep Economy will Finally Awaken.
With professionals making their way back to the office and reverting to their pre-pandemic work models, businesses are awaiting a rude awakening: This shift in work styles is likely to lead to the same psychological strain and sleep struggles for many. A growing cohort of companies is powering the sleep economy to address these challenges and offering even wearable devices to track the quality and quantity of slumber.
Employers are likely to jump on the sleep bandwagon, as business leaders are able to recognize the emotional, physical, and economic toll of pulling all-nighters to get work done. Companies will further have to subsidize the purchase of sleep-tracking devices for their staff and offer access to sleep specialists as part of wellness offerings.
Read more: The Role of AI and Data Analytics to Drive Personalization Strategies
Final Thoughts
2023 presented a path where adaptability, innovation, and personalization gained supreme power. It presented a future of prominence and promises and offered exciting prospects and opportunities for businesses looking to embrace the evolving landscape. With the same commitment to relevance and a keen eye for innovation, 2023 is set to shape the future of businesses with AI, emerging trends, and personalized approaches.
Adapting to the ever-changing market trend is constantly chasing the next best thing. But with a heightened focus on sustainability that will extend beyond technology, businesses and individuals alike will witness a shift towards more eco-friendly practices - ranging from conscious consumerism to minimizing waste and embracing sustainable options.
From the state of the economy to the growing significance of AI in the workplace, 2023 surprised us all in many ways. Now, in 2024, new ideas will present a glimpse of the potential future developments that will further shape the world. However, it is equally important to consider the ethical, social, as well as environmental implications of these advancements to foster responsible and sustainable progress.
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About SG Analytics
SG Analytics is an industry-leading global insights and analytics firm providing data-centric research and contextual analytics services to its clients, including Fortune 500 companies, across BFSI, Technology, Media and entertainment, and Healthcare sectors. Established in 2007, SG Analytics is a Great Place to Work® (GPTW) certified company and has a team of over 1100 employees and has presence across the U.S.A., the U.K., Switzerland, Canada, and India.
Apart from being recognized by reputed firms such as Analytics India Magazine, Everest Group, and ISG, SG Analytics has been recently awarded as the top ESG consultancy of the year 2022 and Idea Awards 2023 by Entrepreneur India in the “Best Use of Data” category.
