Carmi Levy’s 7 Tech Trends

I was at a presentation this morning by tech guru Carmi Levy who talked about 7 tech trends. If you watch national news broadcasts you will have seen Carmi.

1. Cloud. It aligns spend with need, and you can spend less time managing your infrastructure.

2. Mobile. More smart phones were sold last year than feature phones. Facebook revenue from mobile is more than 50% now. Just 3 years ago was zero. 25% of Facebook users are mobile only. This trend is similar for other providers – mobile is rapidly becoming a prime way to connect. Businesses need to address the mobile market. Some businesses are not even bothering with web sites because their customers are just using social media and apps.

3. Social Media. Social media is today’s town square. It is changing the way we consume content and works well local as well as global. London’s #Ldnont hash tag is an example of an effective local tool.

4. Apps. The real action is mobile. Apps can be a meaningful way to connect. In some cases they are becoming as important as a web site. Apps vs responsive web is controversial. Apps can give richer experience, but responsive can be simpler to do and is platform agnostic.

5. Gaming. Casual gaming is the fastest growing game segment. Ties in to the mobile trend.

6. Ecommerce. We are seeing a revolution at summer festivals in the park. Festival vendors used to use cash only. Now vendors increasingly use mobile payment options such as Square. The tech allows the smallest of small business to do this easily and cheaply.

7. Hyperlocal. London’s Hacker studios is an example of a startup hub where users pay a subscription for space including mentoring and support.

In general, Carmi says tech is an investment not a cost. It is a marketing enabler if it is done right. It is a constant adaptive process, and has to be part of business culture in general – not just delegated to a particular department. Digital competency is something we become not something we build.