Keeping up with the demands of Digital

Reflecting over the Christmas period, and whilst already recognising how important the internet and computing in general is to society, it really struck me how more and more households are becoming dependent on Digital channels - the Internet – and Devices. First, consider the devices…..

Many households have access to more than one computer, more than one tablet, and more than one mobile – all Internet connected – and in many cases, teenagers and adults having one of each.

It doesn’t stop there – our TV’s and Audio equipment is often Internet enabled, indeed dependent on it for their software updates and content. Set-top boxes place heavy demands on the internet, whether it’s Sky, Apple, Amazon, Google, they all require the Internet for much of their content. And as if that wasn’t enough, Home Automation is starting to become more mainstream, with the likes of Google’s NEST and other thermostat type devices.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is really upon us (and I haven’t started on devices outside the home).

Now consider the usage …

• Streaming of content – Sky TV now dependent on live streaming rather than just the Satellite signal, and Apple/Amazon/Google all wholly dependent on an Internet connection for its content.
• Social Media and Networking – the likes of Facebook now having billions of active users, posting billions of comments, likes, messages. The traditional Happy New Year SMS was replaced by a Facebook post of many this year.
• Online Shopping – with many of the ‘sales’ starting on Christmas day and £Billions being predicted to be spent online over 3-4 days, up 10% on last year and with 15% of people going online. And it’s not limited to low priced goods, a big push from car retailers meant than many were using online apps to start to configure their New Year car purchases, as well as their holidays.
• Games Consoles - require access, not just for playing online games but many games are now delivered over the internet.
• News – has become almost real-time, with notifications informing us as the events happen, and individuals actually becoming the reporters, posting their own new items.
• Home Security – with internet connected cameras forming home security systems

That’s a lot of people, using a lot of applications, all placing considerable demand on both the Internet at large, but also the Internet pipe coming into our homes and the infrastructure within our comes (i.e. WiFi Routers, Hubs, Switches).

So what?

I think there is a real risk that the expectations and the demands of the households might well outstrip the infrastructure available to even the most well connected areas & homes – and that the technical knowledge required in the average household is increasing considerably, especially if you want a good user experience. Imagine the average home now with Wired and Wireless connections to double-digital devices.

It means that we need to meet some of the considerable challenges ahead to ensure we stay safe and happy when accessing the digital content we require, whilst continuing to enhance the digital experience.

• Our solutions need to be smarter – Setup easier – Tuning automatic

 >> More ‘Smart App’ based solutions, with more intelligence in the ‘cloud’, and portable applications making many devices and their operating systems.

• Either our Internet Connections need to become ubiquitously bigger - or our usage of the bandwidth smarter – ideally both!

>> Continued expansion and rollout of Fibre and Internet Connectivity using Air as well as Land. Light Fidelity (LiFi) is looking a great disruptive technology to help with this.

• More standards – around operating systems, around application portability, around the use of sensors and the exchange of information

>> Internet of Things (IoT) driving the need for devices to be able to communicate between themselves and via the Internet, rather than a traditional ‘server’.

• Analytics – with all of this additional information, the real intelligence will be in the interpretation of this data and how we act upon the insight gained.

>> Machine Learning and Visualisation will be critical in being able to make sense of all the data available.

• Safer –hyper-connectivity doesn’t come without its risks, and with more and more ‘digital islands’ being created with little way of controlling them, we need smarter, cost-effective, and device/app agnostic protection

>> Intelligent Network level protection but in a user-friendly consumer package. It can’t be just ‘client based’ anymore, because of the diversity of devices and the data islands being created.

At the same time we need to continue to enhance the digital user-experience, hiding the complexity required to get all of this to work  – allowing the consumer to focus on enjoying the service and gaining value from it.

Some fun times ahead.