Collaboration Technologies Are Quickly Emerging

by Katie Bartenslager

Collaboration technologies are quickly emerging and Aragon Research has been keeping a close eye on the market as enterprises shift to support remote teams of hybrid workers. Aragon has recently published its 2021 Technology Arc™ for Collaboration and Communications. This edition features 38 technology and market profiles that are split between the emerging, adopting, and mature arcs.

In this blog, we will be focusing on 3 technologies featured in the emerge arc within Aragon’s latest Technology Arc. We will break down what each technology is, how long it will take to reach maturity, and how it is changing the market.

What is the Emerge Arc in an Aragon Technology Arc? 

An Aragon Technology Arc will enable enterprises to understand both the maturity of the technology as well as its potential impact on the enterprise.

The Emerge Arc illustrates when the technology or capability first starts to appear as a viable technology that can be leveraged in the product. The first part of emergence is when the technology appears outside of a pure research environment. Commercial pilots and first-generation product offerings appear in the first half of the Emerge Arc, followed by the growth of the market that includes the technology.

Technology Arcs also include an adopt arc and a mature arc. You can learn more about those arcs here. 

Three Emerging Technologies for Collaboration

Collaboration is how people communicate and work together to reach the desired business outcome. Collaboration can take place through in-person or online meetings, including, but not limited to, instant messaging, chat rooms, video conferencing, and e-mail.

Collaboration is undergoing fundamental changes now that people are persistently connected by more visual collaboration technologies, especially in the new hybrid work era.

For example, three emerging technologies recognized in The Aragon Research Technology Arc for Collaboration and Communications, 2021 written by CEO and Lead Analyst, Jim Lundy, and Associate Analyst and Editor, Adam Pease, are Video Magnification, Virtual Reality, and Enhanced Customer Profile.

Here’s a breakdown of each technology:

1. Video Magnification

We know that we are in the age of video, but video is becoming so advanced that with video magnification, the monitoring of people could be completely transformed. Aragon is predicting that video magnification will reach full maturity in 5-10 years.

Video magnification is the ability to zoom in on a video image to show things that the human eye cannot normally detect. It is based on work conducted at MIT and has been referred to as Eulerian Video Magnification (EVM).  It allows for minute magnification of a video scene within the context of a larger image.

For example, with video magnification, you will be able to see a change in someone’s body temperature because it can detect blood flow. The video image will show a slightly redder image of the person’s face, arm, or body. This could be so beneficial to watch children who cannot communicate how they are feeling, or a faster way to recognize issues within the elderly or in hospitals.

But are we starting to reach a point where video is becoming too intrusive? We will have to see in about 5-10 years. 

2. Virtual Reality

Virtual reality sets are a very popular gift this holiday season because of the attention focused on consumer gaming. But virtual reality has been used in other practices such as defense and aerospace applications for years. With its enormous growth, Aragon is predicting that virtual reality will reach full maturity in 5-10 years and will have a transformational impact on the market.

Virtual reality (VR) is the term most often associated with the ability for humans to view a virtual environment via a headset or a computer monitor and allows a user to look around or to move an avatar around in the environment. 

Virtual reality has the potential to transform entertainment, gaming, and corporate training. The immersive experience makes the human brain feel like it is physically in the environment, which makes it feel real. Enterprises that use VR in high-consequence industries can deploy a highly trained workforce that will have fewer errors or mishaps in the real world. For example, this could be beneficial for first responders to try and make their training as realistic as possible. 

Virtual reality has already come a long way but the amount of growth in the next 5-10 should be watched closely.

3. Enhanced Customer Profile 

Aragon is predicting that enhanced customer profiles will reach full maturity in 1-3 years and will have a transformational impact on the market. 

Enterprises are moving toward enhanced customer profiles that are built from intelligence. What that means is that rather than a simple database for customer information, the enhanced customer profile will integrate an understanding of customer buying preferences, optimal targeting strategy, and predictive analytics about purchasing into enterprise customer data.

For example, let’s talk about TikTok. If you watch TikTok, the software has intelligent technology that knows what type of videos you watch and for how long. It then starts to put videos on your profile based on your past preferences. That is what sellers can start to build. For example, if you buy a certain type of jeans, let’s say skinny jeans, they can start targeting you when their new line of skinny jeans is released. 

This will be transformational to the market because contact centers can use customer interactions with historical data about the customer that can optimize digital selling, customer support, or other forms of outreach.

Bottom Line

We’ve already seen a dramatic shift in collaboration and communications this past year due to the pandemic. But it has also opened so many doors for new needs and new technologies to fulfill them. This is an important market to keep an eye on – no matter what industry you’re in. To learn more about emerging technologies or check out technologies in the adopt and mature arc, you can read the whole report here.