25 Tech Predictions for 2020

1/16/2020 25 Tech Predictions for 2020 | Inc.com
https://www.inc.com/christina-desmarais/25-tech-predictions-for-2020.html 1/8
By Christina DesMarais Contributor, Inc.com @salubriousdish
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25 Tech Predictions for 2020
Much will be different, relative to ten years ago.
GETTY IMAGES
The year 2020 opens a new decade and much will be different, relative to ten years ago. Here are more than two dozen
predictions about what to expect, according to industry experts and executives.
1. Consumers will increasingly demand more privacy
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"In terms of the issue of consumer privacy, two things are going to affect businesses greatly: the California Consumer
Privacy Act (CCPA) becoming effective in January 2020 and Internet users continuing to be increasingly sensitive to how
their data is collected, used, and managed. It is likely that we will see more cloud-based solutions offering privacy-related
features in order to help businesses optimize the performance of their processes, in full compliance with the law and --
most importantly -- with fair practices."
--Thibaud Clement, cofounder and CEO of Loomly, a marketing platform that achieved 600% growth in 2018, serving 4,000
marketing teams around the world
2. Biometric data will power more wearables
"With the rise of spatial computing environments like virtual, mixed, and augmented realities and the rise of 5G enabling
more real-time capture of biometric data from your wearables, we're about to see a shift in how people use their biometric
data. No longer are people just tracking their data on a at dashboard sequestered to their wrists, they're interacting with
it... by using their heart rate and brainwaves as inputs to control spatial computing environments and other content. Users
aren't just watching stories. They're feeling them. For decades, people thought of meditation as a closed-eyed experience
that you practiced with an earbud with your eyes closed. But with virtual and augmented reality, meditation is now an
eyes-open experience that you don't just passively watch, you can actually feel these spatial environments with the data
collected from your smartwatch or brain-sensing headband. Your brainwaves and your heart rate are a remote control
that's powering these experiences. Lower your heart rate and watch the scenes change color, sound, texture, and
sharpness. Think positive thoughts and watch how your brain patterns change the scene in a virtual or augmented reality
experience. In 2020, I think you'll see new players emerge that answer the important question of... am I doing it right?
These new kinds of meditation are harnessing the power of your body's own electricity via your wearables to allow the
user to feel content in ways that have never been done before."
--Sarah Hill, CEO and Chief Storyteller of Healium, an AR/VR platform powered by consumer wearables with 40,0000
downloads since its beta
3. There will be more investing in quantum tech
"This technology has the potential to be a major driver of future breakthrough advances in areas such as arti cial
intelligence and healthcare. Many of the opportunities for investments in hardware are now in the later stage, but the
broader investment community should look out for the enabling technologies and software that will start to emerge for
the hardware platforms. We believe the technology is at an in ection point and has enough momentum for more investors
to now engage in various ventures. The United States and China are the two heavyweights competing for leadership in
quantum computing. While the United States has a rst-mover advantage and maintains a lead, China is making heavy

investments in pursuit of a variety of breakthroughs. This technology may not reach mainstream consumer applications
for a little while, but there will de nitely be a variety of companies across a range of industries that look to integrate this
technology over the next three to ve years. For example, companies such as QC Ware are already working on a variety of
real-world use cases such as optimization problems, chemistry simulations, Monte Carlo Methods, differential equations,
and machine learning."
--Anis Uzzaman, CEO of Pegasus Tech Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based VC managing more than 20 multi-million dollar
funds, with total assets under management of $1.5 billion
4. People will begin recession-proofing their credit
"Recessions have historically had a snowball effect on families. In an economy with fewer jobs, less income, and more
layoffs, families are forced to use credit to cover everyday expenses, on top of the $1 trillion in credit card debt they
already have. If circumstances don't improve rapidly enough, even one or two months of missed payments can send
credit scores tumbling into subprime territory, signi cantly limiting credit options and increasing borrowing costs. To
prevent this downward spiral, consumers worried about a 2020 recession are taking preventative measures now by using
credit-building ntech tools to bolster their credit scores in advance."
--James Garvey, CEO of Self Financial, Inc., a ntech startup that has helped more than 400,000 people build credit
5. Publishers will leverage AI more
"Publishers have been struggling with how best to monetize content since the early days of the internet. In 2020 we'll see
some major overhauls in the way publishers leverage technology to rebuild their relationships with readers. Metered
paywalls will be a thing of the past as publishers use machine learning and AI to get better at predicting readers' interest
in different content, and their likelihood to subscribe."
--Trevor Kaufman, CEO of Piano, a subscription commerce and customer experience technology and services provider for
more than 1,000 sites including Business Insider, The Economist, CNBC, Hearst and the Associated Press
6. Businesses will maximize opportunities with RevOps

"Over the last few years, businesses started moving towards a unifying team -- Revenue Operations (RevOps) -- to align
GTM teams (Sales, Marketing and Customer Success) and help de-silo customer data. [Next year] will see the evolution of
Revenue Operations to be the coming together of all revenue-driving teams. Businesses will leverage solutions that enable
them streamline revenue operations from sales to nance to maximize revenue opportunities and plug revenue leaks."
--Krish Subramanian, cofounder and CEO of Chargebee, a subscription management platform which raised a $14 million
Series D funding round in 2019
7. Neural interfaces will change the way we think
"We will see early commercial applications of neural interfaces allowing people to think to computers. Today the I/O to
our brain is speech and text. It's like using a dial-up modem as the I/O to the AWS cloud. We need a higher bandwidth
machine-human interface. No, this isn't science ction. Facebook bought CTRL-Labs and a team at UCSF has successfully
created computer-generated speech for the disabled by processing brain and nervous system activity and converting it
into instructions to a computer.
--Chip Meakem, cofounder and managing partner of Tribeca Venture Partners, a multi-stage venture capital rm that
partners almost exclusively with New York City entrepreneurs to help create and disrupt massive market opportunities
8. 5G technologies will advance the enterprise
"5G will evolve rapidly throughout 2020 and beyond, with use cases skewing somewhat more towards enterprise
applications vs. historical cycles. With the growing bene ts of increased bandwidth and lower latency accelerating
enterprise applications, investments in 5G technologies will rise and corporate venture capital rms will be an important
mechanism to provide opportunities -- beyond capital -- for entrepreneurs to test, learn and succeed in the 5G ecosystem."
--Chris Bartlett, SVP of corporate development and head of Verizon Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Verizon
9. Deepfakes will take aim at the 2020 elections
"The technology able to produce synthetic media and Deepfakes (altered video that presents something factually or
visually inaccurate, such as editing one person's face onto video of another) has advanced rapidly and become much

more widely available. As many have feared, in 2020 we'll see the rst large-scale, malicious use of Deepfakes aimed to
in uence the presidential election. Through an attack on truth and rapid momentum through social media networks, at
least one Deepfake attack will cause a good deal of outrage. The rest will fall at due to a combination of greater
awareness by the general public to be more skeptical of video evidence circulating online, and publishers and social
platforms employing detection tools to help them identify Deepfakes and blunt their impact."
--Peter Rojas, partner at Betaworks Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in technologies that in uence
cultural transformation and consumer behavior including Deeptrace, a company building the anti-virus software for
Deepfakes
10. The cord-cutting trend will reach its apex
"With the increasing number of streaming services being rolled out, it's important to look at the market saturation from the
standpoint of the consumer. The quality and price point of the offers out there are compelling, but households don't have
unlimited funds in their monthly budgets to spend on entertainment. As it stands, a lot of the content that comes from
traditional cable can now be viewed on a streaming service or free through various apps. Taking these two factors into
consideration, it appears the tipping point for a mass migration away from traditional cable has been reached. It's no
longer a question of how many consumers are cutting the cord. It's a question of how many households only subscribe to
app-based, OTT entertainment services and how many they'll be willing to pay for at once."
--Robert Delf, CEO of Rightsline, a multi-tenant SaaS rights and contract management platform working with Disney, Hulu,
Amazon, and other entertainment and tech companies
11. The voice assistant revolution will move into the car
"It is estimated that there will be eight billion digital voice assistants in use by 2023. As voice assistants continue to
dominate the home, the in-vehicle usage has remained relatively limited to navigation, despite being one of the only
environments that truly requires a hands-free experience. In 2020, the in-vehicle experience will undergo a major overhaul
with the incorporation of voice-assistant technology, and drivers will begin to see new features including entertainment
options emerge, which have hardly changed since the introduction of the radio."
--Niko Vuori, cofounder and CEO of Drivetime, an interactive audio entertainment company which has received more than
$15 million in funding led by a syndicate of technology and media investors including Makers Fund, Amazon's Alexa Fund
and Google
12. More apps will foster human connection and experiences
"Despite the emergence of social media platforms and tools designed to connect, the rapid adoption of technology is
creating an environment prime for isolation. After years of being bystanders in social media algorithms, people are
beginning to crave human connections and experiences beyond the digital world. In 2020, we will see more apps and
technologies used to bridge the virtual and physical world to build human connections, relationships and communities
through shared interests."

--Haleh Emrani, CEO of SageDom and founder of TennisPAL, a tennis community with an average of 500 daily users
13. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and big data will
become even more pervasive in retail
"Retail is consistently one of the most dynamic industries in the world, constantly changing to better serve the rapidly
evolving needs and expectations of an increasingly diverse consumer base. As we head into a new decade and shoppers
continue to move deeper into a digital- rst lifestyle, 'Personalized, Connected, Now' will be non-negotiables for retailers of
every size. To deliver on this and ensure consistent, convenient and engaging brand experiences at every touch point,
next-gen technologies such as arti cial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and big data will become even more
pervasive throughout the on- and o ine shopping journey."
--Jan-Christopher Nugent, cofounder and CEO of Branded Online, one of Inc. magazine's 2019 fastest-growing companies
and an e-commerce technology provider to brands including Bebe, Blank NYC and Honeywell
14. Consumers will become more demanding
"The consumer revolution will continue to rage on in 2020 with the spotlight shifting to c-commerce. All different types of
industries -- be it retail, real estate, e-commerce and more -- will be making drastic changes to the way they do business in
order to attract consumer attention and purchasing power. More than ever, consumers in 2020 will demand the ability to
get their goods where and when they want them. To survive and thrive in 2020, we'll see more companies rolling out
exible solutions to meet the minute-by-minute needs and lifestyles of the ever-evolving consumer. Technology is
transforming the way we use goods and services and, in the end, are signi cantly impacting and elevating our
expectations as consumers. More convenience. More speed. More access. More security. More personalization. That is
the name of the c-commerce game in 2020."
--Colleen Lambros, CMO of Parcel Pending, a secure parcel locker provider which delivers 1.6 million packages monthly
15. Local, nonprofit news outlets will fight against misinformation on tech platforms
"Tech platforms still have a long way to go to solve the problem of mis- and dis-information going into the 2020 election
cycle. While the public conversation focuses on what Twitter and Facebook will do next, there is a quiet movement taking

shape in the background: the growth of nonpro t, public-serving news. These outlets -- from City Bureau in Chicago to
MLK50 in Memphis -- have a public mission and a civic calling. Their journalists are neighbors, not TV entertainers. In
2020, it will be these nonpro t outlets who step in to make a difference by providing their communities with the
independent, nonpartisan, and trusted news that they need to participate in the most important election of our lifetimes."
--Jason Alcorn, project director of NewsMatch, a national matching-gift campaign that grows fundraising capacity in
nonpro t newsrooms and promotes giving to journalism which has helped to raise more than
$14.8 million
16. Cashierless and autonomous retail technology will gain faster adoption
"While countries like China have embraced a truly cashless society, the U.S. is inching closer to this business model as
retailers experiment with autonomous retail. Amazon Go is the dominant player and we will continue to see more
competitors enter the space with new ways of incorporating cashier-less technology. In the 2020 decade, the winners will
promote widespread adoption through user-friendly integrations, as a stepping stone to fully autonomous technology.
These solutions will bring curated goods where the users live, work, and play. Additionally, the data captured by these new
solutions will change traditional models of marketing and supply chain. Traditional retailers (who do not have the means
to incorporate this technology) can stay a oat by introducing form factors -- mini smart stores --such as Stockwell, and
improve commerce at the 'last hundred feet' for customers.
--David Cheng, VP at early-stage capital rm DCM, the youngest VP in the rm's history and a member of the Forbes 30
Under 30 Venture Capital 2019 list
17. Climate change will drastically transform tech and business
"More businesses will be negatively impacted by climate change and the resulting extreme weather, as is happening right
now in the insurance business. More technology businesses will be funded to help adapt to the new environment."
--Sean Harper, cofounder and CEO of insuretech startup Kin, which has raised $64 million in funding since its inception in
2016
18. Profitable growth will require loyalty
"Next year, we'll see brands reprioritize what matters most: pro table growth, not just growth for the sake of growth.
Historically, growth has meant spending more to build market share on the hope that market dominance will eventually
translate into pricing power and eventual pro ts. But that model will shift. As the cost of user acquisition continues to
grow, 2020 will see marketers place a greater emphasis on loyalty. Mary Meeker cited this in her last Internet Trends
Report, noting customer acquisition costs might be 'rising to unsustainable levels.' Building long term relationships with
consumers, learning how their a nities for things ebb and ow, and delivering constant improvement in marketing
messages will be key to 2020 business success."
--Adam Singolda, CEO at Taboola, a technology company that helps people discover what's interesting and new, and works
with more than 20,000 companies to reach over 1.4 billion people each month

19. It will become clear that execution is about team
"Businesses, whether startups, tech unicorns, or established corporations, will focus on the intersection between success,
execution and the people. If there's anything we should garner from the recent stories about WeWork and Uber, it's this:
people matter more than anything else, including the boss or the business plan. With the right people, you can turn an idea
into a thriving organization that's not only pro table but also impactful. Without the right people, all you have is a failed
idea. This will be the year tech companies place an emphasis on operating to a higher ethical standard (call it ethic-lash) -
focusing on honest execution in large part by treasuring their people who create value for each other, the company, its
customers, and society at large. Getting this right has always been paramount, but 2020 will be the year it comes to the
fore."
--Will Glaser, CEO and founder of checkout-free technology startup Grabango, a CNBC 100 world's most promising startup of
2019, and the former CTO and original co-founder of Pandora Media, which was purchased by SiriusXM for $3.5 billion in
2018
20. Crowdsourced delivery will increase
"More and more, the travel industry is looking for innovative solutions to logistical problems that have plagued modern
travelers forever -- like crowdsourced delivery, which is helping airlines return late baggage and hoteliers get left-behind
items back to guests. The gig economy has opened up a lot of out-of-the-box solutions to old, persistent problems. I think
we'll see that trend increase through 2020 and beyond."
--Marc Gorlin, founder and CEO of Roadie, a crowdsourced delivery service with over 150,000 drivers nationwide
21. OEM builders will build more intelligence into their machines
"[This is] in recognition of the shortage of well-quali ed technical staff in the eld. They are adding predictive
maintenance capabilities, they want fault-tolerance, and increased autonomy. There is no longer a de ned line between
the machine and the data. They are now intertwined. Machines can communicate and share data, without requiring staff
with technical training."

25 Tech Predictions for 2020

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