Kingdom of Bahrain

the world as a whole moving away from
postal to electronic communications,
postal companies are gravely affected by
this communications evolution. With few
exceptions, they have little or no history,
experience or technology when it comes to
pushing for a more digital world.
That said, they know where people live
and who stays in one household together.
Consequently they have an unique ability
to leverage identities in a physical-digital
world fabric. However whether they can
eventually make use of this opportunity
remains to be seen.
Device Manufacturers and Software
Companies
Interaction with technology is greatly
changing alongside the evolution of
communications – both in terms of
hardware as well as software. In software
we’re seeing the rise of chatbots and
hardware is getting a personality makover
of its own. This is driven by design thinking
and human device interaction: so far we
literally had to be “in touch” with our
devices in order to operate them, but now
communications and control is available
from our smartphones via the same
messaging platforms which push chat
bots and manage our human to human
communications electronically already
(refer to “How People and Machines
communicate in Future” for more detail).
Therefore it is an enormous opportunity
for both makers and developers to
accelerate their development and offering
by having an innovation strategy in place
which is aligned with the evolution of
communications.
Becoming an enabler for IoT – the
Internet of Things
No matter which industry you’re in, the
ongoing evolution of communications will
touch your work and customers. The easiest
way to not get disrupted in the process is
to be aligned with the current phase of this
communications evolution, to see and to
seize the opportunities that come with it,
and to potentiatlly even become a force for
disruption in your own industry.
In the current state of this evolution,
IoT plays a dominant role. Becoming an
enabler for IoT, or, at the minimum, having
a strategy in place which supports those
enabling this next phase would certainly
create new opportunities but at the very
least could simply ensure survival.
The above example industries could all be
key influencers in IoT. Telcos could be part
of the “I”nternet’s infrastructure, postal
companies manage the “o”f identities
between man and machine and device
makers and software developers naturally
develop “T”hings for IoT.
The glue which brings it all together is
“intelligent IoT messaging”. It’s easier (and
safer!) for smart, connected machines
to talk with humans using text-based
messaging. Technologically speaking,
the apps we currently use to control and
manage our smart devices are all API-driven
anyway. Therefore – for now – text trumps
voice recognition as it eliminates the
problems of understanding different voices,
accents, and dialects.
Eventually of course there will be an
Artificial General Intelligence (or “AGI”)
powered interface which rules them all –
whether that is messaging, voice or thought
(see below “Future Outlook”) based – but
that is likely still years away. Often it is
not technology which isn’t ready, but our
behaviour in society. For instance it would
still be awkward (at best) for you to host
your next dinner party while yelling at all
of your appliances as you entertain your
guests.
In the meantime text-based messaging
offers us the privacy and security of
controlling our smart devices and having
them communicate with us without others
even noticing. Your appliances, for example,
could tell you when each food is ready.
Future Outlook
Research tells us the generation currently
entering the workforce prefer text-based
messaging for communications in both their
human and their machine relationships.
I predict, however, that the next
generations, those born after 2020, will
prefer voice. After seeing their parents
glued to their screens, they will long for
voice-based interaction and (following) its
easy, intuitive commands driven by AGIpowered
personal assistants.
Latest 2040, I believe thought-based
communications will start to be en
vogue and then making the channel use
irrelevant. This certainly guarantees that
each generation will become even more
impatient than the last.
Electric communication will never be a
substitute for the face of someone who with
their soul encourages another person to be
brave and true” – Charles Dickens
The takeaway for makers, researchers and
developers?
For the next five years, focus on text
integration rather than building an app; and
latest from 2020 on, focus on direct voice
integration with AGI-powered assistants.
The underlying technologies of AGI and
intelligent IoT messaging will evolve over
the next decade so developers can continue
to create the next generation of messaging
technologies alongside the ongoing
communications evolution.
10 January 2017