New technology trends emerge during the pandemic era

Deloitte announced its “Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions Report” showing how technology, media and telecommunications trends can affect businesses and consumers worldwide. In the report examining the economic and social effects of the pandemic; the effect of the pandemic on the growth in media areas such as virtual environments, cloud technologies and sports is revealed.

Telemedicine: Doctor visits will be carried out through video calls

COVID-19 has had a transformative effect on healthcare services, as well as on many areas. A worldwide “telemedicine” trend, including doctor visits though video calls, has started rapidly. The pandemic not only required the removal of legal barriers to such visits, but also helped patients, especially those over the age of 65, to better understand and benefit from video call practices. Deloitte predicts that 5% of doctor visits will be carried out virtually in 2021, 5 times more than the levels of 2019.

Virtual reality market used in education and corporate life will grow 100%

As 3D technologies gain popularity in corporate life and education, the digital reality market is growing. In terms of virtual, augmented and mixed reality, Deloitte predicts that sales of wearable headsets (collectively known as XR or digital reality) for corporate and educational use will increase 100% in 2021 compared to 2019 levels.

Market growth for these topics has already accelerated as employees and students migrate to the virtual system due to COVID-19. It is predicted that virtual reality heads will continue to strengthen their position after the pandemic, thanks to the different benefits such as low cost, security and making learning continuous.

Cloud systems will be the primary solution for businesses

According to the TMT Predictions Report, the cloud market grew faster in 2020 than in 2019, this was due to the increased demand because of shutdowns and remote working during COVID-19. Deloitte predicts that annual revenue increases in this market will be over 30% from 2021 to 2025, as companies turn more to cloud systems to save money, become more agile and support innovation.

With the pandemic moving more businesses to the cloud, this market will likely emerge stronger than ever. Cloud providers and other players in the ecosystem will benefit from increased usage as cloud users seek new ways for the cloud to create value. In the near future, cloud technologies may become the primary solution for many businesses.

Women’s sports will be commercialized, athlete performance measurements will be digitalized

Despite the decrease in the number of sports events in 2020, the growth potential has not decreased. Deloitte predicts two main trends in sports as the commercialization of women’s sports and the use of digital platforms to measure athlete performances. These two trends are expected to continue to grow in the market.

Women’s sports are on the way to worth more than 1 billion USD in the coming years. The potential of women’s sports to be watched on television, to add value to sponsors and to attract fans has been demonstrated many times over the past decade. Just as COVID-19 has dragged many aspects of society to fundamental change, Deloitte predicts that women’s sports will be perceived, supported and commercialized in new ways.

Another change to be seen in sports is the collection and analysis of athlete data. As this data becomes real time even more, it is now possible to measure indicators inside and outside the body, creating hundreds of new measurements to feed the decision making processes, basically creating a digital athlete. With the strong potential of measuring athlete performance, Deloitte predicts that by the end of 2021, many professional sports leagues will establish new official policies regarding the collection, use and commercialization of player data.

Highlights of the 2021 TMT Predictions Report:

• 8K wave begins: 8K TV sales are expected to reach 5 billion USD in 2021; investments in equipment and services for producing 8K content will increase by hundreds of millions of dollars.
• The 5G health myth is shattered: Deloitte estimates that radiation from 5G mobile networks and phones is unlikely to affect the health of any individual. However, in order for it to have an effect on decreasing the fear, information on 5G needs to be consistently and mandatorily spreading now.
• New generation RANs are accelerating: Open and virtualized radio access networks (RANs) provide mobile network operators with the potential to reduce costs and increase vendor selection as they adopt 5G. By 2025, the share of Open RAN in the RAN market is projected to grow 10 times or more.

Evaluating the report, Deloitte Turkey Technology, Media&Telecommunications Industry Leader Metin Aslantaş stated that: “As the pandemic redefines every element of business life, TMT has great expectations on telemedicine, digital education and sports technology this year. This change will likely enter our lives permanently. In this context, it will not be surprising to see that institutions operating in these sectors to become technology companies by redesigning their own products. The explosion of internet traffic demand in our country, along with every corner of the globe, will lead to the prominence of the industry players who offer innovative solutions to 5G and RAN investments.”