Technological aspects of macro environment

Technological factors are variables which relate to the development of technology.

Without a doubt, internet connectivity has changed the world as we know it. The internet helps companies to gain access to a much wider market and a greatly increased pool of customers. Recent developments in big data have served to help businesses to accurately understand their customers’ needs and tailor their products and services accordingly.

The internet has not only changed our lives in countless ways, but it has also created many new companies, adopting new strategies. For example, the development of 3D technology has improved the efficiency of production, which has had a hugely positive impact on financial performance for many firms.

Technological factors include:

• Maturity of technology
• Innovation potential
• Technology development (the below diagram details the rise of the internet)
• Technology legislation
• Technology access, licencing and patents
• Intellectual property issues

The International Data Corporation (IDC) is forecasting a 19% growth in cloud computing services to US $210 Billion in 2019, this is a significant increase in their 2016 growth projection (Chart) made in 2016. The huge increase in global data management can be seen as a clear result of ‘Technological Globalisation’.

Your task

For this task please read the following two articles and be prepared to discuss the impact the technologies (driverless cars and 5G mobile phones) will bring to the automobile and telecommunication industries.

• CNN online news web page (2019) article titled: ‘Driverless cars will be on UK roads by 2021, says government’ and
• BBC News (2018) website article titled: ‘What is 5G and what will it mean for you?’.

References

_{BBC News. (2018). What is 5G and what will it mean for you?. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44871448}

_{Kolirin, L. (2019). Driverless cars will be on UK roads by 2021, says government. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/06/uk/driverless-cars-scli-gbr-intl/index.html}