The Unprecedented Growth of Tech Sector

Globally, the tech sector is booming. There is no doubt that this industry has surprised us with unanticipated growth within a few years of time. The disruption that was caused by the pandemic has long been bridled and again the demand for tech related goods and services is surging. There is a growing pressure on tech companies to embrace agility and digital transformation as well as enhance the skills of their talent pools. In this blog, we will discuss some of the technologies and new positions that have emerged to uplift and contribute towards the success of this sector. So, let's begin!

Internet of things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The Internet of things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is adding comfort to your life through automation of your daily tasks. In many areas of the developed and developing countries, smart cities and homes are being built where the lights, appliances, televisions and other objects or systems are connected through the internet. These connected devices can be controlled remotely through your smartphones or tablets, by voice control features or through the touch of a button. You can adjust their settings according to your preferences i.e. setting your room lights to turn off at night when you sleep. Sensors and wireless cameras are also used in street lights to automatically turn them off in the daily light. Even self-driving vehicles are being introduced to take you to a particular destination without human operations (i.e. with the help of radars, sensors and cameras). 

Data Centers and Security

In order to keep the large amounts of data that a company has collected for the analysis, they need data centers and data analysts. This helps them to better understand customer behavior and their preferences. Later, they can create products and services accordingly. Similarly, the need for security experts is growing as hackers and foreign actors are more active than ever. Such cybercriminals try to sabotage the image of a brand by stealing their data or identity and by siphoning company secrets.

AR, VR and Healthcare Digitization

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are changing the way we interact with technology and also creating new job opportunities. These technologies create an immersive virtual environment for us or superimpose digital features (i.e. graphics, effects or images) into our physical world. The healthcare sector has been most impacted by such technological evolution. New methods have come up to diagnose and prevent the spread of diseases. Whether you have to use fitness tracking devices, perform complex surgeries or manage patients records, everything is dependent on digital technology.

In essence, sky high growth is expected in the tech sector in the coming future. Much of its success is due to the transformation of other industries like manufacturing, health and aviation where new tools, techniques and technologies are being adopted. This in turn is increasing the demand (i.e. derive demand) of the tech sector.

 

Content marketing for IT companies

To succeed in the digital age, IT companies must engage in content marketing. Content may help IT companies better explain their goods and services. Good content that is widely shared can boost your brand's authority, increase the number of leads entering the sales funnel, and improve your ranking on search engines. The six basic methods for developing a content marketing strategy for technology are listed and discussed below:

1.      Create an innovative brand voice

Companies can use brand personas to alter their voice in the same way that they use buyer personas to better understand their target for marketing and sales initiatives. The personification of a company's products and values is known as a brand persona. It is a fictional being with its own language, preferences, and hobbies.

2.      Close the gap between technology and people

When choosing your brand persona, there is a very fine line you must be aware of. Many CMOs in this field focus too much on the technological side and lose sight of the intended audience for these developments. If technological advancement does not benefit humans, it is useless. Yes, the specs and technical accomplishments still need to be the main focus of your material. However, the focus should be on how those advancements will affect our daily lives. Investing in storytelling is a terrific way to get started in the right direction. The ability to use relatable anecdotes in marketing materials can bring the reader and the topic closer together and humanize an otherwise impersonal language.

3.      Be Sociable

When planning content marketing, it's interesting to keep in mind that it's not only about the content you provide. information also depends on how you convey information and direct the conversation that follows. If people are at the core of the strategy, there can be no barriers between the brand and the audience. This is a continuation from the previous topic. As a result, be sure to strengthen your social media presence as well. Participate in community discussions and respond to inquiries about topics that the company dominates. Also, ask questions. Encourage the target market to participate in the brand's life. This common interaction will not only increase awareness of your company and its goods and services but also imprint your name in their memories.

4.      Invest in multimedia content

To be everywhere online, your material must be modified for each platform. An editorial calendar should account for various information types (based on conversion stages) and format types (based on display locations). Consider the top social media platforms currently in use: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. If engagement is your top priority, each of them needs quite specific kinds of material. Therefore, don't skimp on diversity. Create interactive material, eBooks, movies, photos, and blog articles. Repurposing themes and information into multiple parts to reach more people is a terrific tip. Finding the marketing channels that your buyer persona uses the most and focusing on them is another smart move.

5.      Elaborate a mix of topical and evergreen content

Technology is constantly evolving, which can be problematic for a marketing team if their material is not well planned. The issue is that tech news changes quickly. After a while, no content regarding a dated product or service receives significantly more views due to lack of interest. Therefore, a technology corporation should combine both novel ideas and timeless concepts. You can devote more time to in-depth discussions of ideas and theories and provide more content regarding the effects of new developments on society and culture. On this method, you gain the peak of views from innovations while also laying the groundwork for a long tail plan on your blog and social media profiles.

6.      Go into the subjects that matter

One further thing distinguishes a technology marketing strategy from those in other industries: tech fans are knowledgeable. It is always crucial to produce content that draws in and engages a larger audience, but your content needs special consideration. Conceptual and technical errors will be highlighted and exploited against you. Therefore, it is best to spend more time with this type of media.

All in all, content marketing has become an essential part of tech companies in order to reach out larger audience.

Future of IT Industry in Pakistan

The prestigious beginning of Information Technology and Computer Science in Pakistan dates back to the 1980s. Some say that the country is a late bloomer in this regard, but it is way ahead as compared to hundred other countries around the globe. In terms of performance it comes under the shed of top IT services providers. In 2021, the Global Innovation Index reported that Pakistan IT sector greatly improved and got a strong grip globally (bagged a position of 99th from among 132 countries).It is competing with many countries such as Malaysia, India, China, Indonesia and several others.

More and more people are getting computer literate and the number of technophiles is continuously increasing. This is an achievement on our behalf, since Pakistan is considered a third world country. Five lac laptops and computers are bought each year by Pakistanis and since the outbreak of the pandemic the demand significantly surged as it gave rise to work from home jobs. Since people are getting more knowledge and awareness related to information technology you can have an idea what the future will be like.

Pakistan has a wide base of information technology users. Side by side, it is also a producer and provides a number of different services such as programming, development, consultancy, network and security, computer training and many others. Even high quality information technology gadgets and devices are being manufactured here that are later exported to other countries at a low cost. This not only helps the country in revenue generation but also increases foreign reserves. A decade ago, in 2014 the foreign exchange was more than $ 525 million (twice as that in 2002). Government has planned to invest more in IT so that there can be an influx of foreign income. This will also give rise to technological advancement and more jobs will be created for those who are ardently choosing it as a field for career. With government support, the country will look up and come closer to the developed countries such as China.

Many professionals and experts are taking advantage of the internet by making a hefty sum of money in website design and development, computer programming, information management and other areas. While many top notch IT companies are outsourcing jobs so that they can get things done faster. It’s hard to believe it might be, Pakistan has a string of phenomenal hackers and bug detectors, many of them have worked for reputable companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Dropbox etc. and hunted bugs for them. In the late 90's and early 2000, internet was available only in a handful of cities, but now almost every part of the country has access to the internet.

In future, if the government extends support and facilitates the IT sector with full alacrity then surely it will leave behind many developing countries and will inch closer to the domineering IT countries. As hinted earlier, if this is done then the IT industry can bring more revenues than other sectors such as agriculture, textile or construction etc. However, with limited resources Pakistan still has a long way to go and wait for the fruitful outcome. There is a worldwide demand for tech talented individuals. Government is taking initiatives to attract and promote this sector which is a great source for foreign investment. The most promising areas are software development, e-commerce and digital services. Backed by internet and mobile services the sector seems to break all the previous barriers that hindered it to achieve some tech goals. However, much progress depends on the political situation and well planned infrastructure. A lack of skilled professionals can create obstacles in the path of growth of this sector.

Cloud Computing in Pakistan

For all the techno geeks and computer savvy individuals cloud computing is not a novel term. It has got a nod from many companies around the world and almost 90% of them are making use of this technology. In Pakistan, businesses from all sectors have seen an upward turn since the adoption of cloud computing. In recent years, the IT sector is growing exponentially and the future seems quite reassuring and momentous.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing refers to the use of the internet in order to deliver computing services which include both applications as well as tools such as software, data storage, networking, analytics, databases, servers, intelligence etc. It is a safe repository that companies use as a backup in case there is a malfunction or other issues in the local storage system or their hard drives. You can save and have access to your data and files through a remote database. This data can only be retrieved if your devices have internet access and a well-functioning software program. For many businesses it is a top preference because of its performance, efficiency, cost effectiveness (minimizes operating cost), security, speed and productivity.

Having numerous benefits, cloud computing is a boon to businesses. Its trend is surging in Pakistan because of its competitive edge, adaptability in terms of capacity and autonomous backup system. There are different types of cloud computing including public, private and hybrid. Public clouds are controlled by third party businesses who manage and operate its overall infrastructure as well as hardware and software. It is not owned by the users and provides internet storage and services through a remote server. There are several examples of public clouds including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. On the other hand, private cloud as the name suggests, provides services to its specific clients and is solely reserved for single users which are mostly businesses. They are given isolated access, however the ownership or the location rule no longer applies as many such organizations are coming up with their off premises infrastructure. There is another type of cloud computing which is an amalgamation of both public and private clouds known as the hybrid system. This system provides better security, enhances flexibility, and helps users to take maximum advantage of the infrastructure.

Advantages of Cloud Computing

Companies are always in imminent danger when it comes to data security, especially in Pakistan where there is an influx of cyber attackers that pose a potential threat. Every company needs cybersecurity teams for the protection of their sensitive data. For this purpose, many cloud providers offer features that secure their apps, data and infrastructure. They have set stringent policies to mitigate such threats. Another advantage is that it saves users storage spaces on their devices, laptops or desktops. In case of hard disk failures, disaster or other issues, its backup and recovery feature allows individuals to immediately retrieve and access files, data, music or photos. This data and information can be recovered easily from the cloud provider's network because it is available there in the form of expendable sites. Users cannot just have access to their files but they can also keep file records by storing them on Google Drive. 

One benefit of cloud computing for large businesses is that it has saved their costs and increased their productivity by eliminating different expenses. Before cloud computing, companies had to spend huge sum of money on capital such as hardware, software and on the hiring of  IT specialist to operate and manage infrastructure and server centers. Now they don’t have to waste their time on setting up all this. They can utilize this time by directing their efforts towards achieving other business objectives. Some of the largest cloud computing services have a global network with well protected data centers. They are continuously updated according to the most recent version of computer hardware. This boosts performance and helps to achieve greater economies of scales.

Disadvantages of Cloud Computing

Despite the fact that cloud computing provides security against cybercrimes and sensitive information such as financial data is protected by encryption, in case you lose the encryption key that means all your data will be lost too. There can be many technical mishaps and defaults such as natural disasters or power blackouts etc. If there is power failure in one city then users in other geographical areas would be curtailed from using cloud computing services. Another issue with cloud computing in the corporate sector is that when a number of people handle and access the portal, they end up making accidental mistakes that are carried forward and disrupts the whole system.

On the whole, cloud based applications are being used in various sectors of Pakistan including telecom, health, education, manufacturing, banking etc. It has empowered employees to share data with each other regardless of time and place. From tracking employee activities to holding meetings everything can be done digitally which ultimately boosts company’s productivity and helps them to generate revenue streams.

 

The Era of Information Technology

We have grown up hearing stories of struggle from our elders that how they used to toil under the light of the candle to study. This was the time before the internet, electricity and information technology came in. Today's modern generation will find it hard to live and survive without these technologies. If the older generation would have been here to witness these innovations, they would never be able to fathom all these achievements. The age of information technology has brought up a lot of benefits for society but along with that humans are grappling with its adverse effects too. Let’s discuss these in detail. 

The positives

Unlike humans, the tasks performed by machines have resulted in production growth. A number of activities have become automated, precise and flawless with technology. The element of automation has saved our time, helping us to utilize it in a better way. For example, if you do not have time to visit shops to buy clothes you can order it online and it will be delivered at your doorstep. Also, it has become way easier to communicate and provide efficient customer services these days. If your home Wi-Fi is not working and there is a lot of work pending, simply make a call or write an email to the customer representative and tell them about it. Within a few minutes or hours your issue will be resolved. Similarly, if you miss your loved ones who live far away from you, just by making a video call you can sense their presence.

Cybercrimes have increased significantly over the past few years. Individuals and companies’ data or confidential information is more susceptible to attacks but with powerful algorithms and efficient apps, frauds and attacks can be identified immediately. Another benefit is that technology has provided us with safety. The gadgets that you use such as smartphones or laptops have fingerprint, facial recognition and other lock mechanism features that protect your data and other private information (such as documents, files, videos or images). CCTV cameras in homes, offices or anywhere act as surveillance tools to protect your assets and possessions. Any attempt made to steal anything is simply caught on camera and you can trace the culprit easily. Not just this, global trading has become more common with time.

The negatives

The advancements made in technology has made many people jobless. The rise in unemployment is because of the fact that many tasks previously performed by workers have been replaced by machines and computers which complete the work quickly. Data security has become a major concern. Everything personal that you share over the internet can get into the hands of malicious individuals such as hackers, terrorists, criminals and even foreign rivals. There is more possibility of frauds as they can gain access to your systems, networks, business data and even bank accounts. 

People are exposed to massive amounts of information on a daily basis and they get easily distracted because of unnecessary stuff available over the internet. This affects their productivity and causes delays in the completion of work. Children have phones, tablets and laptops so their usage of social media has increased a lot. They waste time on watching games and movies and cannot focus on their schoolwork which affects their academic performance too. Kids are also exposed to inappropriate videos, content and apps that can mislead them. One major drawback is that people are suffering from many diseases such as eyesight weakness, sleep deprivation or obesity which can be problematic in the long run.

Clearly, information technology has raised the standard of living but the growing issue of invasion of privacy continues to prevail and should not be ignored.