GREENVILLE — The next 10 years will see more technological change than the whole of the last century. That’s the prediction of one IT expert who works with Greenville businesses as they plan for the years ahead.

According to Mark Howell of Darke Cloud Solutions, “The pace of change in tech has always been blistering, but it’s nothing compared with what’s to come. There are amazing opportunities coming down the track, but consumers are quick to adopt new tech and they’ll expect businesses to keep up with the pace of change. Those that choose the right tech could be the biggest winners as the world evolves.”

Perhaps the biggest change will come as the Internet of Things reaches ever further into our daily lives. Howell continued, “As more of our home and business devices talk to each other over a mobile connection – our cars, refrigerators, phones, health trackers – information will move faster, and it will get easier and easier to connect with each other. This will open a whole new world of efficiency and new ways to live and work.”

Developments in Artificial Intelligence and biometrics will be the next huge leap, and Howell believes that more than half of our interactions with computers, and other business systems, will soon happen using AI – often without us even realizing: “Many of us already chat happily to Siri and Alexa, and these kinds of conversations with computers will become the normal way of life in the coming years.”

Meanwhile, biometric tech will come to dominate the way we identify ourselves. He said, “Tools like facial recognition, retinal scanning, and signature identification will all become more commonplace.”

And all of this will happen against a backdrop of a constant need to protect the environment. Howell continued, “Renewable energy, cleaner transport, and greater energy efficiency are all high on the future agenda. Consumers will demand it, and businesses that don’t keep up will find themselves losing out. The faster we all adopt cleaner tech, the cheaper it will become, and use will grow more widespread.”

The company was formed in 2014 and specializes in supporting local businesses in the Greenville area.