#BizTrends2019: Tech Trends and Millennials: what’s in store for 2019?

Messaging is huge

From Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger to iMessages and WeChat, the massive evolution in messaging has resulted in a complete paradigm shift in how we communicate – among millennials especially.

In addition to face to face communication, they connect through messages via a tech platform, usually their mobile device. Within the proptech space, this also means that messaging via things like WhatsApp is becoming a popular way for tenants, landlords and agents to connect. Also, messaging itself has evolved.

From the simple SMS that was launched decades ago, today you have things like voice notes, video and augmented reality (such as the masks you can overlay on video on Snapchat and Instagram Stories) that form part of a message.

This evolution to richer messaging content means that emotions and tone are now far easier to convey, thanks to things like emojis and even your camera’s functionality.

Augmented Reality

As with messaging, augmented reality as a technology can have both consumer and business applications. As a business, for example, you can now create a full shopping experience so that a customer can browse your offering online without ever visiting your store.

Let’s say you’re a consumer shopping for couches via a mobile store on your phone. You can click on the image of the couch, which then opens your phone’s camera and places the couch image in your lounge, so you can see how it would look in the context of your own space.

So, augmented reality is not just about entertainment and putting funny filters on your face – it’s actually changing the way we engage with businesses, how we experience marketing, and how we consume products and services.

In a property context, many companies are now using 3D cameras overlaid in a property’s interior to give a more realistic experience of the home that a person may be looking to rent or buy. Smartphones have gyroscopes built into them, which means that with this functionality, you feel like you are actually moving inside the home.

Virtual Reality

Whether it’s for entertainment or business purposes, virtual reality allows you to “jump into” a moment in time remotely, whether it’s a home you want to rent, a birthday party you want to share with your cousins in Australia, or a specialised surgeon helping another surgeon with an operation via another city or country.

No matter what industry it is, virtual reality is overhauling everything in terms of how we engage and how processes work.