If 2020 was the year of uncertainty, 2021 looks to be the year of efficiency.
That’s according to three Bay Area technology leaders who point to the continued evolution of technology that automates and simplifies everyday tasks — like getting a mortgage, financial investing and accessing data. By making these tasks more efficient, it will “help people keep more of their time — and more of their money,” said Better.com Director of Engineering Patrick Ring.
In order to dig a bit deeper into the tech trends they’re watching in 2021, Built In SF asked leaders from three local companies to weigh in and explain how it’ll affect the specific industry they operate in.
The Growth of ARM Architecture
“One of the upcoming technology trends to watch out for in the coming years is the growth of ARM architecture in the data center and client space,” Dixit said. “ARM has long dominated the low-performance, low-power industry of smartphones, but as this market growth slows, ARM architecture is finding inroads into other computing segments.
“ARM has been a player in the data center space for quite some time, and there’s a long list of companies that have tried to make ARM CPUs work in this space and failed. With ARM’s renewed commitment to revamp their CPU roadmap (adding Neoverse) with feature additions to enable a high-performance CPU while sticking to their DNA of improved Perf/W in the data center space, it has now made them more relevant in this domain. By embracing ARM, cloud service providers — like Amazon, which is looking to vertically integrate and provide customers with comparable performance and low-cost options — are only adding to their much-needed credibility. Top hyperscalers looking to provide that differentiation by building their own hardware optimized for their workloads makes ARM a lucrative option to pursue.
Top hyperscalers looking to provide that differentiation by building their own hardware optimized for their workloads makes ARM a lucrative option to pursue.”
“However, ARM’s licensed core business model hamstrings CPU vendors to use cores that are primarily defined by ARM’s roadmap. It’s important to note that, to create differentiation in this ARM CPU space, custom CPU microarchitecture is key to extracting the best Perf and Perf/W out of the system. One great example is the Apple Silicon M1 chip in the Mac products that were announced recently. ARM has been dabbling in this client CPU space with not much success until the launch of the M1 chip, which has now become a breakthrough product, putting it a generation ahead of its x86 rivals in that form factor. Custom microarchitecture done right, and tight integration between software and hardware, have been important elements in delivering this experience.
“NUVIA’s approach is to continue down such a path of reimagining silicon design to enable leadership performance, energy efficiency and scalability to power the next era of computing in the data center.”
Sriram Dixit is the product marketing and competitive benchmarking lead at hardware company NUVIA.
More Personalized Offerings
“Until recently, the tech evolution in finance has been focused on single-targeted use cases (direct banking, payments, point-of-sale lending, loyalty and stock and crypto trading),” Truong said. “As these products mature around the same time, we’ll start seeing faster consolidation to provide comprehensive offerings and experiences amongst both tech-centric and traditional banks.
“For companies to be successful, they will need to build off the full range of customer data from all products and interactions to deliver a seamless and complete experience. This will drive deeper investment in data and machine learning to create a more holistic view of what a consumer wants and serve more personalized offerings. Affirm has expanded along this path, offering a high-yield savings account with no minimum and no fees and personalized shopping and offers experience in the mobile app, in conjunction with our Buy Now, Pay Later product.”
Hai Truong is VP of growth analytics at Affirm, a fintech company that brings transparency to consumer credit.
Simplifying Everyday Tasks
“The trend I would like to call out is bringing smartphone simplicity to important aspects of people’s lives,” Ring said. “I believe a key measure of success in technology is its impact on wasted time. There’s an interesting argument that one of the most important inventions ever is the washing machine. The reason for that is the amount of time it unlocks in people’s lives. Free time is fundamental to enabling creativity and innovation, and in my opinion, is one of the more important factors for quality of life.
“Digital tech radically changed shipping, logistics, manufacturing and other large-scale, primarily commercial, industries. However, many gains for people have yet to directly materialize. There have certainly been many attempts made to build ‘smart’ things with varying success. But a tweeting fridge isn’t actually saving me any time in my life.
“This is why I’m watching the fintech sector and the auto industry very closely right now. And interestingly enough, I see similar trends in those areas right now. I see tech coming to maturity to automate and simplify tasks people had to spend inordinate amounts of time — and anxiety — on in the past. With self-driving cars, we are changing the commute from being wasted time to productive time. With fintech’s moves to automate lending and investments, we are removing massive costs in both money and time from people’s financial dealings.
There have certainly been many attempts made to build ‘smart’ things with varying success. But a tweeting fridge isn’t actually saving me any time in my life.”
“Self-driving cars are some ways away, but electric cars and drastic improvements to driving assisted tech are shifting how people view car ownership. We’re moving to a world where a car is more like your smartphone. And you might even have a subscription for it. Tesla is pushing a model where you can’t even buy out your car after the lease ends. Mainstream car manufacturers are heavily committed to this space and are making big moves.
“At the same time, companies like Plaid, Betterment and Better are moving to remove all the time you’re spending on financial processes. In the future, you will just put your money in Betterment and it’ll be invested and managed automatically. Sign up for Better and your lending needs will be met — be it buying a house, leasing a car or a short-term loan.
“This will change a lot about how people approach finance. I think it will add transparency and unlock a world of easy access to something that was obscure and hard to approach. It will let ordinary people invest, keep track of their finances, homeownership and car in an easy and transparent way.
“A company that can leverage tech, that approaches homeownership as a whole and can streamline that into one simple experience will help people keep more of their time — and more of their money. A self-driving home experience, if you will.”
Patrik Ring is the director of engineering at Better.com, a homeownership platform.
