Reflecting on the Last 20 Years of the Gartner Hype Cycle

Strap on your seatbelt for a trip down memory lane as we rewind to 2003, when flip phones were new, hours were spent playing Snake on Nokias, and the internet made fun, loooong noises every time you connected.

Among the fun options that sparked significant interest were VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), WiFi standardization, and the advent of corporate blogging.

• VoIP, WiFi standards, and video conferencing were beginning to revolutionize the ease and frequency of communication, and geographic barriers began to fall.

• Corporate blogging emerged as a new way for businesses to engage with their audience, humanize their brand, and share insights. Does anyone use that these days?

• Web-service-enabled business models began to allow the internet to further shape business, and …

Looking back, we can see just how much these technologies have shaped our present-day experience, influencing the way we communicate, work, and do business. The ebb and flow of technology is a fascinating phenomenon to observe.

These developments, considered novel and met with initial hesitation, have now become indispensable both to our professional operations and personal lives. VoIP and WiFi, for instance, have revolutionized communication, eliminating the constraints of distance and fostering global connections. And corporate blogging has evolved into content marketing, a crucial aspect of brand building and customer engagement. Web-service-enabled business models have evolved into SaaS products, and video calling is a part of everyday life. 

The cutting-edge technology of today often becomes the commonplace tech of tomorrow. Take, for instance, smartphones. What was once a novel, luxurious item has now become a daily essential for most of us, ingrained seamlessly into our daily routines.

Even once-unthinkable capabilities – such as video conferencing or instantaneous access to global information – are now as commonplace as making a phone call.

Imagine telling someone, even a mere decade ago, that Artificial Intelligence (AI) would soon be as common as our smartphones. They would likely have been mind-boggled, unable to comprehend such rapid technological advancement. 

Place yourself in a conversation from 30 years back, predicting that unassuming devices in our pockets would be capable of learning, making decisions, and even predicting our needs.

Yet, here we are, living in an age where AI permeates our everyday existence, from voice assistants like Siri and Alexa to LLMs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, and even algorithms that recommend what movie we might enjoy next.

However, as technology continues to evolve at an astonishing pace, even these everyday technologies could eventually face obsolescence. Remember VHS tapes? Or floppy disks? And at this point, remember DVDs & CDs?

Once staples of their time, these technologies now reside in the annals of history, replaced by more efficient, compact, and user-friendly alternatives. The cycle of tech life is such that today's innovation is tomorrow's norm and the next day's antique.

Just as the past two decades brought technologies that revolutionized our lives, the next era promises advancements that currently dwell in the realm of imagination.

As we move forward, the speed of technological innovation will continue to accelerate, creating a world that is more interconnected, intelligent, and innovative. Such is the exhilarating rhythm of technological evolution - perpetually propelling us towards a future filled with infinite possibilities.

And if you really want to relive the early 2000s, feel free to change your Slack/Teams alert tone to "You've Got Mail." It'll only get annoying after the 75th message of the hour.