The Future of Real-Time Communication

Modern communication in the private as well as business segment has undergone tremendous change since the introduction of digital technologies. This change is still going on and leads to disruptive new technologies, tools and behaviors. One of the key trends in this area is real-time information exchange in all imaginable forms. With email and telephony still being the dominant communication and interaction means today this report analyzes how further real-time communication means may look like in the future and how they could change our lives.
This report is structured in three parts, notably Trends, Scenarios and Ideation. Accordingly, the authors first analyzed status quo and trends in the topic of Real-Time Communication. Building upon these findings four scenarios have been developed vividly depicturing possible futures. In the Ideation part four business concepts are described and tested against the scenarios.
The envisioned concepts range from Wavelength (a mobile application that supports ad-hoc introductions to new people fitting the own interests depending on the context) and AccessOne (a smart communication agent integrating multiple different communication channels for an enhanced ease of use) over EduHub (a service that enriches educational platforms by offering virtual rooms equipped with supporting smart agents) to Wanderlust (a smart agent that supports business and leisure travelers with real-time recommendations and schedules).