Here's how the next wave of tech advances will transform small business in Australia

The desktop and smart phone revolutions were really just the beginning. From conversations with giant tech companies like Cisco, Google and Xero, you get the impression that we have only scratched the surface of what technologies like the cloud, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence have to offer. The business world has already been transformed but small businesses and entrepreneurs in Australia and around the world are about to be handed a new level of power and opportunity in the connected world. The coming decade will see leaps and bounds in what our devices can do as they connect to the enormous power of the cloud. Meanwhile, the sheer number of devices connected will explode, from around 7 billion now to upwards of 50 billion by 2020.