Quantum Computing What It Is And 7 Ways It Helps Businesses

In recent years, some technology giants such as Google, Microsoft, Intel and IBM have been working on what could mean a new technological revolution: quantum computing. Join me to discover what it is and its applications in the business world.

What Is Quantum Computing?

Superposition allows us to store many more possible states than classical bits, giving rise to the so-called “quantum bits” or qubits, and entanglement makes the operations in a given qubit affect the rest, thus saving the process of introducing bitwise changes.

The result is that we can operate with advanced algorithms such as quantum tempering and Shor’s algorithm with quantum computing. The first has many applications in artificial intelligence and machine learning, while the second allows for creating encryption systems that make the current ones obsolete.

For now, quantum computing is not a suitable tool for personal computers but is limited to the corporate, scientific and technological world due to its great complexity. But we already see very significant advances, and who knows if we will be able to have desktop computers or even quantum mobile devices in a few decades.

Seven Applications Of Quantum Computing For Companies

Data analysis

Quantum computing can help us solve problems on a previously unimaginable scale. For example, there is a field of study called “topological analysis” whose calculations are impossible to do with today’s computers due to the data set it uses. In contrast, with quantum computing, these calculations are relatively straightforward.

Predictions

Making predictions of different scenarios requires using large and complex data sets. For example, weather simulations using traditional computing methods limit the amount of data they can handle. If you enter too much data into the system, the simulation takes longer to run than change.

Properly predicting the weather can have a huge economic impact on businesses, with an estimated 30% of U.S. GDP being weather susceptible in one way or another. And of course, quantum computing can be applied to all kinds of predictions, not just meteorological ones, which opens up a great field of opportunities for companies.

Cryptographic Encryption

Advanced cryptography is one of the main application areas of quantum computing. Today’s computers are unable to crack ciphers that use large prime factorizations. In contrast, with quantum computing, these types of calculations become simple, allowing us both to protect our digital assets more efficiently and to decipher traditional crypto much faster.

Pattern Recognition

Recognizing patterns in data is extremely useful, as it allows us to predict when they will recur in the future more easily. An example of practical application for companies is to predict traffic in advance. Traffic is a very complex system, so it is beyond the reach of modern computers. But some companies like Volkswagen are already studying how they can use quantum computing to inform drivers of traffic conditions up to 45 minutes in advance.

Autonomous Cars

And speaking of traffic, another promising application of quantum computing is autonomous cars, which will improve people’s quality of life and reduce pollution and traffic jams, among many other benefits. Quantum computing will help them develop battery technology, transportation, and autonomous driving. Volkswagen has already optimized the traffic flow of 10,000 taxis in Beijing.

Aviation

Aircraft routing and scheduling is another example of a complex system. Optimizing it with the help of quantum computing would allow for much more sophisticated modeling and would have great benefits in both time and cost savings. 

Medical Research

Last but not least, we have a sector that has become more important than ever after the Covid-19 pandemic: medical research. Let’s consider the billions of possibilities of interaction of a drug with our body and the billions of different people to whom that drug can be administered. We see that the calculations can quickly become overwhelming.

Also Read: How Quantum Computing Can Speed ​​Up Data Analysis In Healthcare