Technology is moving faster today than ever before. Over the last decade we’ve seen technology change the way we communicate, retrieve and deal with information as well as directly affecting consumer lifestyle choices, with innovations such as IoT and AI.
But where are we going? At the speed of innovation within the sector, it seems difficult to predict what will be the next big thing in 2019. That’s why we decided to speak to some experts across various business sectors to give their top predictions on what they think will be the biggest forward-thinking tech trends as we come into the new year.
Alex Tebbs, Founder of VIA
“A technology trend we have increasingly seen over the years is consolidation of our communication, and this is only going to get more advanced and important as we come into the new year. Previously in business, every communication channel was hosted separately, including phones, online chats, email and videos – whereas today we’re seeing a increase in the integration capabilities of online systems which helps to facilitate flexible and more collaborative working. Unified communications in this way brings together a range of communication platforms, allowing better connection with customers and colleagues across business as a whole, which will be relevant to all sectors in 2019.”
Matthew Brouker, Group Product Director, Six Degrees
“The threats posed by cyber criminals continue to grow in frequency, sophistication and success; the Cabinet Office estimates the cost of cyber-crime to the UK economy to be £27 billion. We’re seeing organisations come to the realisation that traditional IT security measures like firewall and antivirus are ineffective in preventing cyber-attacks unless they are deployed as part of a wider cyber security strategy.
In 2019, I expect more organisations to build out their multi-layered security approaches that combine security solutions with robust processes and targeted staff training programmes in order to enhance their overall security postures.”
Deral Heiland, IoT Research Lead, Rapid7
“With the ever growing influx of new IoT products such as stoves, cookers, and microwaves, I expect we will see an increase in physical injuries directly related to the IoT enablement of devices. These devices, on their own, have a risk of physical injury, but with remote, and voice enabled functions they become potentially more dangerous.
With the number of IoT technologies in the workplace beginning to outnumber conventional IT assets, there is an ever increasing probability that these devices will be used as entry points by malicious actors to further compromise corporations for data breaches. Expect in 2019 to see this become a reality and news of several breaches directly tied to installed IoT technology.”
Michael Foote, Founder of Quote Goat.
“I predict that 2019 will be the year of data centralisation. With GDPR being a big part of 2018 as well as growing concern with regards to data breaches, I’m expecting to see the development of online passports whereby a user creates and manages their data through one central provider, removing the need to create a different account for every website.
When a user wishes to sign up to an online service, that website will send a request to access necessary elements of the user’s data in order to provide their service. Users will benefit from being able to control which online services have access to what information at any time, all from one place, not to mention the fact that we’ll all hopefully only need to remember one password in the future.”
Mat Clothier, CEO and Founder at Cloudhouse
“As the Q4 2018 Forrester New Wave for Container Platform Software Suites reveals, external integration and application life-cycle management tools are becoming increasingly key to help build, connect, scale and operate container-based apps in public cloud environments, and this only looks set to continue into the new year.
As more and more enterprises move away from legacy systems and towards a cloud-based future, they will realise that migrating traditional apps is challenging; there is a growing need for the tools that offer portability that may not be possible otherwise. 2019 will inevitably see more enterprise workloads move to Azure, AWS and Citrix, but what remains to be seen is how many businesses will realise the importance of tools that manage the delivery of these applications across a global network of data centres.”
Lindsay Notwell, Senior VP of 5G Strategy and Global Carrier Operations, Cradlepoint
“In 2018, we saw major wireless carriers in the U.S. and around the world announce and launch commercial 5G services. In the U.S., Verizon launched their 5G Ultra Wideband residential offering in four initial markets while AT&T has announced that they will be rolling-out mobile 5G by end of year.
However, there’s an underlying framework below the radar of these headline-grabbing 5G announcements that will impact more people in a big way. As a prelude to 5G, just about every major carrier is busy upgrading their current LTE infrastructure to prepare for the more widespread rollout of 5G and – in the process – are providing gigabit-class LTE services.
With more urban 5G services deploying in 2019 and gigabit-class LTE available on a nationwide level, I’m predicting that 2019 will be a breakout year when enterprise and public sector customers will start to ‘Cut the Cord’ and migrate their WANs to wireless 4G LTE connections that deliver game-changing levels of performance and integrate seamlessly with 5G when and where it’s available.”
Chris Unwin, CEO of LAC Conveyors
“As the manufacturing industry becomes more aware of the potential for robotic solutions, alongside skilled programming become more available, there may well be an increasing desire for robotic solutions as we come into 2019.
Robotic solutions may play a part across industries, where difficulties arise with recruiting human labour due to the nature of the activity. As we come into the new year, there is an increasing demand for high speed that also requires accuracy, and robots can help deliver the required productivity. Furthermore, forward thinking tech such as robots will also be able to be utilised in areas where humans are restricted through problems such as space restraints, or health and safety problems.”
