Business Trends and Predictions for 2018

A shift in IT spending: "A significant number of enterprises will begin to invest in a dedicated security operations center as part of the shift away from prevention towards detection and response.

The Cloud will fragment into microservices: "In 2018, technology companies are going to ditch the buzzword ‘cloud’ in favor of the next big trend in IT - ‘microservices’.

The rise of the sharing economy: "Digitization and the sharing economy will disrupt more industries

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are the new rainmakers. As technology continues to expand and disrupt industries, companies and clients rely more and more on SMEs to educate, guide and advise. Whereas your client can get information about your company’s products and services on your website, they can’t figure out how your solution might fit their needs.

If you had invested $1,000 dollars in Bitcoin back in 2008, you’d have more than $40,000,000 today. Bitcoin is based on the blockchain protocol.

Blockchain originated in the technology space, which explains slow adoption rooted in its techno-babble jargon.

Whereas video itself has become a necessary component for successful businesses, customers are no longer content with impersonal, generic marketing. Customers demand real connections, with real people. Video is the most viewed content, and live video is the most effective way to engage with your audience.

As more professionals work remotely, companies have found creative ways to keep employees connected and develop their talents outside of the office. One way that has gained popularity among corporate training programs is social learning.

Social learning is the process of learning through peer social interaction. The most common example of traditional social learning is the chance encounter at the workplace water cooler. Two or more people run into each other, share ideas, and walk away knowing a little more in the process; this is social learning.

Expect the number of remote workers to continue increasing: "Only 32 percent of employees spent all their time working in, or at their office this year, The flexibility to work remotely has evolved beyond an occasional perk, with 43 percent of employees saying it’s a must-have." – Staples Business Advantage's Annual Workplace Survey

IoT devices will become more secure: "Expect to see at least 2 or 3 large-scale, botnet-style attacks on IoT-related hardware in 2018. To remedy this, the industrial space may pick up a trend from the consumer space, where device updates are downloaded automatically, and give the user little say in the process." – Mike Bell

Industry will employ more low power wide area networking (LPWAN): "LPWAN technology can be unwired and run for a long time, with minimal power consumption.

Machine learning and Blockchain will grow more prominent. Machine learning will become more responsive in customer service. AI implementation will help business capitalize on large troves of data.

The personalization of marketing: Marketing is becoming increasingly personal, and this trend will keep going as we move into the new year.

Modern marketing tools make personalization possible: While email marketing has traditionally been a one-to-many medium, it’s a great example of this trend being brought to life as we continue to see an increased focus on more customized messaging heading into 2018.

Banking models will begin a radical shift: Millennials want to bank wherever they want and whenever they want, which does not align with the traditional banking model.