Six Trends To Look Out For In 2019

If 2018 was the year of transparency, a growing demand for domain names in Ireland and the emoji getting its own film, what could the year ahead possibly present!?

Well, quite a lot it seems! Here’s six tech trends everyone is talking about for 2019 and beyond.

Cyber Security

It seems that barely a week passes without another data breach or online security issue making national news. With the rise in cybercrime, and an increase in ecommerce, businesses are taking note. Having a robust website hosting provider is key to a secure online presence. But so is having a considered security system. This has become so important that it’s estimated that by 2020 more than 1 million cyber security roles will be needed, to meet this rapidly growing market.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing in its mainstream appeal. From businesses adopting chatbots for customer service, to AI helping with everyday tasks. This once futuristic trend is rapidly becoming a go-to solution for businesses. For the year ahead, tech training will become the buzzword in AI circles. A study by PWC suggests that business will need to create ‘citizen developers’ and train up its workforce to capitalise on this trend. Who knows, in the future, AI might even be able to undertake admin tasks from checking domains for availability, to attending meetings on your behalf!

Live Video

2019 will be the year that live video comes into its own, as proven by the 400 million people tuning into stories every day already. YouTube, Facebook and Instagram have all shown a demand for this, with more to come. Live video will thrive in the year ahead, especially as customers crave more authenticity and ‘behind the scenes’ content from brands. As such, expect to see more businesses using this tool for communication.

Transparency

Last year, transparency came to the fore thanks to data breaches by very public companies. This year, businesses will need to up their game with transparency, and it all starts with having an honest and two-way dialogue with customers. You can expect to see more ‘listening’ from brands, particularly on social media in 2019. If you don’t have a website to communicate with customers, then it’s time to register your domain name and get one ASAP!

Very Public Leaders

Hand-in-hand with transparency, is the growing expectation for leaders to have an online presence. Where once CEOs shunned social media, 2019 is predicted to see the rise of CEOs online. According to Inc this is needed to offer insight, as well as connect with communities, and most crucial of all – for listening. Being active on social is something business leaders will be doing more of in the coming year. Check your hosting services to see if there’s a blog option for your CEO to post regular features and see how it transforms your business.

Shared Spaces (and Ideas)

Today we live in a fluid community. The millennial generation share their life online, which has spilled over to working behaviours. Shared office spaces are growing in demand, especially with an emerging freelance workforce. But the next iteration of this is shared workspaces where ideas and skills are shared between teams. WeWork is one of the leading facilitators of this space, which they describe as encouraging collaboration with its collaboratively community approach. Expect more of this in the year to come.

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