Those 2019 predictions are great, but they don’t really directly affect the average person much. What about tech trends that will have an immediate impact on our clients, specifically the Office Managers that keep everything running so smoothly?

1. The C-Suite sees two major risks much more clearly. Cybersecurity and MeToo!
2018 gave management a much more tangible understanding to two powerful trends that can impact the executive team of any business. Cybersecurity, electronic eavesdropping, international business espionage, liability for data breach, and the impact of the MeToo movement. Senior managers of large and small businesses can see the devastating impact of both trends on the business and the lives of the senior managers. IT and HR policies are changing. The momentum for change will carry over in 2019.

2. Stress on the IT Budget. A lot more to do and a little bit higher budget. With a strong economy, the IT budget predictably expands as growth and business opportunities require additional capital. But, this year is not a normal year. We saw 2018 as a year of growth, and as a result, now there is extraordinary pressure on the IT budget. Why? First, 2019’s growth is less certain than 2018’s with pressure to take greater profits and build cash reserves. Second, the IT budget must take on additional security requirements that don’t add to top line sales or productivity. The next step in innovation and security improvement is expensive. Therefore, we see increases in IT budget and extra pressure on IT in the same year. It looks like a challenging year.

3. Employee Experience … seeking happy employees in an era of low unemployment. The competition to recruit and retain millennials, the biggest age group in the workforce, led to new changes in the office. Businesses will be competing for talent by offering a better employee experience. This can lead to offering more than pay raises to key staff. Small to mid-sized businesses are considering the emotional, physical, financial, and professional needs of the staff to develop “well-being” strategies. This means more work-at-home days to save travel time, more flexibility with schedules, and newly added services including financial advisors, gym subsidies, discounted products/services, and even debt counseling and student loan forgiveness programs. Companies are getting creative!

4. “Autonomous Devices” quietly start to positively impact the office. Consumers are focused on automated cars, household robots, delivery drones, and smarter appliances. In the business sector, data management devices and computer agents will quietly gain strength in the workplace in a big way this year. In 2019, we will coordinate intelligence, data, hardware, and software to automate tasks that will do more to improve productivity and reduce costs. Gartner admits this seems like a broad claim, but it is happening faster that most of us think. Every IoT device, application, and service is going to get smarter and perform more tasks self-sufficiently. In fact, TechSolutions is already using automated agents that function to protect your company’s network. Our newest security technology uses autonomous agents that automatically scan business applications for a new class of embedded malware, and we are rolling out these agents to provide real-time protection against unauthorized network access 24×7 with little supervision needed. They’re here!

5. Big Data becomes Augmented and Accessible Analytics: We now understand that valuable data is collected with every online transaction, web search, and cloud application used. We also know that there is more data than we have time to organize and integrate into our decision-making processes, especially in small to mid-size businesses … until 2019. This year, data management techniques begin to really change. New tools will make it easier to automate the collection, organization, and analysis of business data. Automated analysis of business data has several benefits. Not only is it fast and efficient, many experts believe it will remove bias associated with traditional management analysis. In the upcoming years, 40% of data tasks will be automated for business managers. Business Intelligence tools and intelligent dashboards will give managers more and more help as the years continue. Get started on this one now!

6. Privacy: The “Who Cares” vs “You Can’t Do That” movements battle to define acceptable. When two trends collide, it usually results in confusion until it’s all worked out. Millennials continue to share almost everything on social media, and they are willing to surrender personal data for shiny objects. They continue to demonstrate a lower sensitivity to data privacy. They are numb to the calls for greater data security. On the opposite side, governments across the world are following the EU and create mandating standards for data privacy and new laws to protect consumers. Delaware is no exception. The result is a period of chaos while the real standard for data privacy is worked out. For small to mid-sized businesses, it can be difficult to understand the required protections that need to be in place, as well as the actions that need to be taken when a breach occurs. Experts predict that workplace policies, standard operating procedures, and acceptable risk will be difficult to define this year and even more challenging to enforce. Business leaders need to consult with the people they trust and make complicated decisions on data protection policies and strategies for their companies. Then they need to enforce and follow through on those decisions.

7. Cybersecurity will require more from users … two-factor authentication for everything?

As owners and managers come to understand the threat of cybertheft and the impact of a data breach, better employee awareness training will not be enough for many firms. Concepts like cyber hygiene are beginning to develop. Smart business owners will demand stronger security measures take effect soon, and we believe this will require more involvement from their computer users. This year, computer users will be required to play a bigger role in their own security. This changes a decade long trend of fighting the cyber security battle inside the computer and behind the scenes. This year, the battle will require more users to make use of biometrics, to take additional steps during the login process, to use more complicated password protocols, and to submit to a more deliberate process for password resets. We will start to see the end of single-factor authentication. We can look for the end of simple passwords which historically have been the keys to the kingdom for the bad guys. We expect to see multi-factor authentication implemented for almost everything that is important. This is the year the trend shifts, and employees join the cybersecurity battle.

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More money on less investment, that’s the dream, right? Well, counterintuitive as it may seem, flash-in-the-pan tech fads and trends may be just the way to achieve that. With the right tools, you can associate your SMB with popular new technologies without much investment. These are our five tips on how to cash in on things as silly and childish as Pokémon GO and as technical and trendy as the internet of things.

Get in early

One of the biggest indicators of how successful your SMB will be in making big gains off of a new trend is how early you get in. Fads, especially in the tech world, can come and go in no time. Be careful not to invest in resources with a long-term commitment like new logos or graphics, but instead in low-cost workarounds like special promotions and social media campaigns that put you front and center immediately. Once the popular kids have moved onto a fresh fixation, you’ll be ready to move forward without skipping a beat.

Use existing tools

How can you get up to speed quickly without investing too much in permanent resources? The trick is to hijack existing opportunities and strategies for your own message. For example, John Deere has been selling farming equipment for over 150 years, with no signs of slowing down. But with a creative combination of existing GPS technology and mobile devices, they quickly jumped to the forefront of the “Internet of Things” craze by connecting their vehicles to crop planning practices.

Participate in the narrative

So you’ve identified a trend you want to cash in on and you’ve commandeered existing tools to help sell your product. How else can you gain momentum? Social media is everywhere nowadays, and it doesn’t seem to be a dying trend. However, it’s no panacea; simply posting “We’ve got a promotion on all seasonal products #inserttechfadhere” won’t bring obsessed customers to your doorstep. Take a minute to understand the mechanics of what pulls everyone away from work, friends, and family, and show participants you’re one of them. Is it competitive? Polarizing? Take a stand or pick a team and invite customers who are “on your side” to get a discount.

Merge the fad with your business model

With a little creative brainstorming, most business models can actually integrate their product or service with a passing trend. Chatbots have been shoring up the “deep learning” revolution, and clothing retailers have come up with a really creative way to employ them to drive sales. By simply providing their chatbots with a fashion tree, the bots can ask basic questions which whittle down clothing recommendations to those that align with customers’ tastes.

Address difficulties presented by the fad

What if you can’t find a way for your products or services to directly interact with the blazing new trend? The next best thing is to provide solutions to problems presented by it. Does interacting with the popular app or activity eat up a lot of mobile device battery? Remind passersby your outlets are available for customers, or that you sell mobile battery packs. Does it require driving all over town? Remind customers of your latest car rental promotion. Sometimes just associating yourself with the trend is enough.

Not sure how to integrate your business with the latest fads? We’re the experts on all things technology related, from the most recent to the ancient. As a small- to medium-sized business owner, getting the most value out of your technology investments is crucial to getting your foot in the door and working your way toward bigger profits. From machine learning to Pokémon GO, no question is too trivial — ask us today!

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