I spent the last two weeks of 2019 reflecting on the year that has gone, and researching areas of opportunities in 2020. It seems like there is no slowing down in the Information Technology sector, and most of us in the Technology Recruitment space have been kept exceedingly busy through the holiday period.
It has never been better to be in the Technology industry with the number of opportunities coming up. From a recruiter’s point of view, let’s take a look at the trends, areas of opportunities and where the demand for skills would be in 2020. Since we have a few trends to cover, I will cover only a few here and perhaps the rest in part 2.
IoT
This is not a new term and if industry pundits are to be believed, there is a much larger scope of work around the IoT area. So if you are a Technology enthusiast trying to make a move onto a developing trend, it is not too late to get onto IoT. This year and for the next couple of years we will see an increase in the uses for IoT. Smart cities, smart buildings, predictive maintenance, Industrial manufacturing, Security will get more mature with better software applications. 5G Wireless sensing and advanced location tracking technologies are expected to become more relevant. So if you are in the telecom space, then 5G is definitely a very active area for next few years, especially if you have a strong understanding of core networks and virtualization.
With all this IoT demand, a lot of data will be created. As per IDC, by 2025, the total amount of data created by IoT devices in one year is expected to reach 79.4 zettabytes (That is 79.4 billion terabytes). This represents a massive trove of information 41.6 billion connected devices are expected to collect, store and analyse over the next 5 years.
Edge Computing
With an increasing interest in new use cases such as smart manufacturing, augmented reality and a multitude of IoT applications, there is a need for an infrastructure with edge computing and distributed cloud capabilities. 2020 will be an important year as Solution Providers continue to build out the infrastructure required to support IoT applications, from the sensors to the servers. According to IDC, by 2023, more than 50% of new enterprise infrastructure deployed will be at the edge rather than corporate data centres, up from less than 10% today. And, by 2024, the number of apps at the edge will increase 800%.
Multiexperience
Recently, I read about Gartner’s trends for 2020 and heard the term Multiexperience. Gartner says that by 2021, at least one-third of enterprises will have deployed a multiexperience development platform to support mobile, web, conversational and augmented reality development. Though VR and AR still have many challenges, Multiexperience can be valuable in product design and visualization; field service and operations; and training and simulation.
As they define Multiexperience Development, it involves creating fit-for-purpose apps based on touchpoint-specific modalities, while at the same time ensuring a consistent user experience across web, mobile, wearable, conversational and immersive touchpoints. In this trend, the traditional idea of a computer evolves from a single point of interaction to include multi-sensory and multi-touchpoint interfaces like wearables and advanced sensors
In Part 2 of this blog, I will be spending more time on trends within AI & ML. I will also focus on how IT vendors create value for customers and how they retain them.
With over 20 years of experience in the Executive Search industry, I recruit for leadership positions within the IT & Telco industry. I cover roles across Business Development, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Product Management, Sales, Technical Sales and more.
If you would like to have more information on the IT & Telco market, or if you are looking for your next opportunity, please do not hesitate to contact me for a confidential discussion.
