Holiday Season is here, and 2023 is coming to a close. Once we ring in the New Year, Q1 of 2024 will be out of the gate. What will be the most exciting tech and software trends in 2024?

Democratized Generative AI

ChatGTP, Bard, and other AI solutions have been industry disrupters, creating the possibility for “low and no code” product development. The availability of open source AI is also opening up the product development sphere beyond the domain of tech giants.

These tech giants may have to pivot their business strategies to compensate for the unleashed availability of generative AI. And, they may include it into their business model: Gartner projects that by 2026, 80% of enterprises will be using generative AI APIs or incorporating them into product environment—a very upward trend from 5% in 2023.

It will be interesting to see how quickly AI usage acceleartes, building off its own machine learning. And it will also be interesting to see if marketplace are flooded with a wave of new “low and no code” solutions. One wonders if there will be an app boom like the dot-com boom of the 1990s, especially in the consumer-facing market.

Network Automation

The automation of network management functions is another exciting trend as we enter 2024. Mapping, planning, testing, provisioning, and optimization are a few tangible fruits that businesses can harvest, speeding up processes, reudcing payroll hours, and eliminating errors.

Verizon found that up to 75% of data center failures are caused by human error. The implementation of network automation presents exciting possibilities for increased business continuity. Companies recognize the value of network automation in terms of this continuity (and its other benefits), leading to a CAGR of 23% through 2028 and arriving at an $11.8 billion market valuation.

As 2024 unfolds, it will be interesting to see how quickly different sectors—IT, manufacturing, telecom, banking, education, healthcare, and others—turn to network automation, and who they ask to help them with it: large companies like Cisco, IBM, and Juniper, or smaller, more industry-specific and/or localized solution providers.

Cybersecurity And Risk Management

Continuous Threat Exposure Management  (CTEM) is a five stage process whereby businesses can remain proactively vigilant against the onslaught of cyber threats. The diagnostic phases of CTEM are scoping, discovery, and prioritizing which threats are the most serious—a proactive instead of a reactive approach to cybersecurity.

Gartner estimates that by 2026, businesses that invest in specifically CTEM models of threat management will be 3x less likley to suffer a data breach. And data breaches are expensive: although exact costs vary by industry, the average data breach will cost a company $9.5 million.

Another related area is AI TRiSM: Articifial Intelligence Trust, Risk, and Security Managment. The exciting AI models we mentioned earlier, especially the open source ones, are not yet reliable, secure, and trustworthy. There are inherent risks in terms of quality control and abuse of said systems with malicious intent. AI has the potential to outpace human learning, so it will be interesting to see if organizations can outpace bad actors using AI.

Datafaction

It may remind you of Data from Start Trek, the humanoid android. Datafaction has some equally exciting, almost science fiction like implications for a futuristic world. Machine learning, artificial intelligence, and robotics are able to turn life processes into data that can be analyzed. Life becomes a sort of giant science experiment where the research preempts the hypothesis.

Datafaction is going to permeate every aspect of life. Retailers like Amazon already have extensive data from consumer behaviors; according to McKinsey, companies using customer analytics may see a 93% increase in profits and a 115% increase in ROI.

Identifying trends, predicting demand, and personalizing marketing campaigns are a few ways data can improve retail. And in every industry, data can help make more informed decisions. Companies are even putting “big data” into the hands of consumers with applications like FitBit (for health) and Mint (for personal fiance). It will be interesting to see through 2024 and beyond if and how big data not only improves the “bottom line,” but ou overall quality of life.

Cloud Computing

The cloud is not new to 2024, or even 2023—but this coming year will see new changes continuing to unfold. A few main subsets fo the cloud trend are PaaS (Platform as a Service), edge computing, multi-cloud strategy, and sustainability. Businesses all over continue to disband their own data storage and turn it over to platforms like Azure and AWS for increased efficiency and reduced costs.

Companies are also adopting a more nuanced multi-cloud strategy at a growing rate, with 84% of them using multiple vendors by the end of 2023. Edge computing is another nuanced factor, bringing stored data closer to its source of origin, improving response times and saving bandwidth. The increase of edge computing is creating demand for smaller, more portable networks and a dentralized architecture.

The demands of cloud computing in terms of energy consumption are being weighed against aspirations for sustainability by companies like Microsoft. The demand for these “greener” practices is creating another layer of market activity in the areas of hardware and software.

2024 Tech Trends Wrap-Up

These are just a few of the exciting tech and software trends that will unfold in 2024. Others include VR and AR, which have made serious inroads into sectors like education. With these tech trends unfolding, new opportunities are arising in the area of sales.

We have historically seen that developments in technology, like automation and AI, have generated debates about its impact to the workforce. One thing is certain: sales is still a process that very much revolves around personalized, human interaction.

Where are you going in 2024? Staying put? Looking for something different? Looking for a different industry? These are exciting trends that are going to open up new opportunities across the country. With nearly 40 years in recruiting, I can help job seekers find their next role, and managers find the right talent. Send an email to mike@michaelblair.com if this article has you thinking, or if you’ve already spend Q4 thinking about how 2024 will be different.