It’s getting to be that time of year again… that time when we look for the “next big things” that will be revealed at the annual Consumer Electronics Show.
Now, I have to be forward and tell you about my love/hate relationship with the Consumer Electronics Show.
Every year, the world’s largest tech convention crams millions of people from the tech sector into America’s favorite cheap booze- and cigarette smoke-saturated tourist trap, Las Vegas.
As a media figure and analyst, I have the job of trekking out to Vegas during its most crowded event and spending a week straight in meetings — and it isn’t exactly my idea of fun.
In fact, I hate it.
However, in that time, I learn so much. Companies usually put on their best faces for the show, and they’re eager to talk about what they’ve been up to all year and how they think the new year will shake out.
They’re often very forward with information. When a big company tells you a tech trend is going to be big in the coming year, it’s not because it’s trying to stoke excitement…
It’s because it already has the orders on the books. This is the part I love.
Sure, I spend 24 hours a day in ceilingless conference rooms in a convention center in the middle of the desert in the dead of winter. But therein, I am endowed with an insight into the future.
This week, Verizon Enterprise Solutions released its top tech trends list for 2015. It’s a lot like what we hear at CES, but we’re getting the information early.
Let’s take a look at what this leader in facilities-based networks thinks next year has in store for the enterprise tech space.
Maybe some of your investments from last year will be justified.
1. The Internet of Things (IoT)
This is a technological development we’ve all seen coming for years, and one we’ve been very bullish on.
In short, the Internet of Things is when all kinds of non-computers attach to the Internet.
In the home, for example, it’s when your appliances can connect and communicate with one another, and in enterprise, it’s when machines can communicate and improve workflow.
Verizon thinks downstream adoption of IoT technology will continue to accelerate through 2015 — particularly in the small and medium-sized business markets.
We agree with Verizon on this one. We’ve got some interesting picks related to the Internet of Things, which you’ll see on Tech Investing Daily in the coming months.
2. Network Infrastructure
Naturally, a network provider like Verizon is going to pump the product it sells, so the company thinks 2015 will see an increase in corporate spending on strategic network improvements and IT.
Specifically, Verizon says “virtualization, automation and optical network technology (100G, 200G and LTE)” will all see increased spending.
This means Verizon not only expects to benefit through upgrades in network technology, but it also expects top names in this space — like Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and VMware (NYSE: VMW) — to benefit, too.
3. Predictive Analytics
For the last few years, “big data” has been such a common buzzword that it’s lost all its meaning. It’s become an all-catching slogan like “the cloud.”
But Verizon has somewhat refrained from pushing the nebulous “big data” trend this year and has moved into its next phase: number crunching.
The company says, “Companies that integrate advanced and predictive analytics programs into their connected infrastructure will be best positioned to improve operational efficiencies, identify new revenue streams and better serve their customers in the data economy.”
In other words, after collecting tons and tons of very specific data, companies are investing in ways to extract some meaning from it all.
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4. New Forms of Cybersecurity
Verizon says 2015 will see a rise in “holistic, integrated, multilayer security” strategies between devices, networks, people, and systems.
This is a tough one to get behind as a tech investor.
In my tenure as a tech reporter and my long personal history with computers, I’ve come to realize that tech security is never-ending. No solution is perfectly secure, and every common technology has someone looking for a way to break it.
Security isn’t a state that can be reached — it’s an evolving process. And as such, it’s not the place where you’re going to find high-flying stocks to profit from.
Though it’s one of the single-most important topics in technology, it rarely rises beyond a sub-item in a corporate IT budget.
5. Further Movement to the Cloud
Next year will see a “greater migration of mission-critical workloads to the cloud,” according to Verizon.
Obviously, the definition of “mission-critical” depends upon the industry in which the cloud deployment is made. Often it’s databases, business intelligence, or important enterprise applications like CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).
In other words, it’s all the stuff that could either be put “on the cloud” or run on local dedicated hardware.
Either way — cloud or no cloud — these mission-critical services require hardware; it’s just a matter of how much, where it is, and to whom it belongs.
The Big Picture
These trends aren’t new. We’ve been watching them develop for the last six or seven years. We know the players in the space and how they’ve performed against the market at large.
What’s changing is the customer, and this is very important. The big businesses are already on board. We’re approaching the “late majority” point on the Rogers Adoption/Innovation bell curve.
The new customer of these enterprise services is more likely to be a business that isn’t a tech early adopter or even an early majority.
It’s going to be smaller organizations that have very specific needs. These make up the mainstream and latecomers, which comprise more than 35% of the population.
To put it plainly, 2015 is going to be the year the tech-resistant enterprise crowd starts adopting the tech big companies use.
Good Investing,
Tim Conneally
For the last seven years, Tim Conneally has covered the world of mobile and wireless technology, enterprise software, network hardware, and next generation consumer technology. Tim has previously written for long-running software news outlet Betanews and for financial media powerhouse Forbes.
