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Dear Readers,
what developments, surprises and events will 2019 bring us? What will happen in our focus areas and what impact will these developments have on our activities?
Here are my projections for 2019:
Digitization: The robot is overtaken by the can opener
The debate on digitisation has so far been conducted in completely absurd spheres. Robots, self-propelled cars and autonomous drones were used to swagger, office jobs and lawyers would immediately fall victim to digitization, and the world of work would change radically from one day to the next. None of this will happen, because most organizations are so sluggish that even the simplest changes in their core processes take years. Digitisation will take place in very small steps and we would be grateful if this could be done where the means already exist!
Information governance: The Sharepoint victims are awakening.
MS Sharepoint has spread widely as a common tool. But it cannot fulfill the expectations of the users. The uncoordinated and chaotic implementation leads to further data storage problems in most organizations. The promised cure-all turns out to be a deceptive package. The data chaos increases, the search for alternatives begins. This is good news for the ECM/DMS providers, a bad news for 90% of all Sharepoint users.
Data protection becomes political: The GDPR/DS-GVO trench warfare
The EU states will use data protection as a political weapon. Not only against the USA and China, but also against EU member states. Similar to the tax dispute, the individual countries will want to draw the international corporations to themselves – data protection in or out. This will lead to a loosening of the GDPR conversion and with it also to a smaller punishment. It is likely that a further economic dispute will develop between the EU and other countries.
Data protection Switzerland: How Switzerland must jump on the data protection bandwagon (and find it difficult to do so)
Even though the EU will get in its way because of the DS-GVO, Switzerland has decided not to take the protection of personal data seriously. This situation is downright grotesque, because it puts Switzerland on the side of those countries that trade data as a lucrative business or as a means of surveillance. However, our lawyers, farmers, teachers and lobbyists still have almost no plan for modern technologies – the main thing is that agricultural subsidies flow unhindered and the pharmaceutical industry can maintain its price level. At least the bank representatives would have a chance here to tie in with the days of banking secrecy.
Blockchain: The crisis in Crypto Valley or technology alone does not make a business case
2019 will be the Doom year of blockchain augurs and investors. The opinion still prevails that technology can solve problems and thus create business cases that do not otherwise exist in the business world. This has never worked and will never work in the future. If you had followed MPESA, you would have been warned (little tip: new technologies can only spread where there are no established alternatives…). Unfortunately, 90% of the people who talk about blockchain or invest in it have no idea what benefits this technology really creates in the business context (not to mention the risks).
Cloud Business: The Cloud Act as a spoilsport for US corporations
At least for Switzerland, the fact that the US government can access data stored by US corporations worldwide at any time is a setback for US providers. The same applies to many potential customers in Europe who have to protect business secrets. Together with the security events looming on the horizon, this is a bad constellation. It is to be expected that the growth of US cloud services will slow down. The American authorities’ access to disagreeable competitors of their own industries under the guise of combating terrorism will increase massively.
Cyber Security 1: In us we trust – the rebirth of signature processes, PKI and end-to-end encryption
The distrust in the large suppliers will have consequences. End-to-end security will become a must for many organizations. This includes both the use of signature procedures for authentication as well as the use of encryption procedures to ensure confidentiality. This will also increase the demands placed on key management. Whether the National ID will be able to establish itself as a result of this, however, remains to be seen.
Cyber Security 2: “Big” does not mean secure.
It is to be expected that further attacks on important companies and providers will become public in the next few years. This will increase uncertainty among many and make it increasingly difficult to decide which strategy to adopt on the subject of risk management. Nobody is to be envied here, because there are no simple recipes.
Social media: The competition authorities focus on the big players – antitrust is on the threshold
It is certainly interesting to ask whether the major providers will take a stand themselves (cf. Facebook, Google +) or whether the competition authorities will take more action. The EU has probably decided in favour of the latter, whether it will be successful with it seems questionable. Trump’s America will probably tend to protect its own industry. However, such technologies have their own momentum that should not be underestimated. In other words, it is quite possible that established players could be replaced by competitors within a very short time. However, this hardly applies to the very large, data-dominant companies. I don’t dare make any predictions here, one can only speculate here.
The outcries of the employers: Staff over 50 becomes a communication problem
The number of unemployed (IT)specialists over 50 is constantly increasing. On the other hand there is the permanent screaming of the employers, who demand more immigration (the absurdity of the “Fachidiotenmangel” has been discussed here already). The problem here is not the lack of skilled workers, but the inability of HR departments and employers to exploit existing potential and invest in it. The issue will be brought to the fore as soon as current growth is slowed down.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
