Forecasting 2020: Tech Predictions and New Year's Resolutions from Ivanti Insiders

It's been a long few weeks. You feel bloated and your head hurts. You can't even remember how your pants used to fit because all the family dinners and homemade desserts have taken up permanent residence on your body. There's extra love on your handles, so to speak.

But it wasn't just the chocolate truffles that tested you. All the shopping, gift wrapping, traveling, food preparation, and time with the in-laws has you feeling like you just battled war. You look in the mirror and you do, indeed, look like you just returned from 'Nam.

Alas, you've survived yet another holiday season.

It's at the beginning of a new year that we all collectively decide enough is enough. As we look at the new year ahead, we asked our Ivanti Insiders a few questions.

What are your New Year's resolutions, both personally and professionally?

• "Get the Google Cloud Data Architect Certificate. 2020 rucking miles." — Adam, Systems Administrator
• "Lose 20 pounds. Get a certification, although I don't know which one yet." — Brandon Smith, Design Engineer
• "Spend less time using computers and more time working with my hands." — Brian, Applications Administrator
• "Professionally: Improve the knowledge for my current position. I have been here very shortly, so still have lots to learn! Personally: Keep losing weight." — Daniel, Systems Developer
• "Personal: Live a better life than the last year. Professional: Make myself an invaluable resource to the company so I can survive potential layoffs." — David, Operations Engineer
• "Get back to the gym regularly. Get all vendor leases updated." — Eric, Tier 3 Support
• "I'd like to be fully moved over to Ivanti Service Manager by April. Personally, build our closet mudroom and lockers for our garage." — Jason, Senior Systems Analyst
• "Quit smoking and study for my Security+ Certification." — Jim, Cyber Security Engineer
• "Enjoy more time with my family. Continue to learn more about our Ivanti tools." — Josh, Cyber Security Administrator
• "To lose weight personally, and professionally, to continue getting my degree and two certifications." — Karl, Technical Manager
• "I would like to work on my emotional intelligence." — Katelyn, Information Security Admin
• "My goal personally is to love the life I live. Accept things I cannot change, have the courage to change the things that I can, and have the wisdom to know the difference. Professionally, my goal is the same year to year: to learn, grow, and do better than I did yesterday." — Kelly, Technical Support Specialist
• "Don't produce so much waste. Just work for projects that count." — Marco Feuerstein, Senior Systems Admin​istrator
• "Planning my wedding day and getting new certificates for my personal development." — Rene, Onsite Support
• "To do my best to be a good father and to be more proactive at work." — Robert, Systems Architect
• "Lose weight. That's for both. It sucks being fat at work." — Ryan, Systems Administrator
• "Work hard towards retirement." — Thomas Smith, Director, Telecom and IT Support

Aside from personal and professional goals, there's also a lot to look forward to this year.

What are you most looking forward to this year?

• "Interchange!" — Adam, Systems Administrator
• "We are hopefully going to plan a trip to Disney for the kids." — Brandon Smith, Design Engineer
• "The death of Adobe Flash." — Brian, Applications Administrator
• "Getting rid of debt." — Eric, Tier 3 Support
• "Service Manager and our daughter being born!" — Jason, Senior Systems Analyst
• "Only having to remember two numbers when I write the year down." — Josh, Cyber Security Administrator
• "It's been a long time, so I'm looking forward to a vacation that's not within a day's driving distance of home!" — Kelly, Technical Support Specialist
• "Watching my kids get one year older." — Robert, Systems Architect
• "Keep mentoring people." — Thomas Smith, Director, Telecom and IT Support

As IT professionals, our Ivanti Insiders likely have more insights into the future of the technology and software industry than many of us do. We asked them to look into a crystal ball and tell us what they saw. 

What three predictions do you have for the tech industry this year?

• "VR gaming will finally have its killer app. Internet data caps will be challenged in the US. Some ridiculous sci-fi breakthrough in battery tech." — Adam, Systems Administrator
• "More focus on modern management of Windows. Faster update cadence for applications, OS, etc. Microsoft will inevitably break something with an update." — Brandon Smith, Design Engineer
• "Products/services will increase in price due to higher corporate taxes. We'll see a rise in fake 2FA prompts being utilized in cyber attacks. Microsoft will release at least one bad Windows Update." — Brian, Applications Administrator
• "News about AI reaching a "dangerous level of consciousness" at least thrice during the year (and, of course, nothing really happening). Wide banning on facial recognition by law enforcement, leaving facial recognition by private companies out of the ban, thus tacitly endorsing it, and by the end of the year some big chain will hit the news with facial recognition in their stores to show you targeted ads. Hopefully, some judicial decisions on loot boxes in video-games (to be added to the one by Belgium), that will either control them or, straight up declaring them gambling and applying gambling laws to them." — Daniel, Systems Developer
• "Microsoft continues to drive the industry to adopt technologies faster because of their forced upgrades. A massive virus/data breach wreaks havoc among all cloud platforms, causing a shift back to on prem devices. Google buys Facebook." — David, Operations Engineer
• "More focus on IT security, more breaches in cloud services, more automation." — Eric, Tier 3 Support
• "Automation, security breaches, and AI." — Jason, Senior Systems Analyst
• "Cyber security risks rise for Macs. Virtual gaming platforms continue growing. Rise of cyber security threats as a whole." — Karl, Technical Manager
• "From a security perspective, I see an increase in ransomware, phishing attempts, and an increase in the use of AI." — Katelyn, Information Security Admin
• "We're going to see more automation as more industries continue to jump on the bandwagon. Cloud services will continue to grow in leaps and bounds. Massive focus on Security as AI, cloud, and automation continue to grow." — Kelly, Technical Support Specialist
• "More work that is being automated; be able to work even more mobile; security issues." — Rene, Onsite Support
• "More automation, more crappy web interfaces for administering apps instead of full application consoles, and more options to go password-less." — Robert, Systems Architect
• "Nothing changes technology-wise, more companies get hacked, the government starts looking into a new way of tracking identities." — Ryan, Systems Administrator
• "Security will be highlighted. A major breech will happen. A new type of malware will be coming out." — Thomas Smith, Director, Telecom and IT Support

Happy New Year!