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13 Tech Experts Predict The Industry's Biggest Challenges In 2019

Forbes Technology Council
POST WRITTEN BY
Expert Panel, Forbes Technology Council

The technology industry is constantly evolving, with new products and features being released faster than ever. All this change is exciting, especially for the innovative companies behind today’s latest technologies. However, it’s also incredibly challenging to keep up with cutting-edge competitors, cybersecurity issues and a changing regulatory landscape.

The experts at Forbes Technology Council know how difficult it can be to get ahead of the curve in this industry. According to a panel of our members, here are 13 of the biggest challenges facing tech companies in 2019.

1. Market Incorporation

I think we are developing new technologies at an accelerated rate without being able to fully incorporate them into existing products. Artificial intelligence (AI) and voice control are the best examples of two developments with tremendous investment and effort put in, but with negligible impact on the market so far. I think this gap will continue to grow in 2019, and we desperately need to reduce it. - Nacho De Marco, BairesDev

2. Finding Talent

Talent is the main driver of execution and innovation. The biggest challenge that the tech startups are facing these days is to be able to find great talent, since it’s more globally distributed than ever, and retain it due to fierce competition in most tech hubs. Companies that are able to be efficient with remote teams and build strong cultures have more chances to succeed. - Maria Alegre, chartboost.com

3. Balancing The Risks And Rewards Of AI

While the promise of AI is growing by the hour, there is also growing concern on the potential hazard AI can create when not applied cautiously. A balancing act of AI application is the No. 1 challenge and a huge uphill task that the technology industry will have to address in 2019. - Suresh Sambandam, KiSSFLOW

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4. Data Governance, Security And Privacy

Beyond the skills gap and AI transformation challenges within large enterprises globally, 2019 will be a critical year for data governance, security and privacy. These areas will have major implications on AI utilization within and outside of the enterprise. Heavily unbalanced regulation can massively limit its applications and cause a major setback in business innovation. - Nir Kaldero, Galvanize Inc.

5. Cloud Network Issues

Organizations are increasingly moving their corporate workloads into public, private and hybrid cloud infrastructure. However, there’s one large piece of the puzzle missing — the network. An organization has a set amount of bandwidth, or budget to spend on it, and hauling the amount of data that users, Internet of Things (IoT), AI and applications generate today to the data center to process will be a huge network issue. - Frank Cittadino, QOS Networks

6. Continued Deterioration Of Public Perception And Trust

The technology industry will face the continued deterioration of public perception and trust as consumers gain a broader understanding of the monetization models of tech giants and privacy violations and security incidents continue topping headlines. The industry needs leaders to take ownership of these shortcomings and make deliberate efforts to have a positive, responsible impact on society. - Kris Beevers, NS1

7. Digital Transformation Of Enterprise-Level Companies

New concepts, discoveries, patents, gadgets and groundbreaking ideas are shaping our future. From the net neutrality and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) problems in 2017 to the introduction of AI and augmented reality (AR) on pretty much every level of everyday life in 2018, we have seen it all. I believe that the biggest challenge facing the tech industry in 2019 is a digital transformation of enterprise-level companies. - Daria Leshchenko, SupportYourApp Inc.

8. Implementing Regulated Privacy Protections

One of the largest challenges facing the industry in 2019 will be the implementation of user privacy rights. GDPR and similar regulations are not easily implemented. Balancing the ownership and rights of the end user with most technology platforms will require refactoring of many systems and necessitate new approaches for storing user data, like per-user keys, which are destroyed on user request. - Danny Allan, Veeam Software

9. ‘Deep Fakes’

For anyone that has seen the “deep fake” videos of politicians and celebrities saying things that they didn’t really say, it’s clear that we’re entering territory where seeing may not necessarily mean believing. In this new future, the ability to influence people will be dramatically enhanced by those who employ these unethical techniques. If we thought 2016 politics were crazy, wait until 2020. - David Isaac Murray, Doctor.com

10. Fear Of AI

The biggest challenge the technology industry will face in 2019 is the fear in people that AI will take away their jobs. Areas such as data entry, warehouse operations, customer relationship management (CRM), back-office operations, customer support and so on might be streamlined by AI automation software. Although this will lead to some job losses, there will be an equal number of strategic job roles that will be created. - Amit Jnagal, Infrrd

11. Lack Of U.S.-Based Talent

Technology roadmaps are fundamentally driven by team capacity and bandwidth. After productivity improvements and performance management, hiring is essential to keeping pace with innovation. New skill sets and more engineers are key, but employers are competing for the same talent in a hot job market. The U.S. needs more engineers through investments in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); retraining; and immigration. - Vinay Pai, Bill.com

12. Turning Ideas Into Reality

2019 will be a test for executives in bringing promising business models to fruition by being able to incubate operations and technologies from research and development to production, delivering on the promise of enterprise AI and other enterprise blockchain technology. - Florian Quarré, Ciox Health

13. Accurately Anticipating Market Demand

A lot of companies get into trouble because they base product development on what they hope will be a future demand, and all too often that market demand never materializes. While sometimes the results are inspiring, they can also lead to failure. That’s why it’s critical to be more measured, taking steps and not leaps based on current market demand and how it is likely to change over time. - Marc Alacqua, Signafire