Biz Trends That Aren’t Happening This Year

Around December and January, we often see a lot of articles about what you should expect for the year ahead. Sadly, a review of the previous year’s predictions often reveals more than a few shortcomings.

While it can’t hurt to think about ‘what might be’, it’s also useful to think about the growing developments that just aren’t going to blow up within the next 12 months. Consider the short list below of things that probably won’t happen in 2019.

The running-walking desk goes mainstream.

We all know about the negative health impacts of sitting all day and the running-walking desks that were supposed to address that problem. Probably due to costs, those workstations haven’t gone mainstream and they probably never will.

Instead, companies are taking a more mindful and holistic approach to office work, finding ways to get their employees up and moving with things like walking meetings and standing desk systems.

The voice assistant becomes a job killer.

Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa are everywhere. Experts have predicted that the technology behind them would render many types of customer service jobs irrelevant in the near future. Well, that’s just not going to happen; at least not in 2019.

The wearable becomes more than a novelty.

Remember when Google Glass was going to revolutionize society? Well, that didn’t happen. In the ensuing years, a lot of other, more well-designed wearables have come out, but none have revolutionized the ways we work or play. It’s safe to safe that isn’t going to change in 2019.

Just because wearables are mostly considered a novelty, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have significant value. Some companies see investing in wearable for their employees as a kind of perk that helps them attract and retain talent.

Blockchain technology will realize its potential

Ever since everyone and their grandmother started talking about buying Bitcoin, we’ve been reading stories about how the technology behind it – blockchain – is going to revolutionize business. The technology does hold incredible promise, but its commercial development is still in its infancy. You should still feel comfortable betting on blockchain, but only if you’re looking to play the long game.

Autonomous vehicles will completely disrupt transportation.

As with blockchain, the commercial development of autonomous vehicles just isn’t there yet. However, that isn’t stopping people from making very reasonable-sounding predictions about what driverless vehicles will mean.

According to one prediction, driverless cars will become a subscription-based service. You’ll call a car to pick you up in the morning, take you home at night, drive you to the movies and basically bring you anywhere in your local area. Since you wouldn’t need to worry about parking, this would seriously decrease the need for driveways and parking lots.

Are you looking for the next step in your career?

At SMCI, we stay on top of the latest trends and predictions so we can better serve job seekers. If you’re currently looking to take the next step on your IT career path, please contact us today.