Artificial intelligence will stake out a larger role; a greater emphasis will be placed on the user experience with technology; and protecting personal data and information will become more critical in 2018, according to the board of directors of CompTIA, the leading technology industry association.

The new year will also see technology companies focused on new government regulations and requirements, led by the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation; evolving their business models to rely more on the sale of "as a service" subscriptions; and taking new actions to combat cyber threats.

The CompTIA directors at a board meeting earlier this month spent time trading ideas and debating the impact of nearly 20 trends likely to impact the technology industry in 2018. Six themes rose to the top of the consensus list of technology trends to watch.

Artificial intelligence expands its presence – A recent CompTIA survey found that one in four companies make regular use of AI in areas such as machine learning, virtual assistants, workflow tools, and in the automation of processes and tasks. Another 19 percent of organizations expect to adopt AI in the next year.

More focus on optimizing the customer experience – Options for acquiring technology have expanded, driving providers to find new ways to maintain relationships with current customers and acquire new clients. Optimizing customer experiences with technology is a crucial step in maintaining and building relationships; but it requires a thorough understanding of both user expectations and business objectives.

"The emergence of technologies that enhance the customer experience will be an important tech theme for companies wanting to stay ahead of the competition in 2018," said Dan Shapero, founder, ClikCloud Digital Marketing. "Companies using artificial intelligence, chat, call center and mobile web to enrich customer experience will reap the benefit of increased customer loyalty, greater efficiency and higher margins in the foreseeable future."   

Protecting personal privacy – The security and personal privacy challenges associated with how consumer information is collected, used, analyzed, and shared will grow in importance as millions of new interconnected devices come online through the expansion of the Internet of Things, smart cities, autonomous vehicles, and other innovations.

Government requirements and regulations – The pace of innovation greatly exceeds the speed at which governments can adopt, alter, expand or eliminate policies and regulations. This can create inherent tensions between technologies entering the market – often at the demand of customers – and governments' ability to regulate. In 2018 one of the biggest regulatory issues technology companies will face is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the new primary law that will regulate how companies protect European Union citizens' personal data.

"Government regulation becomes more stringent when it feels the need to do a better job of protecting people than it deems the industry it's regulating is doing," said Tracy Pound, managing director, Maximity. "The GDPR is intended to provide consistent enforcement of data protection rules that increase an individuals' rights to control data held about them; and to ensure that companies holding data can demonstrate accountability for that data and have good governance processes in place. It applies to any company that processes, stores or transmits personal data belonging to EU residents. It will still apply to the UK post Brexit, making it a global issue rather than a European one.

"With industry surveys stating that less than 10 percent of companies are prepared for the GDPR, this is a significant opportunity for tech companies to reinforce being a true trusted business advisor by providing insights and services that help clients navigate the new regulation in order to help them minimize the risk of data breaches and to demonstrate compliance," Pound continued. "With maximum fines of 4 percent of global turnover or €20 million, tech companies and their clients need to wake up to the volume of preparatory work in documenting systems, educating staff, bringing policies and procedures for processing data up to date and making changes to be ready for the deadline of 25th May 2018. Expecting this to go away and to do nothing is a game of Russian Roulette."

From product sales to service subscriptions – The "everything-as-a-service" model is not a new phenomenon. But the subscription service model continues to evolve as businesses expand their reliance on the technology ecosystem. In this fast-changing market many companies – traditional technology firms and new market entrants alike – are striving to carve out their niche.

"As the 'as-a-service' model of technology acquisition continues to mature, traditional resellers are facing significant changes to their established business models," said MJ Shoer, director, client engagement, and virtual CIO, Onepath. "While there will always be a need to make capital acquisitions of technology, subscription models are now the norm and some traditional customers are now procuring their technology from multiple sources. This requires that technology solution providers drive value by helping our customers understand and leverage this evolving market trend. We also need to help our customers leverage technology to improve their workflows and business processes to gain a competitive edge. 

"Technology solution providers also need to adapt to the changing security landscape," Shoer added. "While many traditional MSPs are building security practices within their existing business structure, this leads to concerns about the fox watching the hen house. How technology solution providers bring security services to their customers while ensuring the integrity of those services will be paramount to providing the type of services most customers will require, especially with increasing government regulation like GDPR and others."

Cyber readiness – Video gaming communities, hotels, fast-food restaurants, retailers, healthcare providers, educational institutions, government agencies, and business services providers were just some of the victims of cyber-attacks and data breaches in 2017. Despite improvements on many fronts, threats show no signs of abating. In fact, evidence suggests that things will get worse before they get better, with the attacks growing in both frequency and virulence.

"Going into the new year we expect cybercriminals to stick with the malware that makes them the most money: ransomware," said Scott Barlow, vice president, Global MSP, Sophos. "In fact, according to recent research by Sophos, 2018 could potentially bring the explosion of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS). These hacking kits, designed to make cybercrime accessible to anyone regardless of skill, will drive global ransomware levels through the roof."

The CompTIA Board of Directors includes Chairwoman Amy Kardel, president and co-founder, Clever Ducks; Vice Chair Quy "Q" Nguyen, founder and CEO, Allyance Communications Inc.; Vice Chair Gordon Pelosse, Vice President Technology Support Delivery Canada, Hewlett Packard Enterprises; MJ Shoer, director of client engagement and virtual CIO, Onepath; James Afdahl, vice president, business services and state relationship manager, GED Testing Service; Scott Barlow, vice president of Global MSP, Sophos, Inc.; Toni Clayton-Hine, senior vice president, chief marketing officer, Xerox Corporation; Eric Hughes, CEO, Komodo Cloud Inc.; Tracy Pound, managing director, MaximITy; Kirk Robinson, senior vice president, Go-to-Market, Ingram Micro US; Dan Shapero, founder, CLIKCLOUD Digital Marketing; and Raja K Singh, principal solutions architect, Verizon Business.