CompTIA Reveals 12 Tech Trends To Watch In 2016

Next wave of digital business technologies drives industry growth forecast of 4.7 percent

Anticipating strong customer demand for the next waves of digital business technologies, information technology (IT) industry executives view the year ahead with a general sense of optimism, according to the IT Industry Outlook 2016 released recently by CompTIA, the industry’s nonprofit trade association.

Maintaining its momentum, CompTIA’s IT Industry Business Confidence Index recorded an uptick of 1.2 points heading into the first quarter of the year. While a range of economic concerns have affected the Index, the rating component covering the IT industry continues to perform well.

“The Index indicates industry executives see far more positives than negatives,” said Tim Herbert, senior vice president, research and market intelligence, CompTIA.

For 2016, CompTIA’s consensus industry forecast projects growth of 4.7 percent for the U.S. market. Industry executives believe this will be a function of incremental growth in the staple categories of hardware, software, services, and telecom, supplemented with new revenue streams from emerging categories.

“Businesses of all sizes increasingly recognize the need to remake their workflows and customer engagement practices with an eye towards digital transformation,” said Herbert. “If investments in these technologies accelerate, and the economy holds steady, growth could lean towards the upside of the forecast.”

Trends to Watch in 2016
In its IT Industry Outlook 2016 CompTIA identifies 12 trends that are expected to further make their mark on the IT industry, IT channel, IT workforce, and broader economy in the year ahead.

Macro Trends

• Moving Beyond User Interface: User Experience Drives Technology Initiatives
• Tech Policy Gets a Seat at the Presidential Election Issues Table
• Digital Business Encompasses More than the IT Department
• Organizations Strive to Develop More Tech Talent In-house

Technology Trends

• Cloud is the New Electricity
• Companies Go On the Offensive with Security
• The Chase for Analytics Heats Up (Again)
• The Software Layer Gets Much More Attention

IT Channel Trends

• Vendor Partner Programs Strive to Reach Escape Velocity
• So Who’s a Vendor Anyway?
• Skip the Data Center Build-out – Everyone Else is
• Getting Closer to the Customer

“Cloud computing, mobility, social, workforce automation, big data, the Internet of Things and other disrupters will continue to expand their reach in 2016,” Herbert said. “Many organizations will move beyond the experimental, early adopter stage into broader, more varied uses of these technologies as they seek to capture the benefits of becoming a digital business”

The IT Industry Outlook 2016 is based on a December 2015 survey of 673 IT industry companies in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

The complete 43-page report is available free of charge with a simple registration. For more information, visit https://www.comptia.org/resources/it-industry-outlook-2016-final?cid=download.

About CompTIA
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a non-profit trade association serving as the voice of the technology industry. With approximately 2,000 member companies, 3,000 academic and training partners, 6,700 registered users and more than two million IT certifications issued, CompTIA is dedicated to advancing industry growth through educational programs, market research, networking events, professional certifications and public policy advocacy. For more information, visit https://www.comptia.org/.