In 2019, look for AI-enabled mobile devices – and a UEM push

This year, artificial intelligence will continue its push into mobile hardware and enterprise communication devices, challenging IT shops' enterprise mobility management (EMM) capabilities while at the same time offering potential security benefits. Also in 2019, voice-activated assistants such as Amazon's Alexa and Cisco's Spark Assistant will find their way into more corporate offices and conference rooms – becoming yet one more enterprise device encouraging the adoption of a unified endpoint management (UEM) strategy. "I do think 2019 will ring in a very disruptive era for personal devices," said Werner Goertz, a Gartner research director. "Virtual personal assistant speakers – these Alexa devices, these Amazon Echo devices – they've been rolled out into enterprises, into hospitality scenarios...and they're becoming manageable by IT professionals." A little more than a year ago, Amazon announced Alexa for Business "an intelligent assistant to simplify their interactions with the technology around them at work."