Such exercises are always interesting but also inherently risky – particularly in uncertain times such as those we have recently experienced and continue to live through. Learn about the leading tech trends the world will lean into over the next 12 months and how they will affect your life and your job. For example, few at the end of 2019 would have forecast that the world of work would be turned upside down during the following year by a global pandemic, leading to an unprecedented focus on devices and services that facilitated remote working, and ushering in a likely permanent shift to a hybrid model. Then, just as economies were adjusting to and recovering from the pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 caused a sharp rise in energy prices, increased inflation, supply chain issues and fears of widespread recession. This series of shocks has profound implications for the IT industry that look set to continue through 2023 and beyond.

As enterprise deployments of machine learning continue at a strong pace, including in mission-critical environments such as in contact centers, for fraud detection and in regulated sectors like healthcare and finance for example, they are doing so against a backdrop of rising and evermore ferocious cyberattacks. Take, for example, the SolarWinds hack in December 2020, arguably one of the largest on record, or the recent exploits that hit Exchange servers and affected tens of thousands of customers. Alongside such attacks, we've seen new impetus behind the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), with the world's first regulatory framework for the technology arriving in April 2021. The EU's landmark proposals build on GDPR legislation, carrying heavy penalties for enterprises that fail to consider the risks and ensure that trust goes hand in hand with success in AI. Altogether, a climate is emerging in which the significance of securing machine learning can no longer be ignored.

An ongoing health crisis and a global recession: even for the most attuned of analysts, the past months have brought in a load of unexpected events that have made the coming years especially difficult to envision. Yet research firm CCS Insights has taken up the challenge and delivered a set of 100 tech predictions for the years 2021 and beyond. The exercise is an annual one for the company, which last year anticipated, among many other things, that the next decade could see the rise of deep fake detection technology, or the adoption of domestic robots in some households. One year later, and many of those predictions have been affected in one way or another by the COVID-19 pandemic. "What we've seen in the last few months has completely transformed a lot of the areas we cover," Angela Ashenden, principal analyst at CCS Insights, told ZDNet.

Investing in AI can help a business grow, while generating enterprise value. In this article, five experts provide their advice on how businesses can use AI to improve their business and products. "Businesses that deploy AI can expect sales growth through more precisely targeted and relevant customer engagements, more rapid scalability across business operations and greater productivity," says John Michaelis, an expert in the practical aspects of using AI and an experienced business consultant. He is also an active angel investor and board advisor for early-stage AI companies. He provides three essential tips for using AI to grow your business and generate enterprise value.

Cognizant of a technological sea change underway in the private and public sectors, and accelerated by COVID-19, Microsoft hosted a virtual summit June 23 on artificial intelligence. Eight guests included five experts from the tech company as well as the research firm CCS Insight, The Kroger Co. and Snohomish County, Wash., which recently used AI to create chatbots to disseminate critical information. Microsoft U.S. Chief Digital Officer Jacky Wright started the event by talking about why AI is becoming so important for large organizations. She said it comes down to the power of data, for two broad purposes: to accumulate and share new knowledge, and to solve problems. She polled an audience of industry officials about the top barriers to their AI adoption strategies, and the No. 1 answer was "defining the AI strategy."

CCS Insight unveiled a set of predictions for 2020 and beyond at its annual future-gazing event in London on Thursday 3 October. With the turn of the decade approaching, the tech analyst firm's timeframe was longer than usual, stretching to 2030. A total of 90 predictions were released (10 fewer than last year), ranging from the properly futuristic ('By 2030, there is a permanent communication station on the Moon') to the very specific ('Samsung launches Galaxy Glasses in 2022'). The event saw keynote presentations from CCS Insight analysts and on-stage interviews with tech luminaries including: Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm; Stefan Streit, CMO at TCL; Olaf Swantee, CEO of Sunrise; and Daniel Rausch, VP Smart Home at Amazon. Here are CCS Insight's top 15 predictions (with some'further reading' links): By 2021, algorithmic and anti-bias data auditors emerge to tackle "pale, male and stale" artificial intelligence Read more on ZDNet & TechRepublic What is bias in AI really, and why can't AI neutralize it?

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to permeate consumers' lives, so naturally, small businesses (SMBs) are following suit. For entrepreneurs and small business employers, the promise of AI technology lies in cost savings. While that could come in many forms -- from automated processes to faster identification of financial fraud and errors -- new research from LendEDU suggests entrepreneurs are turning to artificial intelligence in hopes of alleviating some of the pressure of a more expensive workforce. According to the firm's latest research, published earlier this month, more states' decisions to implement a $15-per-hour minimum wage requirement is likely to place cash pressures on SMBs. While two-thirds of small businesses surveyed by LendEDU are supportive of the wage hike, more than a quarter are concerned it will have a negative impact on their business.

The annual trend-setting tech extravaganza that is CES International in Las Vegas is drawing to a close, having suffered through torrential rain, blackouts and a few uncooperative robots. And it's clear that your voice is more important than ever. CES 2018 rammed home that big technology thinks voice is the next major evolution in computing. First we had the computer, then the smartphone and now voice assistants. Smart speakers such as Amazon's popular Echo devices and Google's Home, which both had a killer Christmas, are just one outlet for the artificial intelligence-powered voice assistant. Google reverse-ferreted from its Google own-brand strategy to follow Amazon's led in opening up its Assistant voice system to third-parties.

The survey includes data from over 650 professionals across five regions and tells us that A.I will be hugely disruptive to many market sectors. But the data also reveals that there will both job loss and job creation to come. Nick McQuire from CCS Insight said: "Employees are drowning in a sea of data and digital technology." So the shift from manual to automation is inevitable and will only be embraced by companies who want to develop and grow in the future. He also added: "Rather than destroying jobs, AI is seen as a tool that could help us work smarter and better in the future." So which jobs are at risk? Whilst the spin on jobs and A.I are positive for some employees and employers who believe that there will be new / more roles available in the future, it's wise to note that not all professions will have the same opportunities post robotics. Many websites now offer statistical data to help workers work out the percentage possibility of their job being taken over by robots. Sites such as WillRobotsTakeMyJob.com return a % result based on any job title.

One in three employees believe artificial intelligence (AI) will increase the number of jobs available in the future, with millennials especially positive, reveals CCS Insight's latest employee enterprise survey. The survey of more than 650 employees, across five regions, reaffirmed that employees see artificial intelligence as the technology that will cause the most disruption to the workplace over the next few years. More than half of employees expect artificial intelligence to affect their jobs within three years, with 70 percent feeling it will do so within the next decade. The automation of mundane work tasks, the increasing performance of machinery and the use of assistive AI features in productivity and collaboration applications were cited by respondents as the top uses and benefits of the technology in the future. CCS Insight's vice president of enterprise research, Nick McQuire, comments, 'Despite many reports painting a bleak outlook for the impact of AI on the job market in recent months, our survey reveals rather positive attitudes to the technology, both as a job creator and an enabler of work.