2024 tech trends that CEOs and CTOs can’t ignore

Back in 2022, I decided to compare leading reports and my colleagues’ predictions to determine the most important technology trends, meriting a list of 5 that will impact your business. It might be challenging for those who are not IT-savvy to decipher these reports and draw an apt conclusion. Fortunately, I am not afraid of challenges, and I have the privilege of working at a technological company with IT geeks who are happy to share their experiences and predictions.

Despite being up to date, I updated that list in 2024 with two additional AI-related tech trends that will be important for CEOs and CTOs.

Two tech trends added in 2024:

AI-augmented software development

By 2027, 70% of professional developers will use AI-powered coding tools, up from less than 10% in 2023, according to a study done by Gartner. Coding can be more and more effective with the advent of AI programming tools. For example, Microsoft Copilot Studio is one solution that allows for deeper customization by enabling the development of standalone copilots. These copilots bring the required skills to users across various generative AI development services when needed. Copilot and similar tools are already proven to enhance productivity and creativity while saving time.

AI-powered technologies will be increasingly popular in all aspects of software development. This is a part of the growing trend of AI-augmented software engineering (AIASE) and product management. Companies will be looking to leverage the capabilities of generative AI and large language models to enhance their offerings and take advantage of the opportunities they provide. “AI-augmented and machine learning (ML)-powered software engineering is changing the way software is being created, tested and operated, and the need for responsible AI is growing,” said Dave Micko, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner.

AI trust, risk, and security management (TRiSM)

Due to the widespread use of AI in modern businesses, regardless of their size, it is crucial to have a comprehensive program in place for managing AI trust, risk, and security (TRiSM). Such an approach will assist CEOs and CTOs in integrating much-needed governance upfront and taking proactive measures to ensure that AI systems are compliant, fair, reliable, and protect data privacy. According to Gartner’s studies, such an approach is a necessity.

Examples? AI models and apps require constant monitoring. CTOs and company management need to integrate specialized risk management processes into AI model operations (ModelOps) to keep AI compliant, fair, and ethical. Companies will have to adhere to dynamic regulatory space with the EU AI Act and other regulatory frameworks depending on the region. Compliance will be obligatory and require constant updating and technological support from an experienced team. To summarize, it is crucial to use AI TRiSM capabilities to ensure the reliability, trustworthiness, security, and privacy of AI models.

Following are the remaining and still current tech trends mentioned in the article: 

Digital Transformations and Cloud Native Platforms

The immergence and spread of a global pandemic in 2020 forced most companies around the world to accelerate digitalization, which was just a crisis-driven surge of a much longer-term trend. After two years’ remote or hybrid work, and moving most everyday activities online, it’s clear there’s no turning back. Companies and customers have got used to doing activities online and, in many cases, this new reality is more comfortable for us. Think of all the time saved by not commuting to work, conducting business meetings via online calls instead of traveling thousands of miles, or just shopping online and waiting for a delivery at your cozy home with a book and cup of coffee instead of standing in line at a store. Obviously, there are also disadvantages, though the point of this text is not to explore the tragic impact COVID-19 has had on our collective health and economies.. Still, by observing changes in the post-pandemic world, we can notice a number of new difficulties related to traveling, meeting friends and in general, accessing various goods or services offline. However, it’s still obvious the pace of digital transformation will continue to accelerate even despite these downsides, as overall it makes our lives more comfortable and efficient. That’s why more and more companies have decided to either start digital transformation efforts to update their solutions or accelerate the already ongoing projects as they know, it’s going to be impossible to run a business without it.

And while this trend is highlighted by lots of reports, including the McKinsey report,, we can also notice it in our daily work as digital transformation services providers. Over the past two years we’ve seen many different businesses look for a helping hand in virtualization. Before the pandemic, everyone could easily see if a company is tech-oriented or not. Nowadays, every business wants to be a tech company, showoff its technical nature and try to make the most out of the “new” reality confirms our observation

What’s more, thanks to digital transformation strategies, the popularity of Cloud Native Platforms has also rapidly increased. Some businesses need to virtualize from scratch, but many others should move their already existing solutions online, to make them fit new requirements, customers’ expectations and ensure a possibility to scale in the future. Gartner points out that migrating legacy workloads to the cloud that weren’t designed to accommodate this solution will require a lot of maintenance and limit the benefits following the change. Thus, it’s better to go with cloud native platforms which utilize the core elasticity and scalability of cloud computing, ultimately reducing dependencies on infrastructure and allowing organizations to focus on functionalities instead. If you want to read about an example of such an implementation, check out this text, which describes how to implement a VoIP platform in a public cloud.

Data Science/Data Fabric

In 2019 Forbes stated that “Data is the new oil” and over time this statement is becoming more and more valid. Thanks to virtualization we can track and gather even more data. For example, look at the event industry. Before the pandemic, event managers had little chance to track attendees’ engagement and satisfaction during events. Thanks to the fact events nowadays are online (and hybrid), attendees’ leave a digital footprint that can be collected and used to measure not only their engagement during events but also their satisfaction. The value of data has never been clearer, and we already know that collecting data is not a problem anymore.

But gathering data is only the beginning. According to Gartner, it’s not unusual for data to remain siloed within an app, which prevents companies from making the most out of it. In such cases, businesses should take a closer look at and consider employing Data Science & Fabric. Gartner explains that these helps integrate data among platforms and users, making it ready to use wherever needed. Data Fabric’s inbuild analytics read metadata and learn what’s being used, enabling it to make recommendations. Data Fabric “deployments will quadruple efficiency in data utilization while cutting human-driven data management tasks in half.”

What’s more, the problem of separated data is not industry specific, a fact we’ve seen by working with clients from various markets and sectors. It doesn’t matter if a company is from a healthcare branch or produces some kind of hardware. One of our partners develops transmitters that help to monitor the condition of different vehicles, machines and areas. The company grows not only by selling its products and services, but also via acquisitions. Through this process they gain access to the different models of transmitters and the different software that those devices utilize. Our job is to help them in gathering and analyzing that data from separated platforms and turning it into comprehensive insights, which ultimately enables them to provide their clients with extreme value.

Artificial Intelligence [AI] and Machine Learning [ML]

Interest in AI reached skylight in 2023. According to the 2023 Emerging Technology Survey, 73% of US companies have adopted AI in some areas of their business, with generative AI (GenAI) leading the way. AI and ML adoption can significantly help businesses boost the effectiveness of their operations. To illustrate that with an example, according to The Complete Guide to Using AI in eCommerce, employing AI helps analyze interactions to discover underlying connections and insights to, for example, determine changes in customer behavior. This way companies can personalize customer experience, which ultimately boosts revenue growth by increasing the attractiveness of the offer.

Take the example of one of our clients who develops a platform that helps people find a job. So far, the process of linking a candidate with an employer was done manually. A candidate met with a representative to search for a job opportunity and to fit into an education program. The idea now is to transfer this process to an online platform supported by AI and ML. These technologies will help to gather and analyze data about a candidate. Next, AI/ML will propose a comprehensive education path for a candidate that consists of different workshop and certifications. Finally, it will help a candidate to apply for a job. As you can imagine, it will help to scale a client’s revenue via process automatization and make it possible to handle more applicants.

Virtual Reality [VR]/Augmented Reality [AR]/Extended Reality [ER]

While these technologies have been known and popular for several years, in today’s world they are even more widespread and important. Have you heard about the metaverse? The name itself first appeared in Snow Crash, a 1992 sci-fi novel by Neal Stephenson. The metaverse refers to a collection of shared online worlds in which physical, augmented and virtual reality converge. To explain it as simply as possible, the metaverse is a virtual world where people can use an online avatar to hang out with friends, work, visit places, buy goods and services and attend events completely online without leaving their homes.

The metaverse seems to perfectly fit today’s post-pandemic world and the younger generation’s needs and expectations. Some analysts believe that the metaverse could become the most powerful marketing channel for brands of tomorrow. Retail, entertainment and media are a massive opportunity, with shopping, concerts, sports events and conferences all ripe for disruption. A few brands are already forging the way and employing a new genre of marketing – Direct To Avatar (D2A). Examples of such brands are Gucci, which sold a virtual bag for more than the real thing would cost in Roblox, Nike, which dropped virtual Jordans in Fortnite, The Coca-Cola Company, which launched its first collection of NFTs or Sotheby’s that created first virtual gallery in the digital metaverse “Decentraland”.

However, VR, AR, ER are not only about the metaverse. As Simplilearn describes, while this technology is currently being used mostly for gaming, it has also been utilized for training, like VirtualShip simulation software used to train U.S. Navy, Army and Coast Guard ship captains. Simplilearn predicts that in 2022 such technologies will integrate even further into our lives, and working in tandem with other modern technologies, will have extraordinary potential in training, entertainment, education, marketing and even physical rehabilitation.

Blockchain

Most people, when thinking about ‘blockchain’, envision cryptocurrency, however, there’s much more to it. Blockchain provides security that can be used in many different scenarios. Blockchain is a database that stores encrypted blocks of data that are chained together to create a chronological, single-source-of-truth for data and makes removing data from already made chains impossible. Therefore, this technology provides an extreme level of security. Thus, we’re seeing its implementation in more than the crypto world. The financial services industry is leading the way in making full use of blockchain as the future of all online transactions, but it’s highly probable that organizations in other industries will follow suit.

Embrace change

These are the most talked about technology trends for 2022. Considering how our world and our functioning in it has totally changed, these seem to be highly accurate, and companies that will ignore them are likely to miss out. So, you should be asking yourself “Is my business ready for a new world with different standards?”. If the answer is “no” or “not yet”, there’s no need to panic. There are many opportunities to effectively undergo a digital transformation while gathering and analyzing data to have knowledge about what’s going on. Having the ability to make data-driven decisions increases the quality and effectiveness of your services thanks to AI, VR, AR or ER. If you are ready to make changes in your company and want to dive deeper into this subject to discuss a particular matter in detail, drop me a line using our contact form!