Roughly 51% of digital media is now consumed via smartphones, compared with only 42% via desktops and laptops. This shift is feeding the biggest technology trends businesses will face in the coming year…

1. Frictionless Purchasing – 2016 promises to be a big year for frictionless payment solutions. The goal is a digital wallet scheme where consumers no longer need to pull out a credit card. Instead, online purchasing from a mobile device will be as easy as clicking “Buy Now” and accessing a stored credit card account.
2. Cloud Services for Everything – Given the increasing penetration of mobile usage, 2016 should see even more adoption of cloud services as both businesses and consumers complete the migration to the cloud.
3. Embedded Communications – The need for seamless communication from mobile devices is leading to the rise of embedded rich communications within apps and directly from web pages. 2016 will be the year when it becomes easy to contact customer support in a rich communications environment that includes contextual video chats, screen sharing, chat, and calling for better sales and customer service.
4. Improved Security – Security has become one of the biggest issues in business technology, and 2016 should be the year that businesses start to take better precautions. Putting security at the forefront will mean encryption during transport and at rest, improved bring-your-own-device management and security, adoption of cloud solutions that take security as a fundamental priority, and better security awareness.
5. Wearables in the Workplace – Carrying around a tablet or pulling out a smartphone every few minutes is cumbersome and often time consuming – a problem the emerging “wearables” trend looks to address. Developers are working on apps that deliver timely business notifications that reduce the need for employees to constantly check their smartphones or tablets. This trend should start to pick up late in 2016 and continue well into 2017 and beyond.

Don’t let your business fall behind… DataLink stays on top of technology trends that improve performance and competitiveness. Contact us today at 410.729.0440 or sales@DataLinkTech.com.