Blockchain, cloud, AI, Mobile Apps, Security - no brainer!

I did a quick bit of research and found that the top 5 tech jobs that are in serious short supply in terms of good ready to roll experts are, Block Chain, Cloud, AI, mobile Apps and Security programmers. Frankly this seems to reflect exactly the 5 big areas where businesses need to transform and new CEOs should look to start for new ideas.

BLOCKCHAIN

Let's take a look at the facts. Firstly Blockchain. Last year I started Titan Investments with Max Greenfield my son based on my unshakable belief that the tech that drives Crypto currency will lead to a change from centralised to decentralised systems. OK there are many naysayers who believe blockchain is just a massive spreadsheet that everyone has a copy of with a puzzle to allow you to add another column. Truth is that's how it started but remember Lotus 123 changed the world of accountancy and that was just a spreadsheet, ha ha. Blockchain is really just an obvious next step for the Internet. The Internet makes blockchain achievable and creating trust at this level is the future. In fact today Facebook has just announced they are starting a new technology division focused on understanding and developing new products in the Blockchain, AI, Mobile and security areas. We also have the imminent launch by Block One of the EOS operating system that does not use proof of work to solve the blocks and so the big problem of speed, power usage and, security could be one step closer to being solved. EOS may not be the answer but it will drive development and create opportunities.

CLOUD

So next the cloud, oh dear, whoever coined this phrase certainly created a big solution with a lot trouble, maybe Amazon or Google should put their hands up. In would seem that every small business seems to think they don't need to worry about IT anymore. Apparently, Millennials really think their stuff is in the Cloud totally safe and secure. So it is if you are just a one man band or in your first job. But the cloud is actually lots of standard computer and hard drives connected to the Internet. They are all centralised business and all act alone. Any growing business needs multiple clouds and multiple emails servers to manage CRMs, websites, accountancy, health and safety etc etc. Add this to database management and GDPR and most businesses are in a mess. So much so that the big buzz is for Multi cloud and monitoring services to manage and control your IT for you. Hello, back to future! That's why there are so many companies looking for Cloud engineers, or should we just call them IT managers. Interestingly a client of Greenfield Marketing, (Greenfield is the owner of CEOS) recently mentioned he believed there was a big opportunity to start a new consultancy aimed at helping business re-invent their IT.

AI

Artificial Intelligence be it self driving cars, apps that book dinner for you or Oculus headsets and IOT none of it is going away and why should it, In general it is all good. In fact AI is helping us all and should stop first jobbers having to work in an Amazon distribution centres soon where the breaks are so short and the loos so far away many go to work with an empty plastic bottle, any comments (Jeff Bezos). The variety and scope of AI from medicine to farming to education is so huge that it is easy to see where many new start ups will set up shop, if they can find enough developers

MOBILE APPS

Well done Apple firstly for not selling our data but also for inventing the whole APP market. Well done Google for following and China for following them. Very soon companies will forget about websites and they will do all their marketing via Apps. Facebook, Instagram, Google, Ebay. There will be nothing to read it will all be video snippets and product demonstrations and personal recommendations. Or will it? I heard today that an organisation who promote shorter books is going to re-launch as reading short books is the new thing... hello the madness continues. What is true is that non native apps that run on any device, load quickly are absolutely job specific are really good news and the market is growing like mad. Progressive Apps as they are called, cost less to produce and you don't have to give all your profits to Apple or Google (or Alphabet, the Google holding company). So you may ask how does Apple keep it all together if they don't have the iTunes revenue.. just joking!! So how does Facebook make money if it doesn't sell anything. (the most silly question of the whole industrial revolution eh!). But seriously would you pay ￡300 a year to use Facebook if you could have complete control and no adverting. In fact a Blockchain Facebook look a like App called Steemit has already been created by Dan Larimer the genius behind EOS which does everything Facebook does and if you post you get paid, if you look at a post you get paid and if you want to advertise you pay. It is a completely de-centralised social media platform that everyone profits from and has control.... well that's the idea, so I wonder what Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg idea is for his new Blockchain team?

SECURITY

And last but by no means least we come to security. If you need a job you can always become a security guard. Physical security is big business but probably no where near as big as what it takes to protect your businesses data, your personal data and your crypto currency. In the Crypto world it's terrible and doesn't seem to be going away but it does appear the main problem is inside jobs and users just not understanding the idea of private and public key encryption, and why should they you ask? Quite right its all new and very soon this phase will be over as new tech is launched to help the average person manage they crypto wallet. For the rest managing data across the cloud, mobiles, servers, notebooks and the risks on social media and email will continue and more and more businesses are offering security services under the OWASP (open web application security project) which seems to be doing a good job.

Conclusion

It certainly looks like any one of the above tech areas will be a boom time for businesses operating within them. But technology needs to be applied and creatively and ideas are really the only guarantee of success. Linking a fundamental human desire with a new technology has always been the way.

I'm Stuart Greenfield and my career as been focused on helping businesses roll out new technology and communicating the advantages to unsuspecting consumers. I run Greenfield Marketing and write about Tech via CEO (The CEO SUCCESS series). You can hire us!!