Insights

Author: Alain Blaes, Founder and Managing Director PR-COM

Forecasts are usually extrapolations of stable trends. For 2021, however, the only thing that can apply is: “expect the unexpected”. Everything depends on what other twists and turns the Corona virus will take. It is foreseeable that it will also leave a lasting mark on IT. Perhaps the most important of these is the accelerated digitization of society and the growing influence of IT, which will have an even greater impact on our professional and private lives in the future. IT is therefore becoming increasingly important. For example, e-commerce has become an integral part of the supply chain, the media revolution has fundamentally changed communication behavior, and many companies have only been able to survive thanks to the option to work from home. But Corona has also exposed digital job sites. Perhaps the most important task is the development and design of homeschooling. Future generations will use it to create entirely new learning experiences. 2021 is the year in which the starting signal must be given for this – not as lip service worth billions, but as concerted, practice-oriented action by educators, politicians and IT experts.

At the same time, IT is becoming less and less important, as paradoxical as that may sound. This is due to the continuing “dematerialization of IT” in 2021 and the fact that computing power, broadband connections and data are now sufficiently available. On this basis – also with growing support from machine learning and AI – many new, helpful applications can emerge. IT is increasingly moving away from pure technology optimization to clever application and deployment concepts. Even before the pandemic, IT was one of the most important drivers for the transformation and reshaping of entire economic sectors and social structures. This influence will continue to gain momentum. But it also means progressive IT dependency in all areas of life. It is becoming increasingly clear how much society is on the data drip. This development is not reversible and exacerbates the latent security problem that has been with us for many years. Approaches to solving this problem are urgently needed in 2021.

In 2020, IT proved itself to be a savior in an emergency. It will continue to do so in 2021. But beyond that, it must be made even more practical, even more secure and even more widely available this year. Even after the pandemic, the dynamism and disruptive power of IT will have a lasting impact on society and its development.