When I sat down to consider my 2019 IT predictions, it will be no surprise that I started with malware and ended with the cloud. They cover multiple areas of enterprise technology, with an emphasis on security and management.

42019 IT Predictions #1: Cryptomining Malware Continues4

Cryptocurrency was a major topic in 2018 on a number of fronts. Although the public at large may not fully understand the technology behind cryptocurrency, they excitedly watched its skyrocketing ascension in value. Hackers have identified a number of ways to “mine” cryptocurrency, and one way is to use your business’s computers. There are a few ways to do this – through cryptomining malware and cryptojacking. Cryptomining and cryptojacking and the insecurities they can create will continue to threaten endpoint and browser security this year as well.

2019 IT Predictions #2: Java is Not Going Away

Everyone wants to say goodbye to websites that rely on Java. However, it’s proving hard to say goodbye. My prediction is that this isn’t the year people say goodbye to Java, even though they want to. And trust me, they want to.

2019 IT Predictions #3: This is The Year for Windows 10

2019 is the year for Windows 10. With Windows 7 support ending in January of 2020, businesses need to get going. The adoption rate is already high for Windows 10, but the number needs to grow even larger. The problem though is that businesses will (still) have trouble keeping up with the cadence of releases for Windows 10. Early adopters were frustrated in 2017 and 2018 and have signaled that they don’t like the twice a year upgrade cadence and Windows 10 version end-of-life policies. I cannot foretell if Microsoft will (once again) change their upgrade cadence and Windows 10 version end-of-life policies, but it’s possible Microsoft could agree to a less aggressive required upgrade cadence.

2019 IT Predictions #4: MDM Will Emerge

Customers are seeing the light when it comes to the “buy it at BestBuy” or “drop ship it from Dell” approach and are connecting machines to the network and to get configured. MDM might have other wins, but I think the shining star of 2019 will be when organizations get MDM configured enough with Autopilot to demonstrate a base-hit with MDM, with Autopilot being “Score #1” on the board.

2019 IT Predictions #5: Organizations Will Still Use On-Premises Infrastructure

2019 is not the year to turn off the lights on domain controllers, SCCM, Group Policy, or on-prem File or Print Servers. It’s just not. We will start to see offerings and scenarios which augment on-prem infrastructure with cloud equivalents. Organizations will stay entrenched in their on-prem infrastructures but will investigate the new offerings for mobile machines and roaming users.