CompTIA Report Cites Top 10 IT Trends to Watch in 2020

The recently released “CompTIA IT Industry Outlook 2020“ report suggests that the U.S. technology market may dip a bit, compared to last year, due to cautious decision-making in an unpredictable environment, potentially negatively impacted by currency fluctuations or trade policies causing companies to rethink discretionary IT purchases. Other growth inhibitors — shrinking margins or profitability, labor costs and the availability (or lack thereof) skilled IT workers, and disruption or competition from new firms entering the IT space.

At the same time, the report authors also look at factors that could drive growth in 2020, such as reaching new customer segments, an uptick in business from the existing customer base, selling new business lines and/or launching new products, improvement to sales and marketing efforts, improvement to internal operations, running more efficiently, positive government action, such as deregulation, tax code changes and so on.

Looking at the bigger picture, CompTIA projects the global information technology industry will grow at a rate of 3.7% in 2020. On the high end, the forecast is about 5.4% and on the low end, 1.9%. IDC projects the global IT industry to reach $5.2 trillion in 2020; for the U.S., that figure is about $1.7 trillion or about 32% of the total forecast.

At the top of the report, CompTIA lists the top 10 trends to watch in 2020. They are:

1. Tech-washing fades in favor of real strategy.
2. Workforce diversity grows in many ways.
3. Tech topics are front and center in U.S. elections.
4. Hype meets reality with emerging technology.
5. Internet of things continues to redefine IT architecture.
6. Artificial intelligence eats the world.
7. Demand for integration leads to demand for automation.
8. Cybersecurity becomes more operational.
9. Deep fakes and 5G exacerbate the data management challenge.
10. Tech industry regulation stirs fears.

Looking at tech spending in the U.S., the report states that tech services and software account for nearly half of spending in the tech market, which is much higher compared to elsewhere. The key categories of the IT industry in the U.S. market, according to IDC: software (20%), devices and infrastructure (17%), IT and business services (30%), emerging tech (13%) and telecom services (20%).

In the eyes of IT professionals, the IT industry looks promising. In the U.S., 86% of IT professionals rate their outlook as very good or fairly good. And why not? The demand for technology skills is high. “There is also a sense that the importance of technology to business objectives makes technology a more integral part of business operations and gives IT pros an opportunity to play a role in the direction of the organization,” states the report authors.

Homing in on the U.S. market, the CompTIA report looks at organizational focus across four IT pillars — software development (57%), cybersecurity (51%), data (47%) and infrastructure (45%) — and critical areas in each of these four areas.

In addition to looking at skills needs and development, the report also states that diversity and inclusion is going to be…