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In 2016 the Internet of Things and wearable technologies will continue to dominate and it’s likely robotics and artificial intelligence solutions will go mainstream. These are the key predictions in a new report published by Advanced 365 (Advanced) in association with Global Futures & Foresight.

Neil Cross, Managing Director of Advanced 365, outlines his top six technological developments that organisations should consider in the next 12 months to drive business innovation and growth.

1. A new era of cybercrime – Organisations will increasingly be targeted by independent groups of cyber criminals, with the average cost of a data breach exceeding £100 million by 2020. As businesses become more connected, influenced by technology platforms such as IoT, hackers will develop specific malware with potentially devastating consequences. To mitigate risk, it is vital to develop relationships with trusted partners who can provide security assessments and additional forms of due diligence to address these IT challenges.

2. The rise and fall of apps – Growth in apps is predicted to peak in the short term before consumers switch to virtual assistants in the cloud by 2020. Advanced 365 has developed home and remote control apps in addition to an e-commerce site with back-office data warehousing and reporting facilities for RS Components. Performance data for the company’s Wi-Fi enabled air-conditioning units is sent to the central data warehouse system every five minutes and stored permanently. The improved application architecture has seen monthly revenues increase by 40%.

3. IoT at the edge – IoT is shifting from a connected device (remote sensors and monitoring) to an intelligent device paradigm (equipment, instruments or machines with computing capabilities). Examples include Pizza Hut testing the world’s 'first subconscious menu’ using eye-tracking technology to predict customer choices. To take advantage, organisations will need to ensure that their IT infrastructures are sufficiently robust to store, process and analyse increased volumes of IoT related data close to, or 'at the edge’, of networks.

4. Mobile technologies, including wearables – Consumers and employees are increasingly demanding access to the information they need, when and wherever they need it. The wearable tech market could reach 385 million people worldwide by 2025 which will see it evolve into a viable mass alternative to smartphones. Almost *three-quarters (72%) of consumers believe wearables represent the future of in-store shopping and 50% expect this technology to provide full health monitoring from implantable devices. Bio batteries, where wearables harvest kinetic energy from users, could also emerge as early as 2016.

5. Software robotics – Software robotics enable organisations to generate new growth opportunities and enhance existing products and services. Analyst Gartner believes that by 2017, these autonomics-based managed services and cognitive platforms will reduce the cost of IT solutions by 60% through automating processes currently performed by humans. Businesses should evaluate employee skillsets to determine how Software robotics can augment creative thinking by freeing them from routine tasks. Benefits include reduced costs and better interaction between staff and customers.

6. Virtual reality (VR) – By replacing how we create, share and experience anything, VR technologies will dominate industries that train through simulation, such as aviation and medicine. VR and adjacent solutions are anticipated to generate mass consumer revenues from software platforms and delivery services, television and gaming content and hardware and distribution channels. Organisations should consider how their existing training processes could benefit and examine whether customer engagement would be enhanced from a more experiential form of interaction.

Neil Cross comments, "The speed of innovation within business technology is creating much uncertainty, particularly for organisations who are reluctant to abandon old processes and systems. Whilst disruption should not be underestimated, businesses which are bold enough to embrace change stand to be rewarded with significant opportunities and efficiencies.

"There remains a real need for businesses to understand how the competitive advantages on which they have based their strategy might erode or be enhanced a decade from now by emerging technologies. Greater collaboration and forming alliances with trusted partners is therefore critical to tackling big issues, such as software robotics and cybercrime.\"

PSU Technology Group (PSU) is raffling three prizes including an iPad Mini and two Star Wars BB-8 Interactive Robotic Droids to help raise funds for its local animal shelter this Christmas.
 
The Cheltenham-based company has already brought some early festive cheer to the charity with a £1,000 donation. Having supported the Cheltenham Animal Shelter for the last seven years, the money will be a real boost towards their costs of care.
 
Over the past year the charity has looked after over 800 animals (dogs, cats and other small animals).

With just a few days to Christmas, the shelter's ramping up its campaign activities to bring a little more comfort to the lives of animals waiting to find a suitable new home.
Their Christmas initiatives include a shoe box appeal (which encourages people to bring in a shoe box full of treats and gifts for one of the homeless animals in their care over Christmas); an Amazon Wish List (where supporters can provide some extra comfort for the animals by buying them a gift from the shelter's Amazon Wish List); and Sponsor a Kennel (where individuals or businesses can sponsor a kennel/or cat pod).

The closing date for Prize Draw entries is 30th December - to participate please visit www.justgiving.com/psu-cas

A toy appeal organised by Glasgow-based Exsel is set to put some smiles on children's faces on Christmas morning.

Exsel MD Tom McDonald launched the campaign in association with the Glasgow Care Foundation which will distribute the mountain of toys to needy children in Scotland.

"We collected over 450 gifts which was an amazing result, and I would like to thank everyone who donated and say a massive thank you to the Exsel and Health Rewards staff who worked so hard to make the campaign such a success," said McDonald.

ProVu's link-up with a local college to offer apprenticeship schemes at its Huddersfield offices has paid big dividends with technical apprentice Luke Warby named Apprentice of the Year in the Kirklees College COLS (College Outstanding Learner Success) Awards.

ProVu's MD Darren Garland said: "Since adopting the apprenticeship scheme we have seen some great outcomes. The whole team is proud of Luke and what our apprentices have achieved since joining us.

"We work closely with Kirklees College which has provided us with a great level of support and advice regarding technical careers for our apprentices.

"Developing and nurturing our own workforce is really important to the development of our team and we feel confident that our partnership will allow us to do this."

ProVu has so far recruited three apprentices under the scheme.

According to recent Government reports, the Government is committed to delivering 3 million quality apprenticeships by 2020.

NTA's channel building ambitions have been boosted by the appointment of Michael J Thornton, formerly of Frontier Voice & Data.

His primary remit is to drive NTA's hosted proposition through to channel partners, drawing on his experience of the telecoms market and in particular in delivering on his strategy to drive products and services through a channel-only model.

Thornton commented: "I look forward to the exciting times that lie ahead for this already successful business. NTA offers a powerful proposition that will become even more compelling in 2016 with new products and services shortly to be announced."

Andrew Hicks has joined Advanced Computer Software Group as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), replacing Guy Millward.

Hicks will lead the Group's strategic and operational finance, legal and HR departments.

He Hicks joins the Group with 15 years experience in the software sector, where he has served in senior finance roles in public and private equity backed firms both in the UK and USA.

He has worked for a number of Vista portfolio companies including Advanced's sister company, financial services software provider, Misys.

Hicks also served as CFO of Vista's P2 Energy Solutions,a software and data solutions company exclusively servicing the oil and gas industry, located in Denver, Colorado.

His experience also includes serving as CFO at Turaz, which was formed from the assets of Thomson Reuters' Trade and Risk Management Software business unit based in the UK.

Most recently, he served as CFO at Kewill, a global leader in multimodal transportation management and supply chain solutions. Similarly to Advanced, Kewill was taken from a public to a private business and its software platform enables companies to lower costs and increase efficiencies.

Gordon Wilson, CEO Advanced Computer Software Group, said: "Andrew is a proven finance leader and his outstanding track record of working with Vista companies will stand him in good stead for the CFO role at Advanced. His experience of executing successful strategies will enable Advanced to further strengthen its financial position, extending value and offerings in the markets we operate."

Hicks added: "Advanced is one of the UK technology sector's true success stories, having grown revenues to more than £200 million in just six years. It is a company which has an excellent platform for organic and acquisitive growth and this is a business culture I'm very familiar with.

"I'm looking forward to bringing my experience of taking companies from public to private and to working with the senior management team to take the business to the next level by focusing on investments in people, products and processes."

Skyscape Cloud Services has donated £10,000 apiece to the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity and Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity from the Skyscape Foundation.

"We are thrilled to support both the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity and Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity, both of which provide such vital care and equipment to so many," said Simon Hansford, CEO of Skyscape Cloud Services.

"As a socially responsible organisation, we strive to always do the right thing and part of this means we have committed to sharing our profits with our community by providing much needed financial assistance to worthy organisations."

Skyscape recently announced the launch of the Skyscape Foundation, an initiative dedicated to supporting charitable causes, through which an annual donation of two percent of net profits is made to charities selected by the company and its employees.

Skyscape's core values include serving the wider society by actively encouraging staff to support their personal charities or ones close to them, as well as the company's chosen charities.

"It certainly is a refreshing change for such a substantial donation to come from a private sector organisation," said Gill Raikes, Chief Executive at Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity. "Skyscape's commitment to supporting charitable causes should be a leading example for all businesses to give back to their communities wherever possible."

The Skyscape team recently dedicated the official Children in Need appeal day on Friday 13th November to a number of fundraising activities in aid of the charity, with the whole company taking part in fancy dress, raising £25,000.

2016 will be a difficult year to call for the European IT businesses - any of the usual linear progress in the IT industry in 2015 as a result of more powerful technologies was distorted by special factors such as cloud, security and the economic situation and its impact on dollar/euro pricing.

Talking to experts in European IT, IT Europa has compiled an 18-page report which is aimed at those IT strategists trying to map a path through the issues of cloud, security, data analytics and how the channels, especially distribution adapt to new models and new patterns of customer behaviour.

The report concludes that 2016 will see further major changes in vendors and channels, with legacy vendors facing a bleak future unless they take major steps.

As IDC has already indicated. Customers want more, be it in data and analysis, security, cloud apps or guidance. Channels may struggle to keep up. As one expert puts it: "The channel's ability to pivot its business models to work with a wider range of technologies and commercial delivery models limits the way it can meet this demand."

Some firms may leave the business completely, under pressure from the new demands placed on them, while others look for dramatic growth through acquisition. Consolidation in the channel will continue, with some signs that firms are getting a clearer understanding of what the M&A market needs to help put a price on their businesses.

With Software-Defined-Everything (SDE) storming across the industry, companies, already under the hammer from customer's existing demands, will find key resources in short supply. Performance, security and staff recruitment and retention are identified as the three main headaches for the IT industry in 2016.

Some key predictions:

As economies recover, IT spending will rise, but this may get diverted into aspects regarded as essential such as security.

Security issues will make headline news, so expect customers' concerns to continue.

EU legislation is moving at a snail's pace; we don't hold out much hope for change

Channels will consolidate - driven by the need to raise capital to invest, lack of available skills, plus the wall of new money looking for a home through IPOs etc.

Expect distribution to continue to expand its portfolios, especially in security, while fulfilling its role of recruitment and providing cloud management and contracts.

Big Data will start to affect everyone, not just the obvious big data users and vendors; there is a real shortage of expertise here, however

Watch for smaller IoT projects: While large transformative Internet of Things (IoT) projects grab headlines, an increasing number of IoT projects are smaller in scale, less expensive and less risky, says TBR. Wearables might finally come through as part of IoT.

Analytics and big data will drive the market: Today, only 1% of all apps use cognitive services; by 2018, half will, say researchers. Essentially, analytics will be embedded in every application, used to facilitate functionality or convenience.

Predictive Analytics will be big, but means high demand for IT-based business specialists able to define the rules which can encode the models

Software-defined everything means hardware continues to be standardised, especially in data centres, while software creation, APIs, embedded systems and mobile will set the pace. For an update on the situation among Europe's software businesses and who is winning this race, attend the European Software and Solutions Summit 2016 in April in London - www.EUSSS.com

As a result of software-defined everything and the enterprise move to the cloud, Managed Services will become the accepted model for many businesses and organisations. Who best provides these, with which management tools and administration, is a question that will remain open in 2016.

For some of the answers sign up for Managed Services and Hosting Summit 2016, in London in September - www.mshsummit.com

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of the European Hosted IP Telephony and UCC Services Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $3.32 billion in 2014 and estimates this to reach $17.93 billion in 2021.

"Tight IT budgets and limited in-house IT expertise are pushing small and medium-size businesses to outsource communications solutions to expert third parties," said Frost & Sullivan Digital Transformation Program Director Elka Popova.

"For large, distributed organisations, avoiding the cost and hassle of integrating multi-vendor solutions combined with greater ability to support remote and mobile workers are driving their move to the cloud."

The retail, professional services and IT sectors in Europe have been early adopters of hosted IP and UCC services. In some countries, public sector organisations are also moving to hosted communications. The presence of multiple distributed sites as well as OPEX-based IT budgets are driving demand for hosted IP telephony and UCC services in other sectors as well.

However, businesses with specific customisation, integration or security requirements continue to choose premises-based solutions over hosted services. Fear of losing control over communications capabilities is another factor preventing some firms from outsourcing telephony and UCC solutions. Lingering concerns about quality and reliability also prevent some businesses from migrating to IP-based communications systems and services.

Channel support is critical for service provider success in Europe. A barrier to broader hosted IP communications adoption has been traditional telecom resellers' limited experience with cloud technologies and recurring revenue business models. Many perceive hosted services as a threat to equipment sales and their cherished relationships with equipment vendors.

Technology maturity, new architectures and business models, and greater awareness of cloud communications and their advantages are increasingly addressing these barriers to hosted services uptake in Europe. The wider availability of hosted solutions also means enterprises can find the best fit for their specific needs.

"In the future, greater incumbent carrier focus on next-generation services as well as mergers and acquisition among smaller providers will expedite industry expansion," observed Frost & Sullivan Digital Transformation Program Manager Robert Arnold.

"Continued solution enhancements, such as better mobility support and tighter integration with other communications and productivity apps, will reinforce the appeal of hosted IP telephony and UCC in the European market."

Building on a relationship that has lasted more than six years, Polycom has been selected by NATO to be the primary unified communications provider of the organisations Active Network Infrastructure (ANWI) project within its high-tech new headquarters located in Brussels, Belgium.

As part of NATO's 'new ways of working' business capability designed to modernise virtual collaboration across multiple networks, the Polycom RealPresence Platform will represent the first hybrid Video Collaboration (VTC), Voice and Data deployment by NATO.

This implementation will extend NATO's reach to employees, military commands and deployed units, taking this far beyond the traditional workplace.

Additionally, it will provide flexibility and capability to secure collaborative communications no matter what the condition or location is. Polycom will play an important role in the ANWI project, building a viable UC&C service that can be widely used across the NATO organisation to support decision making, collaboration and coordination.

Steven Janis, Project Manager of the new NATO headquarters, said: "There is a great importance to us in the way Polycom integrates smoothly with other communications platforms, such as Microsoft, and the ins-and-outs of the nucleus of our UC&C platforms which help take our communications into the next century."

Polycom will also equip the facility with 2,500 of its Polycom VVX business media voice end points for use with Skype For Business.

Sean Berg, Vice President, Public Sector at Polycom, added: "Communications are integral to any organisation. However, it plays an absolutely essential role in not only NATO's initiatives, but the security and well-being of millions of citizens around the world. Polycom is proud to play a critical role in providing."