November 2, 2022

Future of Technology – Looking ahead to 2030

8 min read

We live in a fast-paced world these days, and we’re connected to our lives and our jobs more closely than ever. The way businesses and workplaces operate is changing quicker than ever, and the tech sector is changing alongside it. These changes are impacting in the technologies and skills that are most in demand, as well as the dynamics of workplaces themselves.

Adapting quickly and thinking creatively will be essential skills for the future of technology and to prepare for changes that are happening now and that will happen over the course of this decade.

Mauro F. Guillen has just written a new book titled “2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything”. In this book he explains that preparation needs to be done in order to think laterally, adaptively and creatively. Below are the trends that we are seeing emerge in the market that are likely to continue to play a significant role in the future of technology between now and 2030.

Cloud-First Mentality

While in 2022 cloud technologies are not new to the New Zealand tech sector – a Cloud-First mentality is, and it’s becoming increasingly prevalent within New Zealand organisations.

While there are still plenty of on-premises systems and applications in play, more and more of these tools are being phased out in favour of their cloud counterparts. Tidy integrations and scalable resources available on-demand enable businesses to manage costs and only pay for the resources that they use, allowing them to tackle larger projects that require greater computing power, and in return scale back down to reduce costs in the case of Business as Usual (BAU) operations.

The key players in the cloud space to date are Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) asserting small pockets of influence. Azure and AWS have concrete plans to establish data centres onshore, minimising concerns over data sovereignty. Based on this, we expect Azure and AWS to continue to be the most infl uential cloud organisations and grow in the NZ market for the foreseeable future.

The impact will be that more NZ businesses will consider cloud-based solutions in the first instance, with on-premises solutions being implemented where needed. This is a significant shift from the current status quo, where in most cases cloud is used to augment an existing on-premises base of technology. As the on-premises solutions reach the end of their lifecycle this trend of cloud adoption will continue to accelerate.

Historically, engaging third-party suppliers of cloud solutions has presented some level of risk, however, ever-improving security capabilities continue to mitigate this risk. This has numerous benefits for smaller organisations, who may be unable develop a bespoke in-house capability or hire full-time technical experts for ongoing support.

DevOps Methodology

DevOps is a buzzword that is becoming increasingly more common and is quickly emerging in many development practices throughout the New Zealand tech sector.

DevOps refers to the partnering of tradition development and operations, and their consolidation into one holistic approach in environments where the applications being developed will require ongoing support and maintenance.

Because development teams build applications – sometimes from the ground up – they are in the best position to understand the inner workings and optimise the ongoing performance with the sufficient technical knowledge to do so.

Application monitoring tools such as Dynatrace and AppDynamics and automation tools such as Terraform and Ansible are closely linked to DevOps. DevOps Engineers with cloud skills are in high demand as many applications are hosted or migrating to cloud environments.

The DevOps approach also ties in well with the ongoing adoption of a variety of different agile methodologies in the NZ tech industry.

Agile Methodologies

‘Agile’ is a term that has been thrown around a lot in the tech sector recently, although we are seeing significant variances in how this has been adopted throughout the market. Scrum, Kanban and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) are common methodologies in the NZ market. Some organisations operate outside of formal agile structures, while some others are operating in a hybrid manner, with both Waterfall and Agile delivery existing.

Businesses still operating in a pure Waterfall delivery environment are beginning to be seen as behind the times, with IT professionals looking to gain agile certifications and work in agile environments to keep their skill base in line with the industry standards and drive their employers in the same direction. Agile transformations continue to be a common feature in the market, as businesses look to meet this transition. With tech environments continually becoming more complex and dynamic, the ability of agile delivery methodologies to adapt to evolving situations is making them a popular choice as businesses look implement emerging technologies into their businesses.

Security/Privacy

Best highlighted by popular media such as the critically acclaimed documentary, ‘The Social Dilemma’, concerns over security and privacy are coming to the forefront of conversations within both corporate environments and in the general public.

With Europe’s GDPR regulations leading the way, we expect to see similar adoptions of legislation over the next few years globally as pressure mounts on regulators to control the use of data and information. While the spotlight has been on the giants of the global tech industry, NZ organisations are also seeing an increase in interest around how they use and protect personal data of their customers/users.

Local events, such as the Waikato District Health Board hack in 2021, have contributed to this increase in scrutiny, and has led many organisations to evaluate their own cyber security tools and protocols, ensuring that they are fi t for purpose, in an era where global connectivity provides ever increasing opportunities, as well as increased exposure to risk. Trends towards strengthening security will continue, and it will be essential for NZ businesses to ensure that their cybersecurity capabilities rise to meet these demands.

Remote Working – Virtual Collaboration Facilitation

Remote working is not a new concept but is a practice that has been more forcefully adopted over the two years, necessitated by the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic. In our most recent IT Job Market & Remuneration Report, remote and flexible working options are the single most important benefit that our candidates are looking for when considering a new job. These working arrangements come with the expectation that employers will be well equipped with technologies and policies to enable effectively working from home or anywhere.

We are already seeing the rise of applications designed to support effective online communication and collaboration. Microsoft Teams is a prime example of a popular solution that integrates with Office 365 as a first party tool. It also boasts a chat function, shared team workspaces, and options for fi le sharing and collaborative editing.

Tools and platforms that can successfully facilitate closer communication virtually are likely to be rising stocks as the global workplace continues to become more and more virtual.

Other Trends

Industry Specific Technology

With tech solutions becoming generally more adaptable, we are seeing more tools and technology being adapted to meet industry-specific purposes. One such example of this in the MedTech sector, where 3D printers have been adapted to produce replacement human organs.

A study by McKinsey & Co in 2021 demonstrates that there is variance between industries and the impact and employment of new technological innovations.

Corporate Social Responsibility & Clean Technology

Social and corporate responsibility initiatives are becoming an important and essential part of business strategies for all sizes of organisations. These extend to the tech sector, with a particular spotlight on how emerging technologies are employed to make a positive impact to corporate responsibility policies and initiatives.

Tools and technologies associated with ‘Clean Tech’ are expected to become more appealing to organisations as they look to benefit from the associations with these technologies.

Emerging Technologies

While we expect to see the trends referenced above play a major role in the IT sector, there are several technologies beginning to come to the forefront of conversations in the workplace, at boardroom tables as well as in wider society.

The Metaverse

The Metaverse is still a very new concept to the tech sector, and therefore the shape it may take and influence it could potentially have in the corporate space is still somewhat unclear. With the number of resources being thrown behind it, most notably by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, it is difficult to see the Metaverse not beginning to play a role in modern workplaces by 2030.

Many ideas of what this could look like involve the adoption of 3D avatars being used to virtually create office spaces, meetings, training and education and more dynamic customer and client interactions.

It is likely that more ideas of how the Metaverse could grow and support organisations will arise over the next few years. This will certainly be one to watch.

Artificial Intelligence & Digital Assistants

With “Hey Siri”, “Hey Google” and “Hey Alexa” becoming more common in our collective societal vocabulary, we expect similar trends to emerge in the corporate world soon. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have already been employed as customer facing support Chatbots in many large businesses, and it will become more popular for them to service internal communication channels.

With improving voice technologies supporting AI, it is quite possible that your average professional in 2030 could be talking to their virtual assistant, using it as a key tool in managing their workflow.

Outside of directly interacting with users, we are already seeing the employment of AI in order to automate and facilitate business processes, and this will certainly become the norm as we progress towards the new decade.

Summary

This information and opinions have been informed by our interactions with the tech employment market including in-flight projects, demand for skills, and conversations with our wide range of clients across the tech sector.

We aim to deliver insights into where we expect the tech market to head in the build-up to the new decade and have explored the dominant technologies and methodologies based on our experiences.

It’s a privilege to be able to play a key role in ensuring effective staff resourcing for the tech sector, and we look forward to continuing to support the market as it evolves and grows in the future.

Written by Ben Dickson.

Download the Future of Technology 2030 Report.

Ben Dickson

Lead Candidate Manager

Ben Dickson has always been fascinated by IT, and recruitment has given him the chance to get exposure to a broad range of IT projects.

Which IT skills will be in demand for 2022?

6 min read

As specialists in IT recruitment, our team has an in-depth understanding of the tech industry in New Zealand. We talk to our clients every day and through their demand for talent in certain areas across the country, we know which skills are most sought after at any given time.

By knowing which skills are in demand, job seekers can craft any corresponding expertise into their CV, cover letter and of course the job interview itself. For many tech professionals, skill sets will be far reaching with exposure to a number of disciplines, coding languages or methodologies. It might also be an idea to either get upskilling in your current role, or seek out good quality training to strengthen your CV in areas in demand.

By fulfilling a market demand, job seekers can often demand a better pay. And in a landscape where overseas IT talent is unable to be tapped into, NZ-based IT professionals have a massive opportunity.

We spoke with our consultants across the country to uncover the roles they’re talking about as most in demand with our clients. We think the following are going to be hot and in demand for 2022.

Data and Analytics Skills

COVID-19’s tracking through Ministry of Health is just one example of how data and analysis is the driving force behind big important government initiatives. With the growing expectation of this data helping to manage complex challenges, being harnessed to create a better end user experience, or support an organisation’s function, the requirement for people that understand data and analysis grows too.

The challenge in the market now is finding expertise, particularly Data Analyst, Data Engineer and Data Architect experience – employers are finding it extremely hard to source due to skill availability.

We don’t think there’s any way this field is going to shrink, rather it will explode over the coming decade. For anyone looking to position themselves in a lucrative in demand area of IT, it’s hard not to suggest upskilling, training and qualification in data science.

Cyber Security Skills

As more businesses (and our lives) rely upon technology, the need for excellent cyber security is growing. This is no longer a peripheral field that only some organisations prioritise. Security of platforms, infrastructure and processes is fundamental for protection against breaches or external attacks on systems. With some recent highly-publicised cyber security stories in New Zealand like the attack experienced by the Waikato DHB and news media about the shortage of resources to combat cyber crime, there are constant reminders for organisations around the need for experienced security talent.

Because security is high stakes, the demand for personnel is caveated with high levels of experience too. For this reason, those in this field can demand considerable remuneration.

DevOps Skills

Ensuring a tech stack is working and utilised by the team still plays a critical role in many of our clients’ workflow. Whether it’s a need for more system administration to accommodate a growing team, or supporting the upkeep of platforms, we’re having plenty of conversations with employers who are asking for DevOps specialists.

Cloud Skills

This year will see more businesses shift their infrastructure into the cloud. Amazon Web Services (AWS) still holds strong as a popular Cloud environment employers need skills in, but Azure – Microsoft’s Cloud platform – is the priority for most of our clients at present. In fact, Microsoft suite skills are a hot topic at the moment with MS Dynamics 365 being adopted into a number of organisations’ workflow, thus needing consultants and experience around it.

Project Management Skills

The business world is continually needing good project management expertise to help deliver on tech projects. This demand is far reaching for organisations across many industries including:

Finance
Banking
Digital Transformation
Change Management
Public Sector

It’s encouraging to see growing numbers of candidates for these roles, but anyone within a desire to continue or grow their project management career should keep a close eye on roles as the demand doesn’t look to be slowing down – anywhere in the main business centres across NZ.

Project management roles typically require leadership, people skills, methodology expertise, organisation and problem solving.

Business Analyst (BA) Skills

BAs have long been in demand by organisations in order to better understand and solve business challenges. Demand for these roles is unlikely to slow down in 2022. The ability to provide analysis on ‘current state’ and ‘future state’ systems and processes – then use this to empower leadership to make the right decisions, is highly valuable. A business analyst with good experience should definitely look at the market if they’re keen on a new challenge – there’s potential for bigger earnings at the moment.

Learn more about what a business analyst does in our dedicated Project Services area of our expertise page.

React Native Skills

If you’ve been a reader of Absolute IT’s news for a while, you may remember our feature piece on React Native skills being in high demand back in March 2020. Our clients are still requiring React Native experience for a range of mobile and web app projects. In fact, React Native is so challenging to source for businesses at the moment that some projects are pivoting to find React.js and angular.js skill sets. These skills are difficult to find in their own right.

What does this mean if you’re an expert in this field? Potentially an increase in opportunities.

Developer Skills

One consistent feature of the IT market over the last 10 years has been the imbalance between supply and demand – and that’s good for devs. Chatting to clients in the past 6 months, we know they’re still needing experience in .net, Python, Javascript languages, among others. Front and Back End developers shouldn’t have trouble finding work, particularly in Auckland where there is an ever-growing tech sector requiring these roles at virtually all levels.

Android Developer Skills

Interestingly we’re seeing plenty of opportunities for Android-specific development. While iOS remains strong, it’s the Android side of mobile OS where employers are needing expertise. Catering for more smartphone types is important in both public and private sectors, and mobile developers are consequently finding more work in both a contract and permanent capacity.

Google Flutter Skills

Suddenly in 2021 we were fielding questions from clients wanting expertise in Google’s new software development kit Flutter. Touted as a solution for building mobile, web and desktop apps from one codebase, we’d expect this to join the list of desirable skills with React and iOS/Android experience. Mobile developers would be certainly helping bolster their CV’s attractiveness in today’s market by looking into Flutter!