Cyber security, the internet of things, and 3D printing will be major technology trends to watch in 2015. Security will be a top priority for companies as mobile devices and connections reach 10 billion. The internet of things will connect over 26 billion devices by 2020. 3D printing sales are expected to double in 2015 as prices decrease. Social media will see more selfies, charitable challenges, and personalized advertising. Content will need to be mobile-first, contextual, and personalized across multiple devices.

1. Trends to watch in 2015
By Catherine Elder
1© 2014 Catherine Elder

2. Security
• Cyber security will be a major focus.
◦ By 2016 security will be a top 3 business
priority for 70% of CEOs of global
enterprises (according to CIO,
Itworldcanada.com)
• “Global mobile devices and connections
are expected to reach 10.2 billion by
2018” – Citrix Canada
• BYOD will also increase need for
security systems.
◦ BYOD = bring your own device
• Hackers, cyber terrorism – will be a
major concern.
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3. Internet of things, cloud, Big
Data,
• Internet of things (IoT)
• Interconnection of embedded computing devices. This goes beyond
machine to machine (M2M) and includes biochips, sensors and actuators
embedded in physical objects—from roadways to pacemakers, cars to
thermostats, linked through networks - wired and wireless
◦ There will be between 26 to 30 billion devices wirelessly connect to IoT
by 2020 (According to Gartner, and ABI Research)
• Cloud
• Software as a service will increase, as will apps and other tools for a more
device independent experience – you can start a document on one device
and seamlessly finish it on another
• More talk of big data
• though there still isn’t a magic pill to get data integrated so that it can be
effectively analyzed and acted upon. With everything in the cloud and IoT
exchanging data, everyone will be collecting data – where it goes from
there will vary and by degrees. Security protocols will be a critical focus.
• Big data will represent $50B in spending in US in 2015 (according to
Teradata)
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4. 3D printing
 Sales are expected to dramatically
increase next year and double the
following year according to Gartner;
with prices gradually decreasing to
make them more affordable and
accessible their use will expand in
applications for industrial, biomedical
and consumer use to improve
prototyping and designs.
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Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2015
http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2867917

5. Social - foreshadowed
 More selfies
◦ Nasa’s #globalselfie campaign for earth day
generated over 40,000; Photobombing selfies – Ellen
DeGeneres at the Oscars;
 More charitable interactive challenges
◦ ALS ice bucket challenge – raised over $100 million
and had over 2 million videos posted on YouTube
 Mistakes through lack of planning/research
◦ #whyistayed which was set up for serious discussion
on women in abusive situations was erroneously
used by DiGiorno pizza.
 More product personalization
◦ Coca Cola’s #ShareaCoke campaign had 250
popular names put on their labels of their 20 ounce
bottles and was supported by ad and social media
campaign.
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6. There will be More …
 Wearables – there will be an increase in
health applications and other verticals
will see the potential
 Personalization across multi-platforms
requiring a more sophisticated content
management plan for messaging to differ
according to device and purchasing
stage.
 Advertising embedded into social news
streams.
 Integration of social into #events.
 Talk of agencies about storytellers,
writers and digital marketers.
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7. Mobile, multi-screen, apps,
 The shift to creating content first for
mobile will occur gradually and vary
across industries with B2C leading
over B2B.
 Multi-screen will be a key
consideration with user expectations
being a consistent experience across
devices, although the messaging
format and style will vary.
 Apps with photo, video and messaging
will increase and diverge.
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8. Local and global
 Local and instant – with gps in
everything retail will need to be
prepared to promote relevant deals for
people in the vicinity.
 Global – big language problem –
getting all devices capable of
managing all languages;
◦ look for more education on cultural
differences for communicators and
designers
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9. People first
 Personalization – expected for the digital
experience, anticipated for more product
labeling
 Customization – the how and when
 Relevancy – context of where and what
else is occurring
 Customer Experience Management
(CEM) – more focus on experiences
 Customer journey mapping – data
mining and analysis for understanding
behaviour for increasing and potentially
speeding up purchasing decisions
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10. People resource
 Millennials will be 50% of workforce in
2020; with a high degree of technology
fluency and will require flexible and fun
workplaces, working remotely, working
with their own device
 54% of world population will live in cities
and that will grow to 70% in 2050
◦ Loss of (physical) community spaces; less
relationships, less loyalty (e.g. reduction in
voting in democratic countries)
 All employees have role in content
marketing
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11. Content
 Highly context relevant content – triggered by location (hyper
local) and other variable (weather, news etc.)
 More emotional content in B2B as B2C
 The continuum experience will replace the stand alone
campaign – content demands its own process
 Content becomes more decentralized – no longer just
marketing – needs to be user-generated and participant;
need to co-create with customers as crowd sourcing and
mindshare
 Content will be Fat – high value with multi-purposes
 Content will be developed for mobile first; multi-device and
wearable technology will become key considerations
 Content needs to be personal and provide a connection (think
of the Ice Bucket challenge on social media for ALS)
 Brand journalism
 Evergreen content, content that converts
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