AI, Cyber Security and Business Transformation
Technology and Business 2025 Predictions
We interviewed our board of directors about their predictions for the next 12 months and to share their key learnings from last year.
2025 is set to be a challenging year for UK business
David Pollock, Chairman
UK Economy: The first half 2024 was encouraging as the UK economy got back to growth and lower inflation. However, the early election, labour landslide followed by a government narrative of, the UK is in a mess with a need for a tough budget, which subsequently killed confidence and stalled the economy in the second half. The knock-on effect has further depressed confidence in the government's fiscal capability, the pound is falling, importing inflation so interest rates are unlikely to fall as fast as hoped.
AI: In 2025 businesses will need to run a tight ship utilising AI, tech and software to deliver efficiency. Cyber security should remain #1 on every CEOs to do list, it is a real and present business killer. OPEX purchases will exceed CAPEX as cash becomes tight in all sectors.
Global Stage: As for the Global stage, Trump is a disruptor agitator, more likely to deliver peace in Ukraine rather than World War 3. Europe will need to work together as the US becomes more home first, thus the UK government will seek closer ties with the EU to reduce the expected effect of US trade barriers. The government will be forced to reduce its spending desires and look closer at efficiency if it's to improve the UK economy.
A tough year is expected but plenty of opportunity for our customers to improve their business with efficient ICT cloud solutions and CyberLab protection.
Stephen Dracup, Chief Operating Officer
AI: Adoption across all sectors will accelerate as this year will see the move across all sectors from early adopters to early majority, including hackers. At some stage someone large will fall foul of regulators (ICO/GDPR/Security) because of sloppy data governance and protection. The cross over between personal AI tools and business tools will continue to create challenges over controlling AI, but those who get this right will gain real efficiency benefits.
Global Environment: Continued pressure on costs from global instability and its impact on pricing of utilities, plus increased regulation around environmental impact of businesses should see smart business owners look to review their costs and environmental impact this year. The potential impact of trade tariffs on pricing of technology is hard to read but could make a significant impact on business costs over the next few years.
Security: Quantum cryptography may well start to emerge and provide better protection against hackers but equally allow protection algorithms to be breached more easily. The security arms race will continue to intensify and it’s fair to say that what was good enough last year, won’t be this year.
End of Life: Several key systems are going end of life, most notably Windows 10 (October 2025) and legacy communications networks (Great British Switch Off Jan 2027). Given the challenges involved in reacting to such changes if left too late, early acceptance that something needs to be done might be prudent in the first quarter of 2025.
Mark Lightfoot, Chief Financial Officer
Global Stage: Midway through 2024 we all hoped that following a General Election in the UK, the naming of a new President in USA, some progress in the various wars and conflicts around the world, and initiatives to drive growth, that 2025 would be a more ‘normal’ year.
I think the time has come to face facts, there is no such things as ‘normal’ anymore and we would be foolish to think there ever will be again. Self-interest will become more prominent and necessary for each country who doesn’t want to get left behind and as such I think our best business leaders will become representative of that mentally and become more focussed on driving growth. Couple with all that the potential double-edged sword that is AI and there is a lot to think about for us all.
Developments: Chess’ part in these developments will be to ensure the products and services we focus on are first and foremost secure, followed by modern and compatible with extracting the best information from businesses to allow them to grow.
As such, I think more and more of our most technical people will become revenue generating, with a huge opportunity for our MI/BI team to consult, support businesses and sell.
The Great British Switch Off: The 2027 ‘switch-off’ deadline will of course move closer. Customers, suppliers, and Chess must work together to ensure we transition in a controlled manner, albeit I am not betting against further delays and product unavailability.
Technology: The merging of all thing’s tech will continue as homes and cars become more like offices than ever before, albeit there will be an increasing demand for people to move back to shared working locations and office space, which will generate requirements for increased IT supply.
Oliver Lofthouse, Sales Director
In 2025, the B2B technology sector is poised for significant shifts, driven by innovation and evolving business needs.
My predictions for the year ahead include:
AI and machine learning will continue to dominate business interest, with advanced automation solutions streamlining workflows and enhancing decision-making processes. The rise of AI-driven personalisation will transform customer engagement, providing tailored experiences at scale. We all will rely on this technology more heavily than we did a year ago.
The rollout of 5G networks in the next year will reach maturity, enabling faster speeds, lower latency, and more reliable connections. This will fuel advancements in IoT and AR/VR to give business more competitive edge. I also think the early groundwork for 6G technology will begin, promising even greater bandwidth and revolutionary applications. Will we see mobile devices with satellite communication become available in the next 12 months?
Continuity of internet access will be more critical for every business, and I see broader adoption multi-carrier and failover internet solutions to ensure continuous connectivity. This will include combining fibre, wireless, and satellite connections for redundancy and resilience against outages. This service will become as important as electricity and water to a business.
General Predictions: I am also predicting that Liverpool win the premier league by a record margin and that the introduction of solid-state batteries, reducing cost and extending range will help drive electric car sales to >30% of all car sales. I also predict Elon Musk will famously fall out with Donald Trump before next Christmas!
Warren Pryer, Group Sales Director
The Great British Switch Off: As momentum increases to switch to IP Telephony due to the Great British Switch Off we continue to see customers reviewing and upgrading their Connectivity infrastructure and deploying SDWAN to deliver on ever increasing bandwidth requirements and ensure resilience to run their critical Business Applications.
Windows 10 End of Life: With Windows 10 becoming end of life Companies will need upgrade to the latest tech with faster operating systems and smart tech such as programable power down saving on electricity costs.
Smart Technology Developments: We are seeing some great innovation coming from Cisco Meraki deploying Smart Spaces on their WIFI Access Points which uses AI to monitor environments for a vast number of activities from identifying threatening behaviour to environmental such as detecting vape use.
AI Risks: Artificial Intelligence can be an invaluable business tool, however without proper governance and control it can also be a significant threat to Business Security. I predict there will be great demand for technical consultations to assess readiness to deploy AI.
Supply Chain: Another area I am seeing customer challenged is supply chain where the sheer volume of vendors becomes very difficult to manage and leverage economies of scale and we are working with several clients to help them consolidate their positions.
To summarise, as a business leader, you should focus on retaining your people, improving your security, and driving success with technology. We can help you on your journey, whatever your strategy is for 2025 and advise on you the best technology for your organisation.
Contact our expert team and book your FREE technology consultation today.
About the author
Chess
Chess is one of the UK’s leading independent and trusted technology service providers, employing more than 240 skilled people across the UK, supporting over 18,000 organisations.
We believe IT should work for you, reduce costs, deliver efficiency, keep you secure, enhance your work-life balance, improving performance. At Chess, we’re passionate about our unique culture and our continuous investment in our people to be industry experts.
We’re extremely proud that our people voted us No.1 in ‘The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work for’ list 2018, and we continue to celebrate more than 17 years in the top 100.