We all know that hindsight is 20/20. Foresight is a little fuzzier, especially in a space like the IT industry, where it seems like new technologies and trends spring up in an instant. As we look forward from the cusp of 2025, we can’t say for sure how the months ahead will unfold, especially considering the volatility of the world today.
However, drawing on my decades of entrepreneurial experience and insights from experts and high-level analysts, I can make some educated guesses about the forces and fads that will exert the most influence on the tech world in 2025.
If you’re contemplating the year ahead and wondering what you should focus on as a business or IT leader, this outlook will hopefully help you formulate a plan that will position your organization for success in 2025. Here are a few trends that stand out from my vantage point as the CEO of a technology advisory firm.
1. Gen Z decision-makers will drive demand for self-service in the B2B sales space.
Millennials and Gen Z now account for over 70 percent of B2B buyers, according to Forrester. That means salespeople and marketing teams in the business-to-business space must adjust their tactics in accordance with younger purchasers’ preferences, including a desire for self-service options.
One Gartner survey found that 38 percent of Gen Z and millennials say they’ll give up on resolving a customer service issue if they can’t fix it via self-service. That means companies in the B2B space that want to foster loyalty and enhance their brand reputation in 2025 and beyond must adapt and expand self-service options.
2. AI will continue to cement itself as an integral element of contact center solutions.
Native and overlay artificial intelligence solutions for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) have proliferated in recent years with the rise of generative AI (genAI). Businesses have realized the power AI has to enhance both customer and employee experiences (CX and EX) through tools like smart chatbots for self-service and intelligent agent assistants that retrieve relevant info, summarize interactions, take notes and more.
As companies across all industries ramp up genAI adoption, we expect to see AI become increasingly entrenched in call and contact center operations to support better experiences while keeping costs in check. By 2026, Gartner has predicted that conversational AI deployments in contact centers will reduce agent labor costs by $80 billion.
3. Agentic AI will transform decision-making and allow human workers to achieve new levels of productivity.
Industry experts have predicted that agentic AI will rise to prominence in 2025. Agentic AI can act either fully on its own or semi-autonomously and is expected to handle at least 15 percent of day-to-day work decisions by 2028, up from 0 percent in 2024, according to Gartner’s 2025 Top Strategy Technology Trends report.
With data analysis and prediction intelligence, this evolution of AI can automate customer service in addition to enhancing situational awareness and revolutionizing decision-making processes within businesses.
“Organizations have long wanted to promote high-performing teams, improve cross-functional collaboration and coordinate issues across team networks,” Gartner Senior Director Analyst Tom Coshow stated in the report. “Agentic AI has the potential to perform as a highly competent teammate by providing insights from derivative events that are often not visible to human teammates.”
In the same vein, Dell Global CTO and Chief AI Officer John Roese has stated that the advent of agentic AI indicates a new era of human-AI interaction. “’Agentic’ will be the word of the year in 2025,” Roese said, according to Channel Partners.
4. Outsourcing IT and cybersecurity will appeal to small and midsize businesses (SMBs) more than ever due to talent shortfalls combined with increasing solution complexity and cost.
While AI in contact centers should experience continued healthy growth, the application of artificial intelligence in other areas will run into roadblocks related to resources. Some small businesses will struggle to launch projects focused on complex technologies like AI due to a shortage of in-house skills and the volume of data necessary to complete projects independently.
Most senior tech leaders (57 percent) believe it’s challenging to find IT talent because of skills gaps, according to the Spiceworks 2025 State of IT report. Organizations seeking to combat rapidly evolving IT security threats face the same hurdle amid a worsening global cybersecurity workforce shortage, which grew to 5.5 million in 2024, according to ISC2. It makes sense to fight fire with fire by wielding artificial intelligence against AI-generated phishing attempts and ransomware attacks – but those cutting-edge cybersecurity skills are unfortunately in short supply.
Subsequently, outsourcing IT support and cybersecurity will become more appealing than ever for organizations with limited resources. Managed IT service providers can fill the gaps in terms of both expertise and data. Many managed service providers (MSPs) have already developed their own AI models and automation to efficiently manage their clients, so they can leverage that experience to assist small businesses seeking to accelerate AI adoption.
Additionally, many MSPs have developed mature managed security service provider (MSSP) offerings at this point, so businesses can opt for third-party IT and cybersecurity from a single source. We expect to see more SMBs choosing this type of arrangement to prevent overlap between IT and security and minimize finger-pointing when issues arise.
5. More companies will voice-enable Microsoft Teams and Zoom to streamline communications and contain costs.
For businesses that already utilize the Microsoft 365 suite, transforming Microsoft Teams into a full-blown cloud phone system is convenient and more affordable than ever. Voice-enabling Teams means your staff members can get more done without leaving the app and won’t have to adjust to a new interface. Additionally, Teams Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) offerings have declined notably in price in recent years, reaching nearly half the cost per seat we saw previously.
The Teams UCaaS suppliers in our portfolio often provide low seat minimums, high-level security, flexible licensing, and white-glove support services. Connect with our advisors for details, or check out our free Teams UCaaS assessment.
Similarly, if your staff members already have experience with Zoom, it makes sense to voice-enable the application. Like Teams, Zoom offers a robust UCaaS solution (Zoom Phone), and many people are already familiar with the interface, simplifying end user adoption. As a Zoom Phone Certified Integrator, Stratosphere Networks can help you maximize your return on investment (ROI) with white-glove project management services and expert guidance to save you time, streamline implementation and ensure Zoom Phone is configured to meet your specific needs.
Additionally, Zoom has significantly accelerated their cloud contact center offering and is now a formidable player in the CCaaS space. Platforms that combine UCaaS and CCaaS functionality remain popular as companies seek greater efficiency and productivity.
6. Many large organizations preoccupied with AI ROI will prematurely abandon projects.
Enterprises focused on achieving ROI for artificial intelligence initiatives could become frustrated as that payoff takes longer than anticipated to arrive, according to Forrester Research’s 2025 technology and security predictions. This is based on research like Forrester’s 2024 Q2 AI Pulse Survey, which found that 49 percent of genAI decision-makers in the U.S. said their organizations anticipated ROI on investments in AI within just one to three years.
“Impatience with AI ROI could prompt enterprises to prematurely scale back investments, which
would be a long-term disadvantage,” Forrester’s predictions report states. They encourage AI leaders to craft a roadmap with varying use cases that balance short- and long-term payoffs.
7. Cloud (private, public via hyperscalers like Azure and AWS, and hybrid) will increase in popularity, with VMware alternatives achieving notable gains.
As companies grapple with challenges related to cost, sovereignty, and data ownership and security, Forrester predicts that interest in on-premises computing will rise in 2025. Enterprises will likely increase investments in private cloud solutions to ensure privacy, security and regulatory compliance.
The rising popularity of private options won’t hurt public cloud, however: Forrester also forecasts increasing investment in public cloud offerings this year. Gartner projects double-digit growth rates for all cloud segments in 2025, with the public cloud services market expanding by 21.5 percent. Through 2027, Gartner predicts that 90 percent of organizations worldwide will embrace a hybrid cloud strategy.
Following pricing and bundling changes in the wake of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, Forrester also forecasts that businesses venturing into or expanding their investments in private cloud will avoid the latter in favor of competitors.
Stratosphere Networks partners with various data center solution suppliers that can help you navigate the VMware bundling and pricing changes and explore potential alternatives. Reach out to our advisors for details. You can also read this webinar recap or register to view the recording to obtain insights from our advisory team and Expedient on making sense of the Broadcom/VMware aftermath.
8. The popularity of the trusted advisor model will continue to skyrocket.
As the trusted advisor approach continues its stratospheric rise, many have declared that direct sales and traditional processes like requests for proposals (RFPs) are dead. From our vantage point, the old ways might not have expired yet, but they’re certainly on life support.
With the advanced tools at our fingertips, we can rapidly identify best-in-class solutions that align with your unique needs. After a quick assessment, our advisors can deliver a comprehensive comparison matrix with your top options within just one hour. By contrast, completing the RFP process or sitting through direct sales spiels typically takes dozens of hours, eating up whole days and increasing already overwhelming workloads for business and IT leaders.
Gartner research has found that 75 percent of B2B buyers want a rep-free sales experience, and the trusted advisor model delivers exactly that. It’s no wonder that so many have decided to ditch traditional pitches in favor of partnerships with trusted technology advisors like ours, and we expect that enthusiasm for objective direction to continue for the foreseeable future.
If you want expert guidance as you navigate IT and business challenges during the new year, our team of trusted technology advisors is here to help. With over 20 years of experience in IT and access to the latest market research, we can light the way and point you in the direction of solutions that make sense in the context of your company’s specific needs, challenges and goals. We have access to one of the most advanced decision-making tools in the industry and can rapidly generate detailed comparison matrices that simplify the process of narrowing your options from double digits to the top three that support your objectives.
Simplify your pathway to success today by calling 877-599-3999 or emailing sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
