IT trends in 2025 prioritize security, energy, AI

And just like that, 2024 is over.

That means it’s time for us to turn our attention to 2025 and what’s cooking in the IT world for the next year. There’s a lot to cover—and many opinions on what will be changing—but here are three that caught our eye over the last few months.

AI gets real

After two years of the AI explosion, we may now be in a place where the technology can be looked at more realistically. Currently, it’s all about deploying software robotics and automated systems.

That change is due, in part, to the way executives have imposed unreasonable expectations on the technology. These views on AI, Expereo CIO Jean-Philippe Avelange said, have led to tempered realities—even as they’ve opened the door to more innovation.

“I think there is a disproportionate excitement and, maybe, a misappreciation of the timelines and the effort that it takes to put the team in place to start discovering and really validating and testing,” Avelange told IT Brew. “But at the same time, I think it is a good thing that we are talking about it, it’s got everyone back on their toes and thinking, ‘Okay, we cannot miss that change at that revolution.’”

Generative AI has settled into reasonable use cases. Businesses are now deploying it to assist in daily operations and to manage data. There’s also a place for it in cybersecurity in 2025, Blackberry VP of Threat Research and Intelligence Ismael Valenzuela told IT Brew.

“Everybody has access to pretty much the same technology—it’s the way you use it, and being able to anticipate, to prioritize, and to be able to implement a defensible secure architecture,” Valenzuela said.

Security in a new administration

The industry has gotten used to the Biden administration’s approach to cybersecurity, and a new White House is sure to upend that. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) chief Jen Easterly is leaving, which will present a major shift for the nation’s vision of how to manage security.

Some experts are unsure of the path forward—Michael Bahar, co-lead of global cybersecurity and data privacy at Eversheds Sutherland, told Urgent Communications that he expected “a deprioritization of cybersecurity regulations and cybersecurity enforcement.” But others, like Thoropass CISO Jay Trinckes, are bullish on the incoming administration’s security stance.

“The new administration coming back in is going to be very serious about cybersecurity and making sure that our proprietary information or protective information isn’t going to get out into the wrong hands,” Trinckes told IT Brew in November.

Energy needs

Data centers, AI, and other shakeups in how the industry handles its business at this moment of technological change require a lot of energy. As IT Brew has reported, these requirements will expand and how to meet demand will be a major question going forward.

Some experts, like Lumen Orbit’s Philip Johnston, believe the future of that energy isn’t on Earth. Rather, Johnston explained to IT Brew in September, we could look to the skies.

“You don’t want to have all this heavy polluting industry down on Earth,” Johnston said, adding, “It’s much better to put things like that in space and keep Earth for earthlings and its inhabitants.”

Energy Exemplar CEO David Wilson told IT Brew in early December that energy generation is going to be a question that will drive the next year—and beyond.

“The dominant investments today are solar and wind...batteries, and then also gas, as picking all those assets that fill the gaps when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing,” Wilson said.