Yes, it’s still a question of who you know. And yet, in the tech world, what you know is even more important.

Data is the new oil; the currency that drives tech and marketing companies. However, data on its own is pretty much useless. The biggest challenge is transforming that data into insights and further on into new products and services.

In 2018, businesses will also focus on which data to ignore. The sheer amount of data being constantly collected is a challenge in itself – not knowing which to use and determining which to ignore is critical.

Also, businesses need to adapt their data to their business needs – weed out the data sets which you don’t need and only use those which are accurate and give you value. Technology to analyse data are constantly being developed – choose the right analytical tools that help you efficiently understand your business, customers as well as competitors.

Data is currency. Data is valuable not only to a business but also to its competitors and to hackers. This past year wasn’t a good one for cybersecurity, with serious attacks launched against governments, banks and corporations. This means that all companies should act responsibly with regards to data – this means taking strong steps to secure data, especially that which is classified as sensitive, from hacks and other breaches.

Data protection will also play a big role in 2018, especially with the new EU General Data Protection Regulation. European businesses are moving full steam ahead in preparation for the GDPR, which will start being applied in May. For a lot of businesses, this means an extensive review of business and privacy practices to ensure proper storage and consent.