Since 2006, ITPro has been dedicated to meeting the needs of IT professionals who are information-rich but time-poor. In a world of increasing complexity, we provide the insights this audience needs — in the right format, at precisely the right time. 

ITPro delivers a mix of news, analysis, reviews, opinion, in-depth features, podcasts, white papers, and more. Our aim is to help IT professionals separate the signal from the noise so they can make the right tech decisions to add value to their organization today, tomorrow, and beyond. 

ITPro’s sibling brands also work hard to serve their audiences. Cloud Pro aims to help individuals, teams, departments and businesses derive more value from cloud and associated technologies. And Channel Pro is a key touchpoint for the partner ecosystem, spanning consultants, distributors, ISVs, MSPs, MSSPs, SIs, VARs  — and everything in between. 

Top stories from January

These are the top-five best-performing articles from the month gone by:

1. A sign of things to come in software development? Mark Zuckerberg says AI will be doing the work of mid-level engineers this year – and he's not the only big tech exec predicting the end of the profession This was published on 1/20 but has performed very well in terms of views
2. “A huge disaster”: Marc Benioff hits back at Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, claims customers don’t take Copilot seriously
3. Interest in traditional programming languages is declining: Some developers are shunning Java, Python, and C++ in favor of Rust – and the rise of AI could be the cause
4. Microsoft staff face second round of layoffs as firm continues cost-cutting measures
5. ‘Maybe we aren't going to hire anybody this year’: Marc Benioff says Salesforce might not hire any software engineers in 2025 as the firm reaps the benefits of AI agents

Top trend(s)

The common themes are AI and job losses, plus job losses due to AI/humans being usurped. While that could be construed as a doom-and-gloom situation, the reality is that the necessary bigger conversations around AI, AI use cases, and AI opportunities right now. Yes, some jobs will be displaced directly due to AI, but there is also an economic backdrop fuelling many of the layoffs right now so AI could arguably also be used as a convenient excuse due to timing. 

Why it matters to the ITPro audience: Those who ignore the power of AI will simply be left behind. While those who tread too deeply, too quickly, may end up worse off or surviving rather than thriving. Now, more than ever, ITPros will be looking to their peers and active success stories to help make informed decisions - and quickly so.
Why it matters to marketers: With so much talk - and fear, uncertainty, and doubt - around AI it’s important to separate the signal from the noise. As such marketers must focus on challenges and how to solve them rather than ‘AI-washing’ or trying to spin legacy products into the latest AI solution. 

Additional trends

Still related to AI there is A LOT of interest in DeepSeek and companies need to be on guard to this excitement right now. Future’s own IT department sent out words of advice regarding DeepSeek and it’s something that should be on every IT decision-maker’s radar right now because much is still unknown so users should tread cautiously. We also recently covered the fact it may not be compliant with certain EU regulations - another red flag for organizations. 

ITPro’s Future Focus report goes into some detail about how ITDMs are feeling about AI right now and into the year ahead. We also detail the top 10 technology focus areas. One common thread is the importance of data and its role as a unifying factor.