T H E K I C K S TA R T E R
2020: The Year Ahead Insights into trends, emerging technology, challenges, and what to watch in the coming year.
RAY PERRYMAN
KEVIN SIMZER
President and CEO The Perryman Group
COO Trend Micro
What has you most excited about the future in terms of technology and innovation? Sometimes when people think of technology and innovation, they think of big firms such as Facebook and Google or startups with new ideas. The reality is that much of innovation is going on in other industries. Take financial services, for example, where hiring in DFW has been intense for workers with technology skills. From cryptocurrency to artificial intelligence-based trading methods, there is a technology revolution going on in an industry that has been around for centuries. It’s not just financial services; there are similar technology revolutions going on across the economy. What sectors are most interesting? DFW continues to attract and expand in core strength industries such as logistics and financial services. At the same time, however, there are data center expansions and technology firms expanding. The real estate market is also healthy.
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What emerging trends are most interesting to the company right now? 2020 will be a year to keep a close eye on cloud and digital transformation. As companies evolve their systems, it opens up the chance for risk and even new weak points for cyberattack. From the bad guys, we anticipate more focused cyberattacks using artificial intelligence and machine learning —mainly targeting personal electronics like cellphones and tablets, regardless of if we are in the workplace, traveling, or home. What’s next? We will remain focused on cloud security, which matters to business users, consumers, and even our local and federal government. This coming year, we expect to see more global acceptance of cloud technology, making it even more imperative that security be part of the conversation.
D A L L A S I N N O VAT E S
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2020 EDITION
QUINCY ROBERTS
DAVID D. HALBERT
BILL MUNCK
CEO
Chairman and CEO
Managing Partner
Principal
Roberts Trucking
Caris Life Sciences
Munck Wilson Mandala
Sendero Consulting
What are key challenges ahead in your industry? The legalization of marijuana throughout the United States is creating a new challenge for trucking companies. Roberts Trucking has a zerotolerance policy on drugs and alcohol and routinely conducts random drug and alcohol tests on our truck drivers. The legalization of the flower will undoubtedly affect our drug testing policy. Today we’re testing only to see if drivers have used it, as it becomes legal our testing may have to focus on the driver’s impairment level. While Texas may be far from joining the bandwagon of states legalizing recreational usage, we are now discussing if and how our drug testing policy will be amended to avoid potential discrimination issues. What emerging trends are on your radar? Electric heavy duty trucks are going to be a gamechanger for the entire trucking industry. Diesel fuel without a doubt is our biggest expense, the thought of eliminating that item off our balance sheet practically gives me chills.
What emerging trends are most interesting to the company right now? The company envisions a future where molecular profiling is the very first thing that is done for people living with cancer as it is the key to determine the optimal treatment course for patients. What is one of Caris’ greatest achievements in the past year? We’ve launched a number of industryleading products that aim to redefine cancer at the molecular level. These include the launch of the MI GPS Score, the first-ever molecular AI genomic profiling offering. What’s next? We’re preparing to launch two new assays that will revolutionize molecular profiling, providing information on 22,000 genes and 21 pathogens with unparalleled sensitivity from both tissue and blood samples. These new offerings more than double the amount of information we are able to deliver to patients and physicians today.
What emerging trends are most interesting to the firm right now? In the legal industry, litigation will be in high demand, as disputes over technology, employment law, and data continue to grow. We have a very strong litigation team that has taken on complex litigation cases against powerful adversaries and won, and I see more of these cases ahead for our litigation practice. What is one of the firm’s greatest achievements in the past year? I’m incredibly proud of our involvement in S.H.E. Summit, an event focused on women’s empowerment and diversity and inclusion that we hosted this past August. Our choice to bring this conference to Dallas has made an impact inside and outside of our firm. We have doubled our number of women attorneys and many of them, along with our male attorneys, have improved their networking skills and strengthened client relationships through this event. We have also built new alliances in the community as a result.
KYLE BERRY
What has you most excited about the future in your sector? The old adage that “the only constant is change” has never been more accurate. We helped many clients last year work through either integration with acquired or merged companies or through divestitures of functions and assets. That activity shows no sign of slowing down in 2020, and it offers many opportunities for businesses to improve processes and technical capabilities. From a technology standpoint, I am very interested to see how emerging 5G networks will be leveraged by businesses and how 5G may impact SDWAN architecture and strategy. What trends are most interesting to the firm right now? It is exciting to see more and more IT leaders looking for ways to transform their operating models to better serve their business customers.