January 2026 Tech Upload
| The NEW Digital Alliance would like to thank Kimberly-Clark, Sadoff E-Recycling & Data Destruction, and Werner Electric for their support as Strategic Level investors! |  |
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NEW Digital News
Happy New Year from the NEW Digital Alliance!
As we begin a new year, I want to wish you and your teams a happy, healthy, and successful 2026.
The pace of change across technology and digital innovation continues to accelerate, and it’s an exciting time to be part of Northeast Wisconsin’s tech community. From emerging technologies to workforce development and collaboration across industries, the opportunities ahead of us are significant and so is the impact we can make together.
On behalf of the NEW Digital Alliance, thank you for your continued engagement, support, and partnership. Your involvement fuels our programs, events, and initiatives, and helps ensure our region remains competitive, connected, and future-ready.
We’re looking forward to another year of meaningful conversations, shared learning, and progress. I’m excited for what’s ahead and grateful to have you along on the journey.
Wishing you a strong start to the year and continued success in the months ahead.
Jason Mathwig
Industry Alliance Director
NEW Digital Alliance
Upcoming northeast Wisconsin IT events
NEWDA IT Roundtable: Things You Didn’t Know Agentic AI Could Do for Your Organization
Thursday, January 15
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Virtual
Organizer: NEW Digital Alliance
New Year-New You! Navigating Career Moves with Confidence | WiT Virtual Series: Fuel Your Friday
Friday, January 16
12 – 1 pm
Virtual
Organizer: Women in Technology Wisconsin
Sip & Sync in Appleton
Wednesday, January 21
8:30 – 9:30 am
Copper Rock (downtown location)
Organizer: Women in Technology Wisconsin
Have an IT, digital, technology related event happening in northeast Wisconsin? Let us know! We are happy to include it on our Events Webpage along with including it in future Tech Uploads. Email event details to: info@newdigitalalliance.org.
Celebrating the Close of Our Fall 2025 Investor Mentorship Program
In December, the NEW Digital Alliance proudly wrapped up our Fall 2025 Investor Mentorship Program with a celebration event hosted by Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI). The event marked the conclusion of another impactful cohort and gave mentors and mentees the opportunity to reflect on their experience, share insights, and celebrate the connections built over the past several months.
This fall cohort included 26 participants, adding to the continued growth and momentum of the program. With the completion of this cohort, we have now engaged 71 unique individuals across five total cohorts, representing 21 different organizations throughout Northeast Wisconsin’s digital and technology ecosystem.
2025 was also a milestone year for the program. For the first time, we successfully ran two Investor Mentorship Program cohorts in a single year, expanding access and creating even more opportunities for leadership development, knowledge sharing, and peer connection among our investor organizations.
The Investor Mentorship Program is designed to foster meaningful, one-to-one relationships that support professional growth, leadership development, and cross-organizational collaboration. Each cohort continues to reinforce the value of investing in people and strengthening the region’s digital talent pipeline.
Looking ahead, applications for the Spring 2026 cohort will be opening soon, and we are actively seeking both mentors and mentees. Whether you’re looking to share your experience and expertise or hoping to grow your skills and network, we encourage you to consider participating.
👉 Learn more and apply here:
https://newdigitalalliance.org/investor-mentorship-program
Thank you to FTI for hosting our fall celebration, and to all of our mentors, mentees, and investor organizations who continue to make this program a success.
Biggest Mistakes in Data Center Migration
(Image cred: SunCoast Communications)
By SunCoast Communications/Sadoff E-Recycling & Data Destruction
The article from SunCoast Communications breaks down the biggest strategic mistakes organizations make during data center migrations—and underscores that failures are often not about technology, but about planning and execution. One major pitfall is treating decommissioning as an afterthought, which can lead to unexpected costs, lease penalties, and missed opportunities to recoup value from old hardware. The piece also warns against poor asset control (“chain of custody”) that risks data breaches, the temptation to “scrap everything” and lose secondary-market value, and incomplete data sanitization on all equipment, including network devices. Finally, it highlights how using too many disconnected vendors instead of a single, experienced partner can turn a move into a chaotic, costly project. Strategic foresight, coordinated teams, and proper handling of old infrastructure are framed as key to a successful migration.
Labor Market Insights | December
The December Labor Market Report is here…and it’s giving National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation vibes.
Confidence is high, reality is low, and everyone’s pretending this is all part of the plan. Think Clark Griswold flipping the switch on those Christmas lights. Lots of effort, not much payoff.
Here are a few highlights:
🎁 November added just 64,000 jobs.
🎁 October? Lost 105,000 jobs
🎁 Unemployment climbed to 4.6%, the highest in 4 years
If you want the full story—complete with holiday chaos analogies—check out Matt Duffy’s latest labor market insights.
Other IT News
Agents, robots, and us: Skill partnerships in the age of AI
(Photo credit: McKinsey Global Institute)
By McKinsey Global Institute
A new McKinsey Global Institute report outlines how the future of work will be shaped by collaboration between people, AI agents, and robots rather than outright replacement of human roles. While current technologies could technically automate more than half of today’s work hours, this isn’t a prediction of mass job loss; instead, it points to a transformation in how work gets done and what skills matter most. The analysis finds that most human skills will remain relevant but will be applied differently as AI handles routine tasks and people focus more on strategic oversight, interpretation, and guiding intelligent systems. Demand for AI fluency—the ability to use and manage AI tools—has grown rapidly, and by 2030 AI-powered automation could unlock roughly $2.9 trillion in economic value in the United States if companies redesign workflows around human–machine partnerships. The report emphasizes that realizing these benefits will require organizations to rethink roles, invest in people’s skills, and design work so humans and intelligent machines complement each other.
Data engineers have never been more important, as businesses are starting to find out
(Image credit: Getty Images)
By Nicole Kobie
ITpro.
An MIT survey for Snowflake shows the changing role of data engineers – and their rise in influence
New research shows that data engineers are quickly becoming one of the most crucial roles in modern business, especially as companies lean more heavily on artificial intelligence and data-driven decision-making. A recent survey by MIT Technology Review and Snowflake found that a large majority of business leaders now view data engineers as essential to success, with this view even stronger at larger enterprises. As data volumes grow and AI projects proliferate, data engineering work is expanding, shifting from traditional pipeline building to broader responsibilities in infrastructure, strategy and shaping business outcomes. Companies are recognizing the value of these professionals not just in supporting analytics, but in influencing tech investments and overall data strategy.
The Rise of Micro Data Centers: The New Backbone of Edge IoT
(Image credit: IOT For All)
By Sachin Reddy
IOT For All
The article from IoT For All highlights how micro data centers are emerging as a critical infrastructure for Edge IoT, addressing the growing need for real-time data processing at the edge of networks. As sensors, cameras, machines, and connected devices generate ever-increasing volumes of data, traditional cloud-centric models struggle with latency and bandwidth limits. Micro data centers—compact, self-contained units with compute, storage, networking, and power backup—can be placed near the source of data to process information locally, cut delays, reduce cloud dependency, and lower operating costs. These small but powerful systems support faster decision-making, improved reliability, and stronger data governance, making them valuable across industries such as smart manufacturing, healthcare, retail, energy, transportation, and 5G telecom sites. While deployment brings challenges like environmental concerns and maintenance needs, the flexibility, scalability, and edge AI support of micro data centers position them as a backbone for future IoT deployments.
Untamed Data Is Undermining the AI Revolution
(Image credit: AIwire)
By
Today’s HPCwire piece highlights a growing data management challenge that’s slowing down the AI revolution: organizations are being overwhelmed by “untamed” unstructured data—like files, images, videos, logs, and other information that hasn’t been cleaned, categorized, or made AI-ready. This flood of unstructured data is cited by nearly 60 % of enterprise IT leaders as a critical barrier to scaling AI projects, because without proper classification and preparation, AI systems can’t reliably extract insights or deliver value. The article argues that solving this data chaos through better data governance, organization and tooling isn’t just a technical concern for engineers—it’s becoming foundational for businesses that want to make their AI efforts operational and impactful rather than pilot-only experiments.