rockstars valley 2025
tech vision
Our Tech Vision is not a prediction, but a roadmap to navigate through developments in the tech world. We take you on a journey so that together we can take full advantage of the opportunities and anticipate the risks that change brings. From AI governance to Data Mesh, from European cloud to the evolution of software development, we look at technology, business impact and job happiness. Our Tech Vision is a guiding compass for organizations that not only want to keep up, but lead the way.
short-term vision
short-term vision
3-18 months
We are building policies for Responsible AI, training developers with their digital co-pilot(AI + Developer), and making technology accessible to all(Accessibility-first).
We reduce our impact with Green Software Development, give data back to the teams working with it(Data Product thinking & Data Mesh), and consciously choose sovereign solutions(European Cloud benchmark).
Together with our customers, we ensure that we are ready for the future.
long-term vision
1½ – 5 years
Those who want to get ahead must dare to look beyond the roadmap. In our outlook, we explore how technology, people and society will become intertwined once again in the coming years.
We see the developer evolving into the conductor of AI systems(Human-in-the-loop), privacy and European sovereignty becoming prerequisites for trust, and compact SLMs & distillation models provide privacy and bring computing power closer to the user.
In addition, a digital layer is growing over our physical world with new interfaces and Digital Twins: for seamless interaction, real-time security, optimal efficiency and smarter designs.
future quality
Technology is changing faster than ever, but quality and sustainability are just as important as speed and ambition. We focus on quality that grows with people, society and planet.
Future Quality is our compass. It helps us build technology that performs today, stays relevant tomorrow and makes a difference the day after tomorrow. That’s what we mean by progress that endures.
focus vision
3 – 18 months
The next few months are all about accelerating through experimentation.
AI & Happiness
responsible ai
search engines & websites
ai + developer
accessibility first
green coding
Data Product thinking & governance
Cloud EU benchmark
AI Happiness
Our vision of AI & Happiness
Technology should never be the goal; happiness and fulfillment, on the other hand, are.
At Team Rockstars IT, we believe that AI only becomes valuable when people benefit from it: more enjoyable work, more autonomy, more skill. Their experience is central.
In our AI & Happiness survey, we asked more than 300 tech professionals how AI affects their job happiness, skills and future prospects. The results show: AI is primarily an opportunity when culture, training and responsibility move with it.
We see four core layers:
- Work happiness: feel that your work matters, and that AI supports you rather than replaces you.
- Skills: what new roles and know-how are emerging in the AI era
- Responsible use: ethics, transparency and control are not afterthoughts.
- Adoption & strategy: technology only works well when people go along with the change.
We build AI pathways that not only deliver productivity, but enhance work happiness. We measure, listen and steer. Because that’s the only way we make technology that is not only smarter, but more human.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
- Happiness before tools: AI should enrich work, not weigh it down.
- Skill determines effectiveness: investing in people is investing in results.
- Culture makes adoption sustainable: without commitment, change remains superficial.
Responsible AI
Our vision for Responsible AI
Artificial intelligence accelerates everything, but without direction, speed becomes noise. We believe AI only has real value when it is applied safely, honestly and understandably. Not blindly relying on tools, but consciously determining when, why and how to deploy AI.
Responsible AI starts with culture.
Developers, designers and leaders share one compass: data is only shared intentionally, models are as transparent as possible and bias is actively combated.
We work with European standards, and make conscious choices about ownership, privacy and energy consumption.
As Team Rockstars IT, we help organizations build clear AI policies: which tools can be used where, how new initiatives are assessed, and how teams learn to apply AI smartly and responsibly.
Through training, governance frameworks and our AI Happiness Survey, we balance innovation and integrity.
Responsible AI is not a brake on progress. It is the engine that makes us go faster in the right direction.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
- Responsible acceleration: AI should not be slowed down, but deliberately directed.
- Culture before technology: policy, awareness and training are crucial for sustainable adoption.
- Conscious choices: privacy, security and ethical considerations determine which models and tools are deployed.
The role of search engines and websites
Our vision of Search Engines and Websites
Google’s dominance in the search engine market has been unprecedented in recent years, and this will not diminish for the foreseeable future. The search engine giant performs about 90% of all Internet searches both worldwide and in the Netherlands.
An impactful development is that 40-60% of searches no longer lead to clicks to found websites. Visitors are settling for Google’s AI summary.
The impact is greatest for searches in which information is sought. For searches for specific products and brands, users are more likely to click through anyway. So it becomes even more important for customers to do targeted searches, or use your own app. Visible marketing campaigns and increasing brand awareness can help with this.
Given Google’s dominance as a search engine, it makes sense that companies that depend (in part) on their websites for revenue have invested a lot of time and money in SEO, hoping to finish at the top of search results. That remains relevant, but in addition, it is important that AI models can easily find the relevant information on your website.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Building your own apps pays off: attracting customers to your own app reduces the impact of Google’s AI summary.
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Finding other ways to get customers to your content is essential.
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AI optimization counts: AI Experience Optimization (AXO) is becoming at least as important as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
AI + developer
Our vision of the (r)evolution of software development
AI is changing how we work and how we turn on our creativity. As a software developer, it gives you a digital co-pilot: one who thinks, writes code, refactors, tests and documents. By understanding how man and machine can become smarter together, we achieve more. More creativity, higher quality, and more complete documentation.
At Team Rockstars IT, we see AI not as a replacement for the developer, but as an amplifier of craftsmanship.
The future of software engineering is all about human-in-the-loop: humans remain the conductor, AI the instrument. That requires new skills: from prompting, security reviews and business analysis, to interaction, interface and architecture design.
We are experimenting with AI tools that make our work more enjoyable by automating repetitive tasks and increase quality. As human-in-the-loop, we ensure accountability and are mindful of ethics in what we build and how we build it.
Our focus is on balance: productivity through automation without losing understanding, creativity and control of the codebase.
AI + Developer is not hype, but a shift in mindset.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Human as director: AI supports, but the developer decides.
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Quality before quantity: focus on secure, maintainable code, not output volume.
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Learning in the Loop: those who experiment learn faster and build better software with AI by their side.
Accessibility first
Our vision of Accessibility-first
Accessibility is not a list of checkboxes after the fact, but a mindset from the design of an application.
At Team Rockstars IT, we believe that technology is only really good when everyone can work with it, regardless of disability, experience, age or device.
Accessibility-first means that inclusion is not added after the fact, but is ingrained in the design and development process from day one.
It’s about more than legislation and WCAG checklists: it’s about user experience, empathy and accountability. Because every unreadable button or inaccessible interface excludes someone, and that’s at odds with what technology is supposed to do: connect people.
We translate accessibility into concrete steps: components that comply with European guidelines (EAA/WCAG) by default, CI/CD tests that automatically check accessibility, and design systems in which usability is the starting point for everyone.
With us, inclusive technology is part of our ethical foundation, a sign of respect, and an expression of craftsmanship. Because to maximize the value of software, it must be accessible to everyone.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Inclusion from the start: accessibility should be part of the design, not an afterthought.
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Automate awareness: secure accessibility in code, CI/CD and design systems.
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Empathy is innovation: technology that reaches everyone accelerates progress for everyone.
Green Coding
Our vision for Green Software Development
Every line of code has a printout. You don’t see it at first glance, but every query, every deployment and every unnecessary loop consumes energy.
Green Software Development is all about conscious building: designing software that is efficient, and takes the planet as seriously as performance.
At Team Rockstars IT, we don’t see sustainability as an afterthought, but as part of quality.
A well-designed system performs better, consumes less and scales smarter.
That’s why we actively measure Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) in line with the ISO standard for sustainable software and work with serverless and edge solutions that require less energy.
Our engineers choose efficient programming languages and frameworks whenever possible,
minimize data traffic and optimize cloud architectures
so that scalability and sustainability go hand in hand.
Because really good code is also efficient.
For us, Green Coding is not a trend, but an attitude:
build with an eye to the future so that innovation does not come at the expense of what feeds us.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Efficiency is sustainability: good code is not only fast, but also energy efficient.
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Measurement is awareness: monitor your Software Carbon Intensity and save resources.
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Architecture as leverage: serverless, edge and efficient languages make a difference at scale.
Data Governance
Our vision for Data Governance & Data Product thinking
To get the maximum value from your data, it’s important that someone feels responsible for that data. Not everything has to be bigger, faster or more complex: it’s about better understanding what you own, who uses it and how it contributes to decisions.
Data Governance starts not with tooling, but with ownership.
Teams that manage their own data automatically improve quality,
reusability and speed innovation.
This is why (especially for larger organizations) we often work with a Data Mesh architecture combined with the principle of Data Product thinking: each dataset is treated as a product with a life cycle, and the team closest to the data in terms of content takes ownership.
At Team Rockstars IT, we help organizations establish an appropriate data and organizational architecture. We develop standards, coaching and frameworks through a Center of Excellence, making data no longer a byproduct, but a driving force for improvement.
Good data governance is about trust, transparency and collaboration.
When those three are in place, what every organization is looking for naturally emerges:
data that adds value and supports the decision-making process.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Value maximization through ownership: data belongs to the teams that work with it.
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Data as a product: think in terms of value, not storage.
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Culture makes the difference: governance is not a process, but a way of working.
Cloud EU Benchmark
Our take on Cloud Europe benchmark
Developments around the world and in the marketplace make the choice about which cloud is best for your business complex and subject to change. Choosing a specific cloud platform affects flexibility, security and innovation.
For many scenarios, the most obvious choice right now is still a hyperscaler (Microsoft, Google, AWS).
Still, it is worth considering European providers in addition.
In our benchmark of European clouds, we compare service portfolio, technical maturity, support and certification of 8 European clouds with the hyperscalers.
Even if you end up with a hyperscaler, there are measures you can take to minimize vendor lock-in. Consider multicloud and hybrid solutions, and maximizing portability using containerization, for example.
This is how we help organizations find the balance, because not every application belongs in the same cloud – and sometimes security and independence outweigh cost and convenience.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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European clouds are on the rise: follow our Rockstars Cloud Benchmark updates to stay abreast of developments.
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Freedom through portability: avoid lock-in with open standards and portable architectures.
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Cloud with character: speed is important, but trust defines the future.
future vision
1½ – 5 years
Those who want to get ahead must dare to look beyond the roadmap.
This is our long-term view on key tech topics.
Human-in-the-loop
EU sovereignty
Human-centered ai governance
SLMs & model distillation
Personalized learning
Quantum-resistant cryptography
Digital Twins
Evolution of interfaces
Human In The Loop
Our vision of Human-in-the-loop
The future of software development is not a battle between man and machine,
but a collaboration in which both grow.
AI takes over repetitive work, but the developer determines direction, context and quality.
Man remains the architect of intent, AI becomes the accelerator of execution.
At Team Rockstars IT, we believe that craftsmanship is changing, not disappearing.
The developer of tomorrow is not just a builder, but a conductor of AI systems:
someone who understands how prompts, models and architectures affect each other.
This creates a new balance between productivity, creativity and control.
We train our engineers to use AI as a tool, not a substitute,
and to continually evolve their own roles.
The human-in-the-loop maximizes the value of AI by harnessing its power
while remaining sharp and critical.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Flexibility is strength: developments follow each other rapidly; those who can adapt are stronger.
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Learning is unlearning: to embrace the new world, we must let go of the old.
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Human as director: AI executes, in the direction and framework set by the developer.
eu sovereignty
Our vision of EU sovereignty
Technological freedom begins with ownership.
Those who outsource data and infrastructure without thinking about legislation or control,
trade convenience for dependence.
European digital sovereignty means greater control, privacy and security.
At Team Rockstars IT, we closely follow the development of European cloud providers, including through our own European Cloud Benchmark.
We do not see sovereignty as a limitation, but as a secure alternative for the right use cases and workloads.
We support our customers in making conscious choices around cloud platforms and portability.
In doing so, we future-proof innovation,
because real progress is not built on someone else’s terms.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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European clouds are on the rise: follow our Rockstars Cloud Benchmark updates to stay abreast of developments.
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Informed choices: the right platform for the right workload protects privacy and security.
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Flexibility is strength: less reliance on hyperscalers, more grip on the future.
human-centered governance
Our vision for Human-centered AI governance
An English proverb tells us, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.“
That certainly applies to AI as well.
The speed of technological development requires leaders who stop before they accelerate.
Human-centered governance means consciously thinking about what technology is being used for.
At Team Rockstars IT, we believe that for technology to be sustainable
it must take into account impact, privacy and society’s values.
Ethics is not a blockade, but a form of quality.
Setting frameworks can actually foster innovation and creativity.
That’s why we help organizations build governance frameworks
that encourage innovation and ensure accountability.
We encourage critical thinking and conscious choices.
Transparency and human review become a structural part of decision-making.
This keeps technology at the service of people and contributes to (work) happiness.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Ethics are part of innovation: responsible acceleration is more powerful than uninhibited construction.
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Transparency as standard: decisions must be explainable and testable.
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Leadership with guts: true governance begins with daring to say “no.”
slms & distillation
Our vision for SLMs & Model Distillation.
Large AI models are powerful and fast, and for many applications that is exactly what we want.
However, there are also use cases that are so specific that it pays to create and use a smaller, specialized model. These models focus on one task, and are more secure and energy efficient than their giant counterparts.
In addition, these smaller models can also run locally, making them suitable for situations where data should not be sent over the Internet – due to security, privacy or lack of a stable connection.
As models become more efficient in the amount of training data required and the hardware needed to run them, creating SLMs and using Model Distillation becomes more and more accessible. It requires less investment, with better and better results.
At Team Rockstars IT, we experiment with Small Language Models (SLMs)
and distillation techniques that make complex knowledge compact.
This not only provides efficiency, but also control over data and performance.
We see a world where more organizations are starting to train their own models,
focused on their domain, their data and their values.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Small is powerful: compact models have specific knowledge and are more economical.
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Data closer: local hosting means more control and privacy.
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Deep rather than broad: specialized models can be trained in a highly targeted way.
personalized learning
Our vision of Personalized Learning
Technology is changing faster and faster. Where
Personalized learning means that each engineer follows a path that suits his ambitions, pace and future. Our Rockademy (our internal training house) is building an ecosystem where learning is intertwined with practice, driven by the passion and curiosity of all Rockstars.
From new frameworks to soft skills, from AI ethics to cloud architecture:
everything you learn strengthens your role on the team as well as in society.
We believe that learning does not stop after training, but grows through collaboration,
experimentation and reflection. AI helps make that process smarter.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Learning as a continuous process: growth does not stop after training.
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Personal path: each talent learns at its own pace and in its own way.
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AI as a learning partner: technology accelerates growth, but humans determine direction.
quantum resistant cryptography
Our vision of Quantum-resistant cryptography
The advent of quantum computers is changing everything we know about security.
It is expected that between 2030 and 2035 quantum computers will be able to break current encryption, rendering it largely useless.
We cannot wait for that moment quietly. We must make sure we have alternative options ready before it happens.
That is why we are already preparing for a world where classical encryption is no longer enough.
Quantum-resistant cryptography is the next step in digital security.
We are working on standards and migration strategies that protect data from the computing power of the future.
At Team Rockstars IT, we guide organizations in identifying their risks
and adapting security architectures in a timely manner.
This is how we ensure that trust does not break as technology changes.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Quantum computers break current encryption (2030-2035).
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Protecting is thinking ahead: don’t wait until it’s too late.
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New standards, same values: safety remains a core quality.
digital twins
Our vision for Digital Twins (energy)
The physical world gets a digital copy.
With Digital Twins, we build real-time representations of systems:
from wind farms to cities to logistics.
They help predict, optimize and prevent.
At Team Rockstars IT, we see Digital Twins as the bridge between data and action.
They make safety, sustainability and efficiency measurable and testable.
Thanks to Digital Twins, we can make better decisions,
allowing us to deploy people and investments smarter.
By connecting IT and engineering, we create digital layers
that not only describe the world, but improve it.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Real-time insight: seeing problems before they arise.
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Smarter energy: optimization through data in context.
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The physical world becomes predictable: design, test and improve virtually.
evolution of interfaces
Our vision of Evolution of interfaces
Technology is slowly disappearing from the picture, and that is precisely what makes it more human.
From keyboard to voice, from screen to context.
The evolution of interfaces is all about interaction that feels natural andresponds intuitively .
In this, technology is miles ahead of what we feel comfortable with.
So for this development, we need to keep an eye not on technology, but on society.
What do people need and what do they feel comfortable with?
We need to keep looking for a balance between convenience, privacy and security.
At Team Rockstars IT, we design interfaces that adapt to the user.
Speech, gesture, movement and context become building blocks of new experiences.
Our 3 main take-aways around this topic
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Human-centered: not technology, but people are leading.
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From screen to environment: interaction becomes context-aware.
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Invisible innovation: the best technology disappears into the experience.
Building Future Quality Together.
Become part of the future of IT.
Our Tech Vision does not live on paper, but is an invitation.
The vision comes to life in collaboration with customers,
partners and engineers to explore and accelerate new technologies
Do you want to help build the future?