The end of the year always brings with it a time to reflect on what we learned — and what surprised us — over the past 12 months. For the sales tech world, 2017 was a year packed with innovation and new ideas. As we embark on this new year, here’s a look at the key takeaways from 2017 and a preview of what we can expect to see in 2018.

What were the most important lessons we learned this year?

Artificial Intelligence Is Here … And It’s Here To Stay

2017 saw a huge increase in the number of machine learning ventures that entered the market. Even Google jumped on board: The search engine giant is now claiming that it, too, is a machine learning company.

In the realm of software, AI brings about the third generation of software. The first generation of software was simply storing data in a computer. The second one added processes resulting in software such as CRM and ERP. Today’s AI is the new generation of software, one that uses data and drives processes. Not only AI is here to stay, but it will likely transform how we work in the workplace. And with it, it will transform the software ecosystem, crowning new software kings and leaving behind bodies of software players who don’t adapt fast enough.

By 2020, almost every new software product on the market will have AI, according to Gartner. The popular research firm also pointed out that in January 2016, the term “artificial intelligence” didn’t crack the top 100 search terms on Gartner.com, but by May 2017, it was at No. 7. Much of this AI will also be enriched by rapid innovation in natural language processing (NLP). So while computers today find it hard to understand human communication, we’re getting closer every day.

This is a double-edged sword of a development, however: With the rise of AI, many workers are terrified of losing their jobs. And there is good reason for fear: Back in 2015, Gartner also predictedthat by 2018, robots will supervise more than 3 million human workers.

But if 2017 taught us anything, it’s that AI is not to be feared — it is to be embraced. The savviest sales teams have learned that AI is not here to steal their jobs but rather to open up space to allow humans to do their best work. Because AI can handle the grunt work that fills up so much of our current workdays — transcribing and summarizing calls, answering emails and honing in on crucial demographic trends — it is a tool and a partner for better and more effective work in the future.

Transformations Take Time To Take Effect

Just like today’s smart systems didn’t appear out of nowhere, 2017 taught us that major change is slow and steady. Consider this: GPS, which has been on the market for nearly 20 years, has only just become standard in new cars. And speaking of cars — self-driving vehicles, which have been getting hype and press for nearly a decade, are still just a promise, and today’s teenagers are still eagerly signing up for driver’s ed. This means there are no plans to eliminate the need for cars as we know them anytime soon.

Change takes time. The world is full of innovations that, when released, can change the course of human behavior and history, but such transformations don’t appear overnight. Some ideas bust. Others take off. But only time tells which ones are the winners.

Looking forward, here’s what we can predict for 2018:

In The Sales World, Sales Professionals Will Be Expected To Create

Once upon a time — in 2015, 2016 and even 2017 — sales professionals were tasked with communication: They needed to explain the value of a product so that a buyer could understand it and relay information about why a person should dig deep and purchase a particular product. The sales agent was prized for his speaking skills, for his ability to engage with the person across the table or on the other end of the phone, and most of all, for being able to take a product and explain why it mattered, no matter what it was.

Those days are coming to a close. In 2018 and beyond, the sales agent whose single skill is communicating the value of something will be replaced; there are cheaper ways of explaining what something is worth and why. Product videos come to mind as one example. The salespeople who are still standing in the future — and thriving even — will be those who create items of value for their customers throughout the sales process (e.g., offering insight, helping to show alternative perspectives on problems and solutions, working through potential buying criteria).

Sales Will Become More Of A Science And Less Of An Art

We can kiss the term “sales manager” goodbye. In the future, the term we’ll all be using is “sales coaches.” Why? The sales world has seen a massive influx of sales tools in the past few years, including better marketing products and increasingly innovative sales management techniques.

Top-rated managers are at last realizing that tools, leads and even cutting-edge technology don’t matter at all if you have an effectiveness problem. So rather than managing metrics, the best and most forward-thinking sales managers today are shifting to thinking like coaches, working to develop their reps, helping them to operate more efficiently and to thrive out there in the field that is the sales world.