A new year means a whole new slew of technology trends and advances that businesses need to consider when making IT purchases and upgrades.
If you want to keep your Nampa, ID company competitive and take advantage of the cost savings and productivity boosts of emerging technology, it’s important to know what’s coming so you can be ready.
This year, everything from heightened cybersecurity threats to the promise of a much faster internet are driving advances in how technology is being deployed in offices.
85% of SMBs say the technology they use helps their business, and 40% attribute customer growth directly to digital tools.
If you’re looking to get a jump-start on the new year and overcome any challenges that 2020 has brought, studying and being ready for these technology trends are definitely a step in the right direction.
Prepare Your Business for These Upcoming Tech Trends
5G Begins to Make a Difference
We’ve been hearing about 5G for a couple of years now, but it’s yet to make a big impact on most businesses. It’s supposed to bring drastically faster internet speeds with near-zero latency (lag time.)
Internet providers and device manufacturers spent last year laying the groundwork for the network. For example, Apple didn’t bring out its 5G compatible iPhone until last fall.
But now that much of the work is done, companies should begin experiencing at least some of the benefit that’s been promoted with 5G wireless networks.
How You Can Prepare:
When purchasing new hardware, look for 5G compatible laptops or mobile devices that can take advantage of the network. You may also want to find out if your ISP has any plans to add a 5G capability to their service plans in the future.
Everyday Apps Using Intuitive AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has gone from being used in large enterprise software deployments to being part of our everyday work tools. One well-known SaaS provider that’s taken the ball and run with it in the AI world is Microsoft.
Many of its recent updates in Microsoft 365 include AI-based features that are intuitive and are designed to short-cut workflows by making an application like Word or Outlook smart enough to anticipate what a user is doing and to lend a helping hand.
For example, AI is used for natural language integrations using Cortana across several Microsoft 365 apps, allowing voice commands for things like managing your inbox and sending messages.
How You Can Prepare:
Employee training on new AI-powered updates is key to being able to benefit from these advances in everyday work apps. If users don’t know these types of capabilities are there or how to use them, these productivity boosters can go untapped.
Zero-Trust Cybersecurity Measures
Unfortunately, another area of advancement in the technology world is smarter and more sophisticated cyberattacks. New malware variants are being created at a dizzying pace, and insider attacks continue being a growing problem.
It’s estimated that in 2021, the number of data breaches caused by insider attacks will be 33% (an increase of 8% over the prior year).
The new threat environment and its evolution to using things like AI-powered malware and machine learning has led to the rise of an “X-Files Trust No One” method of protection, more commonly known as zero-trust cybersecurity.
Rather than trusting users or applications to engage inside a network freely and only keeping out the “bad guys,” a zero-trust network defines the “good guys” and keeps everyone else out. This is a much more efficient and secure way to protect networks.
How You Can Prepare:
Begin incorporating zero-trust tactics into your cybersecurity strategy. This includes things like:
- Application whitelisting
- Application ringfencing
- Advanced multi-factor authentication
- Incorporation of geo- and activity-based authentication
- Automated rules that can execute without user interaction to stop a suspected threat
Centralized Databases for Applications to Share
Just about everyone has moved to the cloud now, but they’re finding out there can be problems with data sharing and redundancies.
One of the issues is that several applications may need to use customer data like a name, address, etc. This can be a CRM application, an accounting program, and an email marketing application, for example.
When that data is input separately into all those apps, it can lead to errors, lack of all data being available on a customer in all applications, and more time spent than is needed inputting the same data.
A new trend to solve this issue is a centralized database for information that applications can then tap into for the data they need. One of the first of this type is called a Customer Data Platform (CDP).
How You Can Prepare:
Evaluate the data you input into different applications and how consolidating the data into one database can help you improve data integrity and reduce data entry time.
Come to the Pros at Connect2Geek to Create a Winning IT Strategy for 2021
Anticipating trends and upgrading your technology strategically doesn’t have to be a long or difficult process. Connect2Geek is here to help your Treasure Valley business with a winning IT strategy that fits your needs!
Schedule your free consultation to learn more today! Call 208-468-4323 or reach out online.