This past year saw unique challenges as companies navigated repercussions of the global pandemic, new hybrid work models, inflation and other economic woes. Above all, IT leaders learned there is an obvious need for their companies to implement mobile technology, IT and security solutions to help enterprises remain safe, competitive and in sync with customers' ever-changing behaviors.
7 Top IT Trends for 2023
- Increased CIO focus on cybersecurity
- More strategic use of voice search
- A bigger role for AI in retail and healthcare
- Priority on recruitment, sustainability and reputation
- Growth of zero trust
- Geolocation and more tracking
- Resurgence of printer management and security
As we look towards the end of yet another dynamic year for the IT industry, here are the top seven trends IT leaders should embrace in 2023.
The New CIO Role
CIOs faced mounting pressures as they worked to drive sustainable business growth and strategically enforce digital transformation this year, all while determining where budgets will lie in 2023. This is significantly evolving the role as CIOs now have to keep in mind shadow coding, code injection from other sources and monitoring applications to track data usage, battery usage and the overall behavior of any device to identify trends and anomalies.
Additionally, security threats made headlines this year with internal, intangible infrastructures as the main target. In the coming year, CIOs are focusing more energy on cybersecurity to protect their organization from data leaks, ransomware attacks, loss of precious company information and more.
Strategic Use of Voice Search
Using voice search to make predictive, data-driven decisions in the enterprise is on the rise, and it’s more strategic than you think. Currently, executives have to sift through endless reports filled with data, wasting both time and energy that can be spent working on growing the business.
The power of voice search eliminates the need to decipher huge volumes of data and instead ask questions such as “How did my sales go last quarter?” and “Who generated the most leads from this event?” Organizational agility is no longer an aspiration, but a business necessity, and having the right technologies in place to stay competitive will make a world of difference.
Bigger Roles for AI in Retail and Healthcare
Expect mobile technology and AI to play bigger roles in-store to keep the shopping experience seamless for consumers in 2023. Companies will begin to rephrase their problems into a prediction problem, where they will leverage AI even more. Some companies have explored leveraging computer vision and the use of cameras inside retail stores to learn about consumer behavior and offer smart checkout options. Adopting a mobile-first strategy will help supply chain personnel improve productivity and collaboration while paving the way for more satisfied customers and a transparent retail-partner relationship.
Healthcare organizations have significantly invested in technology since the pandemic. In fact, 98 percent of clinics report to have implemented IoT/telehealth medical device capabilities in the past year. Healthcare facilities will continue to implement AI in everyday operations to eliminate patient data duplication, insecure data sharing and poor patient navigation to mature their services and improve the overall patient experience.
Focus on Recruitment, Sustainability and Reputation
IT leaders will prioritize recruitment, sustainability and reputation in the coming year. We can first expect businesses to rely more on mobile apps to help with onboarding and training new hires. Next, they will get the tools to measure environmental impact to ensure consumer loyalty. An enterprise mobility management solution can help manage a device fleet and provide insight into the health of those devices and company which in turn will benefit the company's reputation when it comes to attacks and security.
Finally, IT departments are working to reduce corporate e-waste footprints and easily integrate green IT solutions that help keep their technology and devices resilient.
The Growth of Zero Trust
Zero trust is a mindset; don’t trust anyone or anything that wants to access data or join a network without verifying credentials. While to some it may perceive that this leads to loss of productivity because it may take longer, proving who you are is important for security purposes and if you have the right tools to offer single sign on and validation based on multiple factors of authentication. The mindset of zero trust will improve mobile security because it ensures only authenticated users get access.
Geolocation and More Tracking
We can expect IT teams to avoid using public or unsecured Wi-Fi networks and rely on geolocation technology to track devices and lock them down if they go missing or are mishandled. Employees also like using their own devices to work as they proved to be productive while working at home and on their own devices.
Geolocation will become essential as enterprises see the value of bring your own device (BYOD) in 2023, which means enterprises must better manage these types of device deployments to maintain productivity and employee satisfaction while protecting against data threats.
Resurgence of Printer Management and Security
Printers can be hacked just like smartphones, tablets, and more, leaving data exposed. Printers are going to be used on the retail floor, in the back warehouse and on delivery trucks, so taking inventory of where your printers are and ensuring they have the latest firmware and security updates will keep them protected in 2023.
From an IT perspective, having visibility into those printers is also critical. Every minute the printer is down, there are delays in shipping processes and dollars are lost. It will be essential to implement a solution that supports different operating systems, device types and a demonstrable track record for scaling to millions of devices.
The bottom line: The coming year holds major shifts in the dynamic of the IT industry, but what does this mean for companies and their strategies moving forward? Now is the time for organizations to take the next step and think about the future of mobile management and security solutions.
With the right technologies and expertise, they can build on their already significant tech investments to expand their capabilities and fully realize the benefits of their investment. It’s even more exciting that they can create a business-wide technology ecosystem that’s flexible, scalable and intelligent. Doing this will give them the edge they need today, set them up for success tomorrow and prepare them for the future and beyond.
