There’s a lot of much-hyped technology available out there, but it is how you use it that will offer you and your business the best opportunity for growth
Every year brings an onslaught of ‘must have’ technologies your business apparently cannot do without over the coming twelve months. While there is a lot of innovative and forward thinking business technology out there for you to try, most technology leaders report that their top priority for 2018 is unlocking growth.
Flashy new apps and software are grand, but not always necessary in order to help your business succeed. Instead of experimenting with disruptive technologies, create a strategy which helps you optimize existing systems to achieve lower costs and better results. Here are a few of the most effective ways to use technology trend in 2018, courtesy of Syntax IT Support London.
Increased Automation
The unstoppable freight train of 2018’s technology trends, increased automation offers organisations of every size the opportunity to work smarter by transforming data into value. Increased productivity, better quality control due to the absence of human error, and the ability to better utilise a workforce, are just a few of the benefits automation offers.
Increased automation technology can be incorporated into the workplace through the adoption of marketing apps, recruitment tools for the human resources department, and sales enablement software.
Smarter Network Security
The importance of a secure network has not been far away from the news over the past few months. A new, unique strain of malware is discovered on average every 4 seconds. If that doesn’t terrify you; it should. Particularly because the information security skills gap means that many technology businesses are going without an online security specialist. This means that investing in greater network security is vital, especially with all the recent discussion about General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
A proactive approach to network security is the best approach most organizations can take, whether through solutions to leverage the cloud, or more AI to protect sensitive data. Smarter security isn’t an expensive, frivolous trend in 2018, but an absolute necessity.
Analytics Expansion
If your organization is without a data science team or specialist, then investing in greater analytics could prove invaluable. Even if you do have such a specialist, the recent advancements in user friendly solutions for big data storage, data processing and visualization mean that expanding your big data analytics can only benefit your business.
Cloud Optimization
Most IT leaders would opt to use a cloud over an in-house alternative. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, it has lower costs to run, runs quicker, on average, and better scales for large data. Secondly, optimizing or outsourcing to a managed services provider could result in superior performance, as well as lower risk. Over the next year over half of businesses will spend time focusing on optimizing their cloud services and storage to reduce costs in the year to come.
Managed Solution Investment
Most IT forms are better funded this year than they ever have been, but still feel as though they don’t have a big enough budget. If you don’t have enough resources at your disposal, achieving growth is impossible, which is why outsourcing to managed service providers is becoming increasingly popular. Whether you invest in a trusted third part partnership for managed print services, fully outsourced virtual consulting, or any other on demand IT services, it could allow your IT team to benefit from a wider range of expertise while also giving you greater control over how you spend your budget.
