Technology is always evolving at a rapid pace, and companies that can anticipate and be ready for new trends gain a competitive advantage.
In a study of digitally advanced small businesses versus those that were less technologically savvy, it was found that more advanced companies:
· Earned 2x the revenue per employee
· Saw year-over-year revenue gains of nearly 4x as high
· Were almost 3x as likely to be adding new employees
To keep your own business technology evolving, you should pay attention to the latest technology trends and speak with your IT pro about what that means for needed upgrades budgeting in the future.
What’s hot and trending in technology this year? We’ve put together a list below of emerging tech trends to give you a jump start on the competition and help grow your business.
Prepare for the Following Emerging Technology Trends
Remote Employee Experience Tools
Remote employees were the big transition for most businesses during the pandemic, and all news and statistics are pointing to the fact that both companies and employees like the arrangement for the most part and it’s going to be a new normal.
It’s estimated that the number of global employees working from home on a permanent basis is going to double in 2021.
This has led to a new push by those that make work productivity tools to develop apps designed to overcome some of the challenges of remote teams. This includes things like lack of communication and burnout from less divide between home and work time.
One of the first out of the gate is a Microsoft Teams add-in called Microsoft Viva that is designed to improve the employee experience, especially for remote teams.
5G Begins to Make a Difference
5G has been pretty quiet as far as any type of impact on the day-to-day business workflow. Any type of disruptive technology as this one promises to be takes time to roll out, and over the last year or so, mobile carriers have been putting 5G capabilities in place.
Apple only just brought out its 5G compatible smartphone last fall, which shows that hardware manufacturers have also been in prep mode.
Look for 5G to begin making a difference by the end of the year with much faster connection speeds and lower latency.
Things you can do to prepare:
Look for 5G compatibility in any mobile devices or laptops you purchase
Ask your internet provider if they’re planning to offer 5G Wi-Fi in the future
Explore how faster mobile connections could power your processes (scanning of shipment, movement sensors, etc.)
Ransomware & Cyberattacks in General are Getting Worse
Unfortunately, 2020 wasn’t only the year of COVID, it was the year of the Cyber Pandemic as well. Cybercrime increased by at least 400% and ransomware became a larger threat than it already was.
Cybersecurity software providers have found that ransomware is becoming more efficient because it’s being used as a money-making tool by large criminal cartels.
This means that in 2021, cybersecurity needs to take a front seat in any technology budgets. Companies need to look at strengthening or creating a layered strategy to prevent costly data breaches, including:
Ongoing employee cybersecurity awareness training
Managed antivirus/anti-malware
DNS filtering to block phishing sites
Cloud backup and data recovery
Proactive threat prevention and response measures
Zero-trust and access security
Anywhere Operation & Virtual Desktops
A big lesson of the pandemic is that companies need to free their operations as much as possible to be able to operate from anywhere. Companies with cloud infrastructures already in place, fared much better and had lower costs during the pandemic lockdowns than those tied to on-premises systems, like landline phones.
Companies should be thinking of their cloud infrastructure and how any new technology processes adopted in the future need to fit into a cloud ecosystem. This means having the ability to be accessed from any internet-connected location and any device.
One of the emerging cloud technologies you’ll be hearing more about this year is the virtual desktop. A computer workstation is one of those legacy systems where one physical device holds a lot of a person’s workflow. Virtual desktops take a computer environment and make it cloud accessible, thus making it much easier to move between home and office working and having all the same tools in both places.
AI Powering More Business Tools
Microsoft has been slipping AI-powered processes into its tools for a few years now. One example of this is Presenter Coach in PowerPoint that can give a person tips on their verbal delivery of a presentation.
Adobe has also recently added some pretty powerful neural filters to Photoshop that do tasks in seconds that used to take a skilled hand and hours to accomplish.
Be on the lookout for more of these AI-powered helpers to show up in your business tools so you can take full advantage of their productivity benefits.
Get Help With Your 2021 Technology Strategy
Phoenix Edge Technologies can help your business look at your current tools and the latest trends to see where upgrades could give you a competitive advantage.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Call 415-651-5110 or reach us online.
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