Digital Transformation - 8 trends your organization shouldn't miss
Don't miss out on these 8 trends and get your organization's IT-infrastructure ready for the future with our Infrastructure Digiscan.
In most industries, digitization has only touched the surface of what real change could be. It is always amazing to see the extent to which operations in complex value chains still rely on Excel sheets, manual work, and low-quality data sets.
But new tools and technologies like machine learning, IoT, and distributed computing have proven their potential impact and economic viability in recent years. Not only investors, consultants, and other prophets talk about them, they work and are readily available. And they are far from reaching their limit. We are on the eve of a digital acceleration. Here are 8 trends you shouldn't miss!
1. The digital workplace, from concept to product category
Over the years, the digital workplace was seen as a concept. Something that vaguely existed at a distance for many, but was not actually a tangible product that you could purchase. However, from our many conversations with customers and partners, we can conclude that the digital workplace is evolving from a concept to a product category in the collective mind. This can be partly attributed to large organizations like Google and Citrix that focus on this area and offer their own digital workplaces (Google Workspace and Citrix Workspace).
2. Remote work shifts digital transformation priorities
While remote work has been on the rise for several years, this year’s pandemic has dramatically changed and accelerated the course of this trend. Gartner states that 74% of companies will increase their adoption of remote work. In addition, a World Economic Forum study found that 72% of the global workforce of the companies surveyed currently work remotely. This is partly due to the fact that since employees started working remotely after the COVID-19 outbreak, nearly half of the companies surveyed stated that productivity has increased. This makes remote working one of the most important trends of 2022, changing priorities and influencing many other trends in the coming year.
3. Rethinking cybersecurity strategies for
remote working
With employees spread across multiple locations, it’s harder to manage document and information security. The growing number of locations and networks has also increased the number of targets, and hackers have taken advantage of this. The number of cyber-attacks and data breaches has increased worldwide.
It goes without saying that it is extremely important for organizations to keep their documents and data safe. That is why organizations are massively upgrading their security strategies and extending cybersecurity to home networks and mobile devices. The field of cybersecurity will change in the upcoming years, with more emphasis not only on cybersecurity tools, policies, and measures, but also on educating employees on how to work safely from home.
4. Employees are the core
Employees are the core of a company. There will be more initiatives in 2022 to improve employees’ experiences, especially their remote experiences. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees were forced to work from home. This resulted in challenges that some had not experienced before. According to a study by the Knowledge Institute for Mobility Policy (KiM), people struggle with the social aspect of their work, loneliness, no worklife balance, and a lack of concentration.
Given that with remote working, employees do not go anywhere physically and are not present, extra attention will be paid to employees’ experiences (at a distance). This attention should ensure that employees not only stay motivated, but are also connected to the organization and the organizational culture. This will be reflected in increased investment in communication tools for work and social purposes as well as an increase in cultureboosting and teambuilding activities.
These digital communication tools need a fast and reliable connection. Do you want to find out if your organization's digital infrastructure is ready for the future?
5. Accelerated digital transformation efforts
COVID-19 rocked the foundations of many organizations, bringing with it the realization that organizations must be more versatile in order to respond to change and survive. Organizations will need to accelerate their digital transformation efforts to enable greater flexibility and versatility. Hyperautomation allows companies to automate whatever they can in order to increase the innovation rate. Organizations are also expected to invest more in scenario planning and risk assessment tools so that they can better respond to and adapt to changes in the future.
6. Contactless technology
There is a growing need for technology that allows people to avoid face-to-face contact or that no longer requires them to be physically present at a particular location. This goes beyond online video conferencing tools. It applies to both internal and external situations, as well as to contact between people and between individuals or teams performing tasks. For example, organizations are investing in technology to control certain elements in the office remotely. People are becoming less dependent on their location to perform work or connect with others.
7. Guided by data (analysis)
To survive as a digital organization, you must have relevant and reliable data. This data can help you improve virtually all areas of the companie: from customer service, your products and services to internal and external communications. By combining, cleaning, and rearranging the data first - for example using a Customer Data Platform (CDP) - organizations can more easily make data-driven decisions and deliver more value to their stakeholders.
8. Shift to a hybrid cloud infrastructure
Many organizations use SaaS applications and on-premise solutions. To keep data secure and available to everyone in the organization, it is important that organizations use a cloud that is secure and easy to use. Hybrid clouds are the perfect balance to help organizations store data. Major vendors like Azure, Google, IBM, and Oracle are already anticipating this increase. They have made large investments to create tools that allow for easy connectivity between data centers, the cloud, and on-premise solutions..
About Eurofiber
Digital transformation requires reliable networks. Thanks to our in-depth knowledge and extensive experience in connectivity, Eurofiber can assist you in choosing the best solution for your IT-infrastructure. For example, we can offer a super-fast, reliable and high-quality fiber-optic technology. At the moment our open network is 61.700 km long and offers extensive coverage in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany.
Is your digital infrastructure ready for the future?
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