5 Major IT trends that you should heavily invest in 2021

Technology has great disruptive potential and sets the stage for innovation for years to come. Businesses must analyze the effects of technology trends and adapt their business models and operations, or risk losing their competitive edge to people who do. But what technological trends will shape the near future?

2020 has closed with figures to forget, but with necessary advances such as the boom in digitization and teleworking, supported by tools that have become everyday such as videoconferencing solutions.

Everything indicates that 2021 will be a year of growth.  the forecast is that on a global scale the economy will grow just over 4% and the local forecast is that GDP will rise next year between 4.2% and 8%. 6%.

The impact of the socio-economic crisis will be felt in all sectors, also in IT. And  2021 will close with an investment of 44,900 million euros, with a decrease of 0.8%  compared to the year that now ends.

Technology trends for 2021

Hybrid work

Obviously, in 2021 we will continue to combine face-to-face work in the office with remote work from home. IDC claims that 30% of employees will work from home in 2021 and 40% of organizations will combine physical and virtual work to increase employee productivity and improve customer contact.

Hybrid work entails a series of technological needs:

We will also see a increase in RPA (autonomous procedure automation) for easy and repetitive administrative tasks, but also for more complicated business processes, because of the usage of AI and machine learning. In this way, IDC forecasts that at 2022, 45 percent of those repetitive tasks of big business will be automatic and / or improved through the use of”Digital Coworkers”, fostering human-machine cooperation. Similarly, the consultancy estimates the market in EMEA for intelligent process automation applications will grow till 2023 with prices over 15%.

• The use of comprehensive teamwork platforms such as Microsoft Teams , which include work applications, file sharing and call and video conferencing solutions, among others, that take advantage of the full potential of 5G.
• Face-to-face workspaces that serve as a meeting and interaction point to promote innovation, talent and co-creation among employees. For this, it is necessary to have rooms equipped with the best collaboration technology and with all the security and control measures to ensure the well-being of the employees.

Focus on people

Technology is at the service of people. This is demonstrated by the growing trend towards the Internet of Behaviors (Internet of Behaviors or IoB) which is based on the use of data derived from, for example, daily activity routines, sensors and biometrics, combined with Artificial Intelligence, to offer products and personalized services. For example, a person who does sports regularly could benefit from discounts on their health insurance.  more than half of the population will use IoB-based products or services.

In addition, the consulting firm also highlights the trend towards total experience . That is, the creation of immersive and multi-experience environments that improve the user, employee and customer experience. In fact, he estimates that by 2024 organizations offering a total experience will outperform their competitors by 25% in employee and customer satisfaction.

And it is that digital experience platforms such as Liferay create and enhance the relationship with customers, partners and employees in a more flexible way and adapted to their requirements, using external and internal tools that facilitate the personalization of services and content through data analytics. . In this way, the relationship with all of them is improved, generating more trust and empathy. Not surprisingly, it is expected that by 2022 the annual growth rate of the digital experiences market will reach 18% in Europe. which translates into a business volume of around 30,000 million euros.

Sustainability

The confinement and slowdown in activity caused by Covid-19 has revealed the effects that the current socioeconomic model has on the environment. The near future will be marked by the reduction of business trips and office activity by 50% and 30% respectively, according to Bill Gates .

For this, remote collaboration and communication solutions through videoconferencing are essential. These allow all team members to interact, wherever they are, remotely or in person. In addition, integrated into the collaboration platforms, they allow the sharing and management of all corporate information in an agile, efficient and secure way, to boost the productivity of the company.

Another technological trend linked to sustainability is the search for more environmentally friendly digitization solutions and services , which include the reduction of natural resources and the reuse of materials.

Cybersecurity focused on the personal perimeter

Without a doubt, in 2021 ransomware and phishing will continue to be one of the star cyberattacks, together with attacks on VPN networks. Companies must take measures to protect themselves and use secure and up-to-date business devices , which is why an increase in investment in this area is expected.

But, in addition, the fact of working remotely has made the cybersecurity mesh– into one of the keys for 2021. It is a new way of conceiving cybersecurity, in which the Focus shifts from the organization to the individual.

Cybersecurity mesh is the security mesh focused on the personal perimeter to respond to the need for protection due to the use of personal devices for work that are not usually adequately protected. Therefore, this new concept gives visibility to all the devices that are linked in one way or another to the company and establishes a perfectly defined perimeter.

Rise of the distributed and connected cloud

The cloud ” as a Service ” has proven to be essential for business continuity, leading them to a delocalized and scalable model in an agile and fast way, without the need to invest in proprietary IT infrastructures.

IDC notes that by 2021 20% of organizations will adopt connected cloud architectures  to modernize their applications and integrate data. In addition, it anticipates that in 2023 more than 60% of software providers will be forced to redesign or build new cloud-native portable applications due to the demand of companies for portable and multifunctional SaaS solutions, consumables in the cloud that they choose. more than 50% of organizations will use distributed cloud options in selected locations.

We are, therefore, facing a new hybrid cloud and multi-cloud paradigm with offshored IT loads where the greatest challenge is to offer a cohesive environment, something that only a trusted partner certified in the best technologies on the market can offer .