5 Technologies shaping the future of IT in digital workplaces

The shift to hybrid work and accelerated adoption of digital technologies have transformed the definition of an “office” into an ever-connected virtual environment, and businesses’ IT priorities are changing to meet the demands of this new dynamic. In fact, research from Gartner reveals that global spending on IT is forecast to increase by 5 percent to $4.6 trillion in 2023, as a result of the accelerated pace of digital transformation to offset the effects of the pandemic and economic uncertainty.

As technology and the workplace become almost synonymous, business and IT leaders must reconsider technology shifts that can not only help them achieve efficiency in business operations but also bridge the divide between people, technology, and the workplace. Keeping employees at the centre of it all, CIOs and IT teams need to focus on solutions that support remote work and translate into employee productivity. These technologies are essential for leaders to meet those goals and to fortify their digital workplace for success in 2023 and beyond:

Automation saves valuable time and resources

Automation dramatically reduces the manual time and effort required to devote to digital tasks. From gathering information to auto-initiating the process of filing issues or complaints, automation makes it easier for IT teams who have direct and daily interactions with employees or customers to provide quick and accurate technical support. IT teams can even push software installations and patch updates across the entirety of devices in their network with automated mass deployment. These benefits also extend to other departments, including HR and finance teams, which can collaborate with IT to automate new employee onboarding setups and billing.

AI-based workplace analytics will help move from a reactive to a predictive approach

IT teams are much more effective when they can identify and solve a problem before it causes significant disruptions – but what if they could prevent a problem before it even emerged? Powerful analytics capabilities now allow IT teams to better understand performance across a business’ networks and devices, and predict potential disruptions or outages. Predictive analytics helps IT ensure higher uptime of systems which in turn leads to better employee experience, higher productivity, and mitigates the risk of customer frustrations or financial fallout.

Cloud modernisation will continue to take workplaces to the next level

For many employees today, the primary interface of their workplace is on their screens. Cloud will continue to be an important part of digital workplaces, enabling businesses to boost flexibility and scale operations as demand grows. Remote/hybrid workplaces powered by cloud-based SaaS solutions will become the foundation to work through a variety of dynamic workplace scenarios, without having to make expensive or significant changes to their IT setup. Cloud has already become a crucial part of business’ digital initiatives, and its importance will only grow in the modern workplace.

Businesses will rely on zero trust systems to safeguard data

Protecting data and devices in a workforce spread across different geographies will be a high priority for workplaces running on the cloud. With more endpoints to protect, a zero trust network architecture (ZTNA) provides an important additional layer of defence against unauthorized access or remote control of employees’ devices, protecting individual users and the business’ network. As adoption grows, zero trust will help to enable employee-first, digital workplaces, empowering the hybrid workforce with streamlined access to the data and assets they need while offering greater flexibility to choose their working environment.

Consolidated IT will become the centre of digital employee experience

With workplaces becoming more flexible and geographically diverse, IT support can use some help simplifying. From a strategic standpoint, the changing dynamics of a modern workplace – increasingly remote and highly interdependent – are compelling IT leaders to seek out more unified solutions. Consolidated IT tools that include remote support, remote access, remote monitoring and management, and camera sharing, allow IT teams to simplify and streamline their support operations, and keep things simple for employees and customers who don’t need to navigate between multiple tools for help with their technology challenges.

Conclusion

The digital revolution we’re witnessing today has seen us go from legacy workplace infrastructure to cutting-edge technologies that fully support the digital working environment. As we move forward and embrace this innovation, it is imperative for businesses – small, medium, or large – to value employee engagement and experience as one of the key factors to building a successful and sustainable business. And IT will play a critical role in making this happen.>