Business

Top Business Tech Trends for 2021

Tech development in 2020 soared as businesses and individuals found creative ways to limit the impact of COVID-19 on their productivity and personal lives. The coming year will largely be a continuation of that innovation and growth of remote resources.

Here are the top five tech trends that will impact businesses in the coming year, from the skyrocketing usage of cloud platforms to robotics and automation. 

Continuing Remote Capabilities

The pandemic necessitated remote working for several businesses, and this trend may carry on to the next year, despite the potential of COVID vaccines soon becoming available to the public. 

Hundreds of millions of people have had to stay quarantined in some capacity for more than a year due to the health crisis. Although the corporate world’s future looks uncertain, it’s obvious that it will not remain the same post-COVID. The abrupt shift to remote working looks like it will be around for the long term, so 2021 will see the continuation of trends in flexible, remote work-enabling technology such as communication systems like Microsoft Teams, remote desktop services, VoIP phone systems, and more.

Automation & Robotics

The adoption of automation and robotics went up astronomically during the lockdown, despite COVID-19 protocols delaying shipments across Japan, Korea, and Europe. Companies are finding ways to replace their manual labor with machines. Robots are not only highly precise, cheaper, and faster—they don’t contract viruses or experience inefficiencies. While the first industrial robots were designed to perform dangerous functions, newer models of robots (called “cobots”) will collaborate effectively with humans.

Increased Use of Cloud Technology

The coronavirus outbreak sparked a higher demand for public cloud applications and development services. Forrester research teams estimate that the cloud infrastructure market may grow by 35% next year, with Alibaba being tipped to become the cloud’s third-largest provider. Meanwhile, tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon Web Services will continue to lock horns in the race to web supremacy.

Cybersecurity

With more people staying in lockdown and working from home, the global pandemic catalyzed cyber attacks in 2020, and over 50% of ransomware attacks involve hands-on attackers. Attacks on fintech companies shot up by 238% in the wake of the COVID-19, phishing attacks accounted for a whopping 80% of corporate cybersecurity breaches, with 94% of malware being planted through emails.

As businesses take steps to mitigate their cybersecurity threats, hackers are playing smart and adapting to the pandemic. Organizations may roll out zero-trust cybersecurity policies, requiring strict verification from all business teams. This extra layer of security could help businesses minimize data breaches. 

Outsourced IT Services

As businesses looked to reduce IT costs over the past years, and especially during COVID-19,  organizations are increasingly embracing outsourced managed IT services.

Managed service providers (MSPs) can remotely operate certain departments of your business, like delivery services and network security. The demand for managed IT services has been growing in recent years, and this trend will surely continue in 2021. If your business expands, you may need to outsource your cybersecurity tasks to experts.