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2020 Trends in Technology and Cybersecurity

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In 2010, consumers were introduced to the iPad. Facebook was rising in popular culture with Twitter hot on its heels. The BlackBerry withered on the vine while more smartphones stormed the market. Americans were just beginning to consider online privacy concerns.

A decade later, tablets and smartphones have revolutionized business. Social media is a must-have platform for businesses to connect with consumers. Cybersecurity and privacy concerns reached a fever pitch in 2019.

There’s no doubt that the rapidly changing digital world will bring new opportunities and challenges in the next year. We predict 2020’s technology trends and how they’ll shape workplaces.

IoT

The Internet of Things — interconnected devices able to transfer data over a network — will grow in 2020. The IoT is already represented in the workplace through smart locks, thermostats, cameras, printers, tablets, smartphones and wearable devices to track travel or employee activity. As automation grows and companies add or upgrade equipment, it will be increasingly important for professionals to understand their devices’ interconnectivity and how to secure them from cyberattacks.

Automation and AI

Automation programs and artificial intelligence will have an even greater impact on the workforce in the coming years.

AI — machines mimicking human behavior by basing actions on past data — is already a fixture of Americans’ personal lives. Streaming services offer algorithmically generated suggestions based on past views, and social media sites use AI facial recognition software to suggest people users can tag in photos. In business, AI is already used to filter spam emails, detect fraudulent financial transactions and for a variety of other tasks.

Simply put, AI technology can accurately perform these tasks much faster than people can, leading decision-makers to favor labor-saving tools. AI is part of a larger automation trend that which could obliterate as many as 73 million jobs in America by 2030, according to a McKinsey Global Institute report. However, experts such as Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine, believe the growth in AI technology will also create jobs as employees are needed to create and manage the technology. Throughout the next decade, the tech industry will see a rapid expansion in the need for workers trained in automation programs.

Outside of the job market, workers can find comfort in the fact that automation will eliminate pesky daily tasks that distract them from larger projects. Automation can help generate sales leads, maintain office equipment, analyze reports, organize data, process transactions and answer questions among other tasks.

Accessibility

American workers are constantly on the go, and many workplaces have employees who work remotely. More and more workplaces will require virtual private networks — VPNs — for employees who access the company network remotely.

Hosted communications systems are another way for employees to easily work on the go and connect with customers. The system allows a group of employees to collaboratively edit a document in real time and facilitate a video or phone chat for employees working in different areas. Cell phones connected to the office communications systems allow workers to answer calls outside of the office. If the call is sent to a voicemail, the message is transferred from the individual’s cell phone to the voicemail connected to the hosted communications system.

Cybersecurity

As the IoT expands and hackers become more adept at deploying cyberattacks across devices, cybersecurity threats will be more prevalent than ever. More small and medium businesses are facing the same cyberthreats as large corporations, according to Ponemon Institute’s 2018 State of Cybersecurity in Small and Medium Size Businesses report.

For the report, researchers surveyed more than 1,000 small and medium businesses in the United States and the United Kingdom. The survey found that 67 percent of respondents — eight percent higher than in fiscal 2017 — reported facing a cyberattack in fiscal 2018. Additionally, 58 percent reported facing a data breach in fiscal 2018, an increase of four percent from 2017.

More businesses will recognize the dire need for advanced cybersecurity plans. Throughout 2020, leaders will devote more resources to security efforts. For comparison, Cyber Security Hub found that companies’ cybersecurity budgets increased 59 percent in the first half of 2019.

In 2019, 91.3 percent of the Cyber Security Hub respondents said the lack of trained talent was turning into a crisis.  As the workforce hurries to find employees skilled in cybersecurity, more organizations will turn to managed IT service providers, such as Infomax, to work with a ready-made team of cybersecurity experts.

To learn more about Infomax’s team of providers, message us or call 1-800-727-4629. We can help guide your workplace through the next decade.

Stop the Paper Pile-up by Automating Document Workflow

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The lifecycle of any document is dynamic and constantly changing. Sometimes, documents that have run their course remain in our physical and electronic folders for years or even decades, cluttering our offices and hard drives. But when it comes time to find the document you’re looking for, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, a document management solution can fix these all-too-common document problems. Document management can help you manage your documents more efficiently and fill the holes in your workflow processes, so that you and your workers can focus on more important tasks.

Electronic document management can improve the daily operations in your office and help clean up your business. Here are several benefits to document management.

  • Moving documents: Are you done with a document? Automatically and seamlessly move the document from one location to another without any hassle whatsoever. Now, your documents can be transferred anywhere within a network for ease of use and workflow efficiency. And you’ll also be able to easily search for and retrieve the document later on when you need it.
  • Control: With document management, you can be notified by email when someone opens, moves, or modifies any document. Whether the change is major or minor, you can be privy to every step along the way. In other words, you can track projects from start to finish every time and keep control of your documents—from start to finish.
  • Streamlining: Document management can streamline your workflow processes, by automating your needs. Using rules-based routing systems, your documents are passed through the proper chain of command, and projects are completed with fewer steps.
  • Saving time: Saving time means saving money. With document management, your business will reduce paper waste, resulting in savings, as well as helping the environment.
  • Customization: Digital workflows can automate tasks for you, so that you can focus on other objectives. Computer-aided work models can complete certain repetitive tasks quickly. They also remove human error, so the quality of the work improves, as well.
  • Ease of use: Document management systems are designed with easy of use in mind. They don’t add steps to your document and workflow processes, they remove some. User-friendly interfaces allow for seamless integration into your business processes. And, you won’t be stuck writing code or getting caught up in the technical side of things. Instead, you can quickly and easily customize your document management to best fit your needs.

To learn more about how document management can revolutionize your workflow, contact Infomax today.