Issues relating to efficiency, safety and value creation then became priorities. In the digital age, and in order to take full advantage of limited resources and staff, we need to put even more emphasis on strategy and collaboration. In this context, we will try to anticipate what 2023, as well as the months and years to come, hold for the IT services sector in terms of new trends.
1) Migration to the Cloud: the migration of SMB businesses, services and processes to the public cloud, a trend we’ve seen progress in recent years, shows no signs of slowing down. According to a recent study[1], public cloud usage by European SMEs increased by 5% between 2020 and 2021.In addition, 41% of organizations in the EU rely on such services in some way, including hosting their messaging systems and storing files in electronic format.
This trend should continue and progress steadily. Many of our customers have migrated to the Microsoft 365 public cloud as a result — by far the most dominant player in the SMB market today.
2) Progression of teleworking:the constant migration of workloads, processes and data to the cloud and to internal infrastructures has enabled companies to offer a more hybrid environment to their employees.
This model will remain popular, offering more flexibility and control to employees — not just where, but also how. SMBs need top-notch IT environments to support a new generation that is more adept with new technologies, and more demanding than before. This factor will be key to recruiting and retaining top talent. By putting the right infrastructure in place, organizations create a real value proposition, especially for the generation of young people entering the market.
3) Security at all costs: With the amount of information housed in the public cloud reaching unprecedented levels, companies need to think about the issue of data protection. This ranges from the most obvious software (against viruses, malware or other) to the establishment of rigorous backup policies, public cloud providers do not always carry out this themselves (this responsibility lies with the companies).
Awareness around data security and the need for constant support will therefore be crucial trends in the coming year.
With costs coming under increased scrutiny, companies will be looking to save money at all levels. And security is one of those areas where spending cuts could be considered. However, such a choice would be misguided, whatever the organization. All it takes is one serious data leak or hack to put a business out of business and into bankruptcy. Some statistics also show that 60% of companies would go out of business within six months of a serious cyberattack.
As with security benefits, IT service providers need to better showcase the value of their dedicated products to their customers. It is only by adopting a more sophisticated approach that these will be able to fully demonstrate their importance. This way of doing things should become a major trend in the future.
4) Data automation: in 2023, data management, like the capabilities provided by Microsoft Power BI, is expected to grow even more important. This business intelligence platform offers business users with non-technical profiles the tools needed to aggregate, analyze, visualize and share data. Until recently, this technology was reserved for medium and large businesses, but we are starting to see small businesses taking full advantage of it. Whether working with IT service provider partners, or doing it on their own, small organizations are now producing valuable information.
Process automation will also remain a strong trend in 2023. We are currently seeing a push towards process automation — not just to streamline laborious tasks, but also to make workflows more efficient. Indeed, given the financial pressures faced by organizations of all sizes, automation can help reduce ongoing costs.
5) Voice over IP: IIP telephony should be very popular in 2023. Indeed, the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PTSN) no longer meet the needs of users in an increasingly digital world. Thus, ISDN will be decommissioned in 2025, which will allow IT service providers to offer unified communication and IP-based solutions to their customers.
Organizations postponing their reflection on their migration to IP telephony may well find themselves faced with a lack of resources, but also of qualified personnel to carry out this task. We are already well into discussions with many organizations seeking to make such a transition. However, for many others, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of raising awareness about the benefits and the need to proceed as quickly as possible with such a migration.
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