The IT field evolves as innovations enter the market, making business operations faster and leaner. For instance, some companies now use artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots to improve customer support, sales, marketing, and lead generation tasks. Virtual and augmented realities have also made their way to gaming, education, and e-commerce, giving people more immersive experiences.
However, as with anything new, tech innovations may bring more IT issues and challenges this 2023, causing some businesses to pivot and rethink their operations and tech investments. Learning about these roadblocks can help you make contingency or continuity plans as early as possible to deter massive losses and find more growth opportunities.
8 IT Issues and Challenges Businesses Should Be Ready For
Data privacy, remote work arrangements, and cybersecurity concerns have risen over the past few years. Here are other IT issues and challenges you should be ready to tackle this year.
1. Increasing cybersecurity threats
Cybersecurity is crucial in the digital age, especially since many businesses have shifted to a remote or hybrid work arrangement and now rely on technologies like the cloud to stay connected and productive. However, cybercriminals are getting smarter by the day with their malware attacks and data breaches, giving IT teams more to worry about.
During the third quarter of 2022, 15 million data records were exposed worldwide through data breaches, a 37% increase from the previous quarter. Ransomware attacks also affected 70% of businesses worldwide. For these reasons, companies spent $169.2 billion on information security and risk management software, equipment, and services, up from nearly $157.8 billion in 2021.
The investment may increase further to $188.336 billion by the end of 2023 as more businesses adopt remote and hybrid work arrangements, move from virtual private networks (VPNs) to zero trust network access (ZTNA), and shift to cloud-based delivery models.
2. Expanding stringent data privacy and compliance regulations
Modern technologies have made it easy for businesses to gather consumer data and personalize their offerings based on customers’ needs. However, despite this advantage, data collection has also raised privacy issues, pushing regulators worldwide to set or update regulations.
As more governments worldwide expand and reinforce data privacy and compliance regulations this year, 65% of the global population will potentially receive personal data protection through privacy laws.
3. Lacking proper e-waste disposal and data destruction
Businesses typically replace their legacy hardware with new and improved devices to keep up with trends and enhance their processes. While disposing of e-waste is necessary, how it’s done can significantly affect them.
According to the World Economic Forum, only 17.4% of e-waste is properly recycled worldwide. Without proper e-waste disposal measures, malicious actors may find and use residual data such as passwords, sensitive corporate information, and account numbers for harmful purposes.
Such a situation has already happened to American power company Idaho Power. In 2006, it found its discarded company hard drives—containing company memos, customer correspondences, and confidential employee information—listed on eBay. Cases like this highlight the importance of proper e-waste disposal and data destruction.
4. Addressing the digital skills gap
A study by Korn Ferry predicts that the U.S. could lose out on $162 billion in revenues annually in tech alone unless it finds more high-tech workers by 2030.
For this reason, businesses must offer upskilling for their IT teams. Not only does it help IT professionals keep up with changing tech trends, but it also prepares them for better work opportunities. You can upskill your IT staff in multiple ways, such as through virtual learning, mentorships, certificate program enrollments, and shadowing.
5. Rising competition for top IT talents
Many businesses today favor IT workers skilled in cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analytics, and AI because they bring in more ideas and profits. Yet, the biggest challenge is recruiting them amidst a competitive job market and the Great Resignation. Either stick to your old recruitment processes or change them to attract highly-skilled and competent workers.
One way to recruit hard-to-fill IT positions is to create a job description highlighting the rewards and benefits of working at your company instead of simply listing your desired skills and experience requirements. Moreover, learn about your ideal candidates, use the right sourcing channels, and have an employee referral campaign.
6. Growing demand for cloud migration
A 2022 study found that 75% of tech leaders are building new products and features in the cloud. Still, only 8% of technologists have extensive experience with it. For this reason, there has been a growing demand for cloud migration services in the past few years.
In 2021, the global cloud migration services market reached a value of $92.4 billion, which may increase to $340.7 billion by 2028.
7. Catching up with software and hardware innovations
Many businesses feel pressured to keep up with the latest tech innovations as they become available. Not only is it challenging to access new software and hardware, but it’s also risky to invest time and money learning how to activate and use them.
According to McKinsey & Company, organizations must build external networks to spot, invest, and even acquire promising opportunities as they encounter more disruptions tied to digital transformations.
8. Increasing complexity of managing IT infrastructure
Acquiring IT infrastructure is only the tip of the iceberg. The challenge lies in managing and maintaining it long enough to maximize its purpose. You need to take care of computers, routers, web servers, operating systems, and productivity applications, among other things.
Doing so successfully can lead to various benefits, such as enhanced performance, increased productivity, and reduced costs. The key is finding the right IT support team to maintain and troubleshoot systems and networks and discover tech opportunities.
Build a Competent IT Team Today
You’d want to avoid or resolve common IT problems like those above without affecting your daily operations. However, you can’t do everything alone or with a small team with limited tech skills.
This is where outsourcing and offshoring come into play. Outsourcing or offshoring work to highly competent and skilled IT professionals can help you save time, money, and effort, so you can focus on other aspects of your business.
The key to forming an outsourced IT team is working with a reliable recruitment agency in the Philippines, like Manila Recruitment. Our services include headhunting, executive search, and expert, technical, and IT recruitment—all meant to help local and international businesses meet their goals and fill workforce vacancies.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you find remote and offshore IT workers and save your business from modern tech challenges.
