Top Tech Trends for 2020 - Part 2

In Part 1 of our 2020 tech predictions piece we talked about how advances in fixed wireless, accelerated fibre deployment, AI and ‘distributed workforces’ are tipped to have significant impacts on how we all do business, make decisions and approach work this year.

In this, the second instalment, we take a look at three more key trends with important implications for organisations of all size and type.

5. IoT
Dramatically faster wireless networks will be a key driver of the IoT (Internet of Things) space, which is predicted reach new levels of maturity next year.
The Australian IoT at home (IoT@Home) has been growing at around 50% and is forecast to reach $5.3 Billion by 2023, according to Australian tech analysts, Telsyte.

Industries like manufacturing, retail, mining, healthcare and others will embrace new opportunities to rein in control and gain clearer visibility into all manner of operations by collecting real-time data from network connected sensors. The results will be far more efficient operations, especially at the ‘edge’.

6 . Cloud Cover
The move to cloud-based systems has been breathtaking in its speed over the past few years as compute costs continue a race to the bottom.

According to recent research published by Gartner, Australia’s public cloud services market is on track to grow 87% over the next three years, hitting $10.3 billion by 2022, which is around 10 percent of our entire annual IT spend!

Now, many organisations are well on the way to having all but their most sensitive and mission critical data and systems living in data centres off-site, with some going 100 percent cloud. The ability to connect to these locations reliably and with minimal latency will become an even more critical consideration in 2020 and beyond. And with increased mobile / wireless speeds, more organisations will have more options next year for utilising cloud-based services and applications.

Of course, once you’ve decided you’re moving to the cloud having a framework to manage and protect your business in this new environment is key, with services like Cloud Connect expected to really come into their own this year to help organisations maximise the opportunities, while reining in some of the risks and challenges.

7 . Cyber Security
Cyber security is arguably the most pressing challenge for Australian organisations moving into 2020.

As organised criminals remain ahead of the curve when it comes to hacking technologies and techniques, state actors have been revealed to be upping their cyber espionage activities to counter the escalation of malicious activity. The upshot is that any organisation with valuable – or sensitive – data needs to be especially vigilant and ensure they have appropriate infrastructure in place to secure this data.

The potential economic losses stemming from cyber-attacks shouldn’t be underestimated, in particular the reputational brand damage that can quickly arise in today’s hyper-connected digital world.

And now we have the added layer of regulatory scrutiny, with Australia’s NDB (Notifiable Data Breach) laws turning two in February.

In August 2019, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) reported 245 breach notifications by Australian organisations for the three months to June 30, a 14% increase on the previous three month period, underscoring the upward trend in cyber security events.

An important cultural shift for Australian organisations, expect NDB and general enhanced awareness of cyber security to have a greater influence on technology decision making, especially around what network technologies offer the best levels of protection and peace of mind.