The business landscape is constantly evolving thanks to advancements in technology and new demands and expectations from consumers. Business leaders and IT professionals alike face increasing pressure to adopt technologies that will help drive business growth. While evolving technology has improved operations, collaboration, and efficiency in the workplace, it has made it more complex for IT professionals to manage and keep their infrastructure secure. In this blog, we’ll discuss the top six IT challenges businesses need to be aware of in 2024 and what they mean for your IT teams.
1. Cyber Threats
Cybersecurity attacks dominated the headlines last year. According to Apple’s 2023 study “The Continued Threat to Personal Data: Key Factors Behind the 2023 Increase,” data breaches were at an all-time high in 2023. As businesses adopt more and more technology, it can create the potential for increased vulnerabilities if the right cybersecurity measures, policies, and processes are not in place.
To address these vulnerabilities and mitigate risk, businesses are investing in cybersecurity and making it a priority. According to business consulting firm Gartner, global spending on security risk and management will grow 14% in 2024 — a total of more than $214 billion. However, simply increasing spending is not an effective plan. Cybersecurity efforts require dedicated teams with the right skills to understand and prevent attacks. Businesses also need the right cybersecurity technology and continuous monitoring to identify threats and mitigate them quick before they become an issue.
2. Legacy Infrastructure
All businesses use some form of software, but too often, businesses fall susceptible to the adage, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” Outdated legacy technology poses significant IT challenges that businesses may be unaware of until issues arise. Not only is legacy infrastructure costly to maintain, but it also often requires significant manpower to support with unique skills set that many employees may not possess. As employees leave the company or retire, they could be leaving your organization without the right skillset to keep legacy technology operating.
Many companies transition to modern tools like cloud-based applications, which is often easier to maintain and requires less manpower to operate. There is also the added benefit of being more secure. Legacy technology often has greater vulnerabilities as patches become less frequent or software becomes unsupported. Cloud-based solutions are continuously updated with proactive cybersecurity measures.
3. Data-Driven Decision-Making
IT professionals have hundreds of decisions they need to make regarding their operations, infrastructure, policies, and processes. Often, businesses don’t have enough data to make educated decisions. Sometimes it’s due to lack of available data in systems, especially if the technology is not cloud-based. Getting access to data becomes much more complicated.
Modern technology offers a plethora of data to help with decision-making, but not all data is created equal. To ensure that the best information is given for critical decisions, IT systems need robust reporting and analytics to ensure that every piece of data is meaningful, particularly regarding potential vulnerabilities.
4. Evolving Regulatory Requirements
Technology regulatory requirements are constantly evolving to keep up with the light-speed pace of innovation. Over the last few years, several different regulatory requirements across industries have adjusted their requirements to address changes in technology and the threat landscape. The recent changes to the FTC’s Safeguards Rule and PCI-DSS 4.0 are just two examples.
There are many different rules across industries and at the state and federal level. IT professionals must now keep a pulse on the regulatory requirements to ensure their business is in compliance. This can be a burdensome task without the right tools and resources at their disposal. Working with a provider that offers security advisory services can help businesses keep better track of compliance requirements.
5. IT Skills Shortage
As if organizational issues and external threats weren’t enough, IT teams face internal challenges as well like an IT skills shortage. Many organizations struggle to attract and retain IT talent with the skills set that’s needed to keep their organization operating smoothly.
Beyond the certifications employees need to stay current on the technology they work with every day, they also need to have the knowledge to address evolving cyber threats. Too often, IT teams have a difficult time addressing their cybersecurity fully in-house without assistance from a vendor or managed services provider. In fact, according to ISC2’s latest Cybersecurity Workforce Study, the cybersecurity workforce skills gap has reached an all-time high. ICS2 reports that while the overall IT workforce has increased by 10%, 4 million jobs sit unfilled as companies struggle to hire enough skilled workers to meet their needs.
6. Supporting Hybrid Work
Many organizations offer a hybrid work or remote work environment for their employees. While these work environments offer greater flexibility for employees, they require significant IT manpower and infrastructure to support it.
Prior to the days of remote and hybrid work, IT professionals had the luxury of managing their network and security in the confines of a secured office environment. Now, IT teams need to keep employees connected and secure from multiple locations.
Address IT Challenges and Optimize Your IT
While IT teams face several challenges in today’s complex business landscape, you don’t have to do it alone. By working with a managed services provider like TPx, we can help address your IT challenges and keep your operations running smoothly and securely. With a full suite of networking, internet, cloud communications, and cybersecurity services, we provide the peace of mind you need ensuring your business remains secure and competitive in the digital age. Interested in learning more about how we can help? Reach out for a free consultation today.