Continue with the predictions series from M-O below, or go back to see what industry observers said from J-L at https://www.techtradeasia.com/2024/01/a-to-z-of-tech-predictions-in-2024-j-l.html.
M is for (social) media
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| Source: Ipsos. Nearly half of respondents think they won't be using social media less in 2024, against 41% of those surveyed. |
Research firm Ipsos noted that 41% of respondents^ (43% in Singapore) believe they are likely to use social media less in 2024, a 13-percentage point increase from 28% in 2019. "TikTok has risen to prominence since 2019, and a growing body of evidence demonstrates a negative association between social media use and mental health issues. This may have contributed to the public's perception of a need to reduce social media usage," stated the firm.
As 49% disagree with the statement, there are some mixed feelings about the benefits and risks of social media usage, Ipsos pointed out.
Even though people are thinking of disengaging from social media, its role in e-commerce remains strong. In its 2024 predictions Anchanto said: "In 2024, the prominence of social commerce and social media in the e-commerce landscape will keep on rising. Businesses need to harness these platforms such as TikTok as essential tools for driving sales, engaging with customers, and cultivating brand loyalty. For this, social commerce integration will be a central focus, as it allows companies to manage their social channels, along with other sales touchpoints, in one central place.
M is also for marketing
Governance
“Data deprecation and the new emphasis on zero and first-party sources, as well as second-party sources such as data clean rooms, networks and exchanges, are leading brands to reconsider their data governance, security and privacy practices," said Jonathan Moran, Head of SAS MarTech Solutions Marketing.
"And while some brands have instituted comprehensive data compliance practices, others haven’t. At least not yet. In 2024, we will continue to see global, country, federal, local, and regional data related regulations driving more data governance practices. Brands should look to the concept of responsible marketing – and particularly the data component – that is using customer and marketing data in a responsible manner, to help avoid any issues. 2024 will likely be marked by brands taking a strong, fresh look at their data processes.”
Tech stack consolidation
*Zero-party data is data directly provided by the customer, while first-party data comes from websites and software owned by a business. Second-party data was collected as first-party data by someone else, then sold to the business. Third-party data is sold by someone who didn't collect the data.
*The Martech 2024 report, released in December 2023, counts 13,080 martech tools available, an 18.5% increase. Of the new additions since the previous report in mid-2023, 1,498 (73%) were AI-based, the authors said.
N is for networking
Optical networking
"The increased focus on network efficiency, reliability, sustainability and being future-ready will bring optical networking to the fore in 2024," predicted NTT in a 2024 forecast.
"Recent trials prove the potential – achieving 1.2 Tbps transmission rates," the company said.
NTT added that there is also a wider concerted effort to overcome the limitations of existing infrastructure with optical technologies. "More than 100 organisations are now partnering to drive the IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network) forward, ensuring the world is ready for future technologies and bringing optical networking closer to mainstream," the company said.
Wi-Fi
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| Source: HPE Aruba Networking. Hughes. |
"A couple of years ago, the Wi-Fi 6E standard introduced support for the 6 GHz band, more than doubling Wi-Fi capacity, enabling more users and faster speeds. It’s been rapidly adopted in some segments, but others have been more cautious. In 2024 the last remaining barriers to broad adoption will be resolved," he said.
One challenge is the need for government approval to use the 6 GHz band, particularly outdoors, Hughes said, while another is the decision to skip Wi-Fi 6E adoption in favour of the upcoming and possibly incompatible Wi-Fi 7.
"Now with Wi-Fi 7 ratified, there is no doubt that Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 will be interoperable, so with 6E devices and access points shipping in volume, 6 GHz Wi-Fi deployments can move ahead full steam," Hughes said.
"Finally, adoption is gated by support on both access points and client devices. We are witnessing a slew of new devices that support Wi-Fi 6E, and the mainstreaming of 6E access points. On top of this, more Wi-Fi 7 devices on the horizon, and these can utilise the 6GHz band to deliver better user experience with either Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 access points.
"The combination of these developments see a big uptake of 6 GHz spectrum in 2024, and with it, faster transfers and better user experience!"
Hybrid connectivity
.png "Source: CommScope. Sanjiv Verma.") |
| Source: CommScope. Verma. |
Sanjiv Verma, VP, Ruckus Networks, APAC, CommScope, said that enabling wider adoption of new network standards and unlocking all available spectrum including the newest 6 GHz band will help elevate the speed, capacity and performance of connected experiences in 2024.
"Wi-Fi is poised to play an even more critical role as new technologies continue to emerge. Wi-Fi is well-suited to most connectivity needs, as it’s an economical and efficient way to connect users, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other infrastructure; while cellular networks offer superior mobility over large distances and high speeds.
"As a result, we anticipate a convergence of both cellular and Wi-Fi networks, creating a unified platform that seamlessly shifts between technologies driving innovation, augmenting connectivity, and delivering superior user experiences," he said.
"We have officially entered the era in which hybrid connectivity, both multitransport and multi-orbit, will be commonplace. There will continue to be an increasing need to apply smart technologies and managed services to integrate these various transports in ways that create dynamic, always-on connectivity solutions," said Joe Bernabucci, Director of Strategy, Hughes Network Systems.
Satellite connectivity
"With the launch of JUPITER 3, it is clear that GEO satellites are not going anywhere. Their capacity, coverage and economics can’t be matched. We are seeing a lot of global activity with GEOs, especially with regional satellites, software-defined flexible satellites, VHTS satellites and sovereign satellites ordered by operators around the world," said Shivaji Chatterjee, President & MD, Hughes Communications India.
"We always believed that LEO connectivity and multi-orbit solutions would offer great value to customers and now we are seeing use cases being implemented. Around the world, serving the broadband needs of communities lacking access will continue to be the biggest opportunity. We know that satellite alone cannot meet the goal of connecting everyone; that’s why last mile technologies, such as Wi-Fi, 4G and 5G, will continue to be important to achieve universal connectivity," said Vaibhav Magow, VP International, Hughes Network Systems.
JUPITER 3 is an ultra high density satellite (UHDS) that will double the capacity of the Hughes JUPITER satellite fleet. Once launched, this satellite is expected to support in-flight Wi-Fi, maritime connections, enterprise networks, backhaul for mobile network operators (MNOs), and community Wi-Fi solutions, in addition to satellite Internet connectivity across North and South America.
Service levels
"In order to deliver what employees and customers expect, IT organisations will need to shift to SLOs and SLAs based on measured user experience. Users don’t care what is at fault, they are focused on one simple thing: is the application they are using working well or not. User satisfaction plummets when they are first to find problems, and are then rebuffed by IT with reports that all devices are up and operating correctly," noted David Hughes, Chief Product and Technology Officer, HPE Aruba Networking.
"To address this organisations will widely deploy digital experience management (DEM) tools that both measure actual experience of end users and make synthetic probes to ensure infrastructure readiness even when users are not present. Organisations will likely want a mix of measurements collected from endpoint agents (like an SSE agent) and measurements collected by dedicated hardware sensors, particularly when monitoring Wi-Fi performance. Ideally these same measurements feed automated AIOps that are able to learn and then implement best practices, rapidly triage problems and
automatically remediate issues."
*GEO refers to geosynchronous equatorial orbit, and LEO stands for low-earth orbit. VHTS is an acronym for very high throughput satellites.
SLA is service-level agreement, while SLO is service-level objective. SSE refers to security service edge, a standard for cloud-based security.
O is for operations
Tony Jarvis, VP of Enterprise Security, Darktrace, said that things are becoming more complex as new technology is layered onto old technology. "Each passing year sees a raft of technologies being brought to market that aim to augment some of the gaps in existing defences, or simply to counter new techniques and exploits being leveraged and exploited by threat actors," he said.
"While 2024 will be no different from 2023 in this regard, what is changing is the growing number of technologies, categories, acronyms and quadrants that security practitioners need to be across. The expression 'old malware never dies' is certainly true, and in a similar vein, newer technologies rarely replace more established controls, meaning that many organisations are likely to have additional solutions in their security stack by the end of the coming year.
"The end result? CISOs needing to spend time they don’t have researching a constantly growing number of tools, forever questioning the opportunity cost of going with one option in lieu of another."
SolarWinds said AI and machine learning would power and accelerate the following themes:
Observability
According to SolarWinds research, the typical enterprise loses more than US$13 M annually to costs associated with nine brownouts or outages experienced each month. Despite this, nearly half of IT professionals surveyed lack visibility into the majority of their organisation’s apps and infrastructure. "AI-powered observability solutions address this by collecting data to provide information on what’s not performing as expected and why, allowing teams to take a proactive approach to eliminating downtime, innovating, and exceeding customer expectations," SolarWinds said in its 2024 predictions.
Managing databases
Organisations will prioritise getting to the root of database issues, SolarWind added. The company said a third of IT professionals surveyed in its research manage upwards of 300 databases. "In 2024, teams will embrace AI and automation to ensure the health, stability, and scalability of their services. In addition to the ability to identify issues at their root cause, IT teams will benefit from real-time issue remediation, understanding database implications as new code is deployed, and even avoiding costly outages," SolarWinds predicted.
AIOps
SolarWinds further said that artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps), which allows organisations to integrate data from complex hybrid IT environments and receive intelligence to optimise performance, resolve issues quickly, and relieve pressure on IT teams, will become more popular.
IT service management (ITSM)
ITSM will support faster, more successful IT outcomes, SolarWinds commented. On average, research shows that organisations surveyed who adopted AI-powered tools to meet their ITSM needs were able to reduce system downtime by 21% and decrease time spent resolving incident and service requests by 23%, SolarWinds shared.
"Features such as virtual troubleshooting agents and guided incident resolution will continue to support the workload of IT teams in 2024. In fact, SolarWinds Service Desk customers surveyed reported saving 23 hours per week due to reduced ticket volume—nearly the equivalent of adding an extra employee to their team," the company said.
Explore
Read predictions from P-S at https://www.techtradeasia.com/2024/01/the-to-z-of-tech-predictions-in-2024-p-s.html
^Results of a 34-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform and, in India, on its IndiaBus platform, between October 20 and November 3, 2023. For this survey, Ipsos interviewed a total of 25,292 adults aged 18 years and older in India, 18-74 in Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, Turkey, and the US, 20-74 in Thailand, 21-74 in Indonesia and Singapore, and 16-74 in all other countries.
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