A to Z of tech predictions in 2024: W-Z

This post concludes the A to Z of tech predictions series for 2024. Check out V part II predictions at https://www.techtradeasia.com/2024/01/a-to-z-of-tech-predictions-in-2024-v.html

W is for women in tech

Cybersecurity

Source: Veritas
Technologies.
Dr Purser.

Dr Joye Purser, Field Chief Information Security Officer at Veritas Technologies, said: "Cybersecurity is a great equaliser in the world of work. The best professionals in cybersecurity come from a diverse range of backgrounds. It’s this diversity that enables them to think more creatively and solve the most complex security threats, at pace.

"On-the-job experience and certification, as well as paid internships or apprenticeships, can often be more important than a classic university background, making cyber careers much more accessible to those from less affluent backgrounds who can’t afford university or college fees.

"Women are still hugely under-represented at senior levels within the cybersecurity industry. Organisational leaders must address the gap at the middle layer of management, giving women the opportunities to learn, solve problems, and achieve visible results to help them move up career ladder."

X is for eXtended reality (XR)

Source: Lenovo. Mitra.

"Enterprises can enhance their metaverse presence with XR by creating virtual showrooms, immersive training, virtual events, collaborative workspaces, and 3D data visualisation. This strategic use of XR fosters engagement and innovation," said Kumar Mitra, MD and Regional GM – CAP, Lenovo ISG.

*XR refers to augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality and related terms about virtual worlds.

Y is for it's about you

"In 2024, businesses will realise that digital investments need to be human-centric, or they will fail. In recent years some businesses have been ‘keeping up with the Joneses’: digitally transforming because everybody else is, without fully considering the impact on employees. This has led to businesses spending millions on new tech without fully realising the benefits they were expecting," said Uzi Dvir, CIO, WalkMe.

Source: WalkMe. Dvir.

"That kind of tech-driven waste will become a thing of the past as we move into the new year, with businesses now focusing less on the technology itself, and more on the people it serves. In 2024, we will see IT teams putting a focus on consolidation, automation, and AI to make technologies more efficient for employees and to make them part of a more holistic approach. It goes without saying that the technology matters — apps need to work and operating systems need to be secure — but if employees do not use their software and unlock the intended benefits, then businesses have failed.

"This means ‘digital adoption’ is becoming an increasingly important piece of the puzzle. Businesses will place more of a priority on making sure the tech stack makes sense from an employee’s point of view. They will find a more intuitive approach, helping workers carry out their duties without needing a drawer full of instruction manuals on how hundreds of different pieces of software work and without spending endless hours in training sessions learning how to use tools that will never be relevant to their role. Becoming more human-centric will enable employees to get on with the task at hand and, ultimately, drive productivity across the business."

Source: Dropbox. Tan.

"Looking ahead to 2024, the ubiquity and accessibility of generative AI will also continue to extend its impact in the workplace, redefining our relationship to work and significantly shaping how teams communicate. From AI-powered universal search, to intelligent workspace features that can quickly extract insights from working material, generative AI tools will empower faster, more organised and intuitive internal processes.

"This allows the modern knowledge worker to tap on technology to achieve better focus and flow, creating an environment that is genuinely conducive for enriching collaboration among teams," said Doreen Tan, Head of Asia, Dropbox.

"With AI transforming the nature of work, it is critical that business leaders also spearhead efforts in exploring new workplace models and practices in tandem with this paradigm shift. Executives need to pay closer attention to how employees are working with AI and better understand the value of AI for their entire workforce and business. 

"As organisations in Asia embed generative AI into their workflow and operations, companies that embrace intentional flexibility will come out ahead. Ultimately, in this competitive climate, empowering employees to bring their best selves and best work to the table is the factor that will make all the difference to the bottom line." 

Source: UiPath.
O'Reilly.

Jess O’Reilly, Area VP, Asia, UiPath, suggested that virtual assistants or autopilots could be employees' virtual BFFs. "Implementing virtual aides can contribute to enhancing overall productivity and well-being, marking a significant step toward a more efficient and sustainable work culture in organisations across the region," she said.

"A synergy of automation, generative AI, and specialised AI is propelling virtual aides to unparalleled levels of proactivity, intuition, and communication. This is reinventing how we work with machines and ushering in a boom in productivity," she explained.

"Just like the best human assistants, autopilots can quickly learn to complete a wide range of activities and take proactive steps to make workflows faster and smoother. Some capabilities include copying and pasting images into webforms, spreadsheets, and enterprise software systems (ERPs, CRMs, etc.) with minimal training; reading and responding to emails; extracting attachments; and generating reports. Autopilots can understand work contexts and manual tasks and even create automations to replace repetitive work, freeing up employees’ time for more value-adding activities and boosting workstream efficiency." 

*BFFs or best friends forever is a term for valued companions. ERP stands for enterprise resource planning, and CRM for customer relationship management.UiPath has a product called AutoPilot.

Z is for Zero Trust

“Zero Trust will become the default end state people are moving towards,” said John Roese, Global CTO, Dell Technologies. “It’s the right answer on how to change the curve on cyber so we expect to see more Zero Trust mandates to proliferate around the world.”

Roese also noted that Dell’s project Fort Zero will be delivered into the market in 2024 as the first commercial full Zero Trust private cloud system in the industry, paving the way for Zero Trust adoption across various industries.

Source: HPE Aruba
Networking. Hughes.

"Most organisations have separate teams managing networking and security, and in many ways their goals can be at odds with one another. In 2024 leading enterprises will demonstrate how zero trust
principles can be employed to align the two team’s interests to deliver better end user experience and business outcomes," said David Hughes, Chief Product and Technology Officer for HPE Aruba Networking.

"In a typical organisation the networking team’s objectives are to keep people and services connected reliably, up and running with predictably good performance. They are incented to make it easy for people to connect to anything and avoid complexity that will result in outages, latency or slowdowns. On the other hand, the security organisation is tasked with minimising risk and maintaining compliance. Too often the user and their experience are caught in the middle. 

"An overzealous security implementation might make it slow or impossible for users to access the apps and data they need, slowing down the business. On the other hand, lax security or a networking team that aims to please by bypassing security measures can result in infiltration and ransomware."

Hughes predicted that leading enterprises will adopt Zero Trust architectures where the network’s job is defined not in terms of connecting anything to anything, but rather as an enforcement layer for security policy. "For users accessing applications security policy may be enforced in the cloud, but for many traffic flows, particularly for IoT devices and their associated services, it will be more efficient to automatically implement this policy in access devices like access points, switches and routers," he said. 

"With the right level of shared visibility, automation, and clear delineation of policy and enforcement, networking and security teams will have aligned goals and deliver a better experience." 

"In recent years, Zero Trust has emerged as a dominant focus in the security landscape. However, Zero Trust isn’t a countermeasure, it’s a strategic approach that is aspirational, as with third-party systems and processes it’s inevitable an organisation will trust an outside entity," said Vectra AI in a list of 2024 predictions. 

"In 2024, there will be a rise in organisations understanding the difference between Zero Trust and the necessity of implementing robust security measures designed for this modern world, which is where extended detection and response (XDR) comes in. XDR underpins other strategies and innovation initiatives, including Zero Trust, to stop hackers in their tracks."

Dr Robert Blumofe, Executive VP and CTO, Akamai, said several trends would drive demand for Zero Trust solutions. "In 2024, cybercriminals’ weapon of choice will be social engineering. Previously, a social engineering attack required a high degree of effort - extensive research on the victim and significant time to craft convincing fakes. All of this changes with modern AI," he explained.

"Modern AI can automate the research for social engineering attacks. Further, generative AI, with its
extraordinary skill at mimicry, can create convincing deep fakes. The result is high-yield social engineering attacks perpetrated at scale. This trend, combined with stricter government regulations in Asia Pacific and Japan to protect personal identifying information and prevent data leaks, will push companies to invest in Zero Trust architecture, especially microsegmentation, to protect critical assets even when an employee accidentally falls victim to social engineering.

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