What will be the biggest IT challenges that businesses face in 2024?
23rd October 2023
Naturally, this will differ from business to business and be subject to variables such as the size and industry of the business, etc., however, many issues are universal and can impact a company’s operations, competitiveness, and security:
1. Cybersecurity: Protecting sensitive data and systems from cyber threats, such as data breaches, ransomware, and phishing attacks, is a top priority. Businesses must continually adapt to evolving threats and invest in robust cybersecurity measures.
2. Data Management: Managing and leveraging vast amounts of data is a significant challenge. This includes data storage, data security, data quality, and ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
3. Digital Transformation: As businesses seek to digitize their operations, they often face challenges in integrating legacy systems with modern technologies and adapting to new digital business models.
4. IT Infrastructure: Maintaining and upgrading IT infrastructure, including servers, networks, and cloud services, can be complex and expensive. Scalability and reliability are critical considerations.
5. Skills Shortages: There is a shortage of skilled IT professionals, particularly in fields like cybersecurity and data analytics. Businesses that employ inhouse IT support may struggle to find and retain qualified talent.
6. Regulatory Compliance: Keeping up with ever-changing IT regulations and ensuring compliance with industry-specific standards can be a significant challenge, especially for companies in highly regulated sectors like healthcare and finance.
7. Cost Management: Balancing the costs of IT investments with the expected returns can be challenging. IT projects often come with unforeseen expenses, and it's essential to manage budgets effectively.
8. Cloud Integration: While cloud services offer many benefits, integrating them with on-premises systems and ensuring security in multi-cloud environments can be complex.
9. Mobile Device Management: As more employees use mobile devices for work, managing and securing these devices while respecting user privacy is a growing concern.
10. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery: Ensuring that IT systems can quickly recover from disruptions, whether caused by natural disasters or cyberattacks, is crucial for maintaining operations.
11. User Experience: Providing a seamless and user-friendly experience for both customers and employees is a constant challenge, particularly in the context of web and mobile applications.
12. Legacy Systems: Many businesses rely on outdated or customized software systems that are challenging to maintain and integrate with modern technologies.
13. Scalability: As businesses grow, their IT systems need to scale accordingly. Ensuring that systems can handle increased loads and traffic is a common challenge.
14. Provider Lock-In: Some IT support providers lock customers into long contracts making it challenging to switch to an alternative provider or negotiate more favourable terms.
15. Environmental Sustainability: Increasingly, businesses are under pressure to reduce their carbon footprint and adopt more sustainable IT practices. This includes energy-efficient data centres and responsible disposal of electronic waste.
Organisations must navigate these challenges while adapting to changes is business needs and industry requirements, all within the context of a rapidly evolving IT landscape. Historically, it was thought that only businesses over a certain size needed support from a professional IT services provider but now it is considered a necessity for a business of almost any size, that doesn’t have it’s own inhouse expertise.