By Weldon Dodd
Every year we witness an evolution within the enterprise technology space, and this past year did not disappoint with increasing AI adoption, ongoing debates around the hybrid workplace, impressive Apple innovation and the drive toward stronger security measures. All of this has led to what should become yet another exciting year.
Based on conversations with colleagues, customers, partners and other industry experts, here are the six technology predictions for the coming year from Kandji.
The power of the M3 chip makes Apple laptops untouchable by the competition
The recently announced M3 chip will be broadly distributed next year and will raise the bar for personal computer chips. For the consumer user looking for an everyday laptop with extended battery life, the M3 will be in a different league than anything else out there. And for the business user that requires top level speed and performance – think video editing, software deployment or AI development using LLMs – the M3 Max is going to be untouchable by the competition.
The rise of the “digitally native workforce” drives the growth of unsanctioned devices leading to increased shadow IT security risks
A digitally native worker, someone who was born and brought up during the age of digital technology, expects technology solutions to work in an intuitive manner to drive efficiency. And when they are asked to use technology that doesn’t meet their high standards – a new application deployed by their IT department for instance – there is a tendency to bypass the “sanctioned” app for the individual’s preferred option.
A major repercussion of the growing hybrid workforce is the explosion of applications that were not intended for business use being leveraged in the enterprise. This leads directly to IT sprawl and decreased visibility into what employees are doing and using, which could result in accidental data breaches. Because of this, 2024 is the year shadow IT takes center stage (again) for enterprises.
The hybrid workforce causes divisive friction between employers and employees
2024 will be the tipping point for the hybrid workforce. The decision for a company to be fully remote, hybrid, or on-site will cause further friction between workers and their employers. It is a divisive issue because there are clear preferences – company leaders are opinionated about the workforce approach they think is most effective; and employees are becoming more selective in their job search to find an opportunity that aligns with how they want to work.
Although the outlook for hybrid work has improved in the sense that it’s become familiar and new tools have been introduced that enable hybrid work environments, the division between employers and employees will continue to mount.
Companies will continue to fail at managing hybrid work due to their reliance on “status quo”
Business leaders today are trying to get back to the pre-pandemic, pre-remote office model, but that is unrealistic given all that has changed over the last few years. Instead of trying to revert back, there is a great opportunity for organizations to look deeper into their current work model and refine the tools, processes and approaches they take to enable hybrid workers to be as efficient and productive as possible. In other words, those who embrace this philosophical change are the ones that will succeed with their hybrid environment next year and into the future. To do so means moving away from the status quo.
2024 will be the year passwordless takes off
Many technology advancements have driven passwordless security over the years, but the biggest movement came from the syncing of passkeys across devices from Apple, Google and Microsoft – this was huge for the overall unlocking of passwordless in the enterprise. Because of this, 2024 is going to be the year passwordless really takes off. Its benefits are truly tangible in the sense that it’s harder to use social engineering to access a system if it’s protected by a passkey, and other attack vectors such as password stuffing won’t work with passkeys enabled. Enhanced security and improved user experience are two main drivers behind why 2024 will be the year passwordless becomes synonymous with enterprise computing.
AI and human work becomes undistinguishable
AI has already become so ingrained in our everyday lives that by next year consumers will be fooled more often than not when deciding whether something was generated by AI or a human. Today people generally know how to determine the validity of AI generated content, but by the end of 2024, AI will become so intelligent it will become indistinguishable. There will likely be a really small subset of people in the world who will be able to differentiate it.
About the Author:
Weldon Dodd is evangelist and SVP of Community at Kandji, the Apple device management and security platform.
