Navigating the Future of Technology: Avant Communications 2024 State of Disruption Insights
Ryan Carter
CEO/Founder | Technology Executive | Technology Thought Leader | Trusted Advisor for Technology Leaders | 350+ Cloud and Technology Partners & 14+ Agnostic Solution Experts for Cybersecurity, Network, and CX solutions
Introduction
My name is Ryan Carter and I'm a Technology Advisor and a partner with Avant Communications.
Avant Communications is one of the largest Technology Distributors in the country, providing cloud, communications, and network services to organizations.
AVANT enables Trusted Advisors to assist with the Technology Decision-Making Process through their specialization in disruptive technologies and solutions.
They enable technology decision-making through the following:
Part of being a Trusted Advisor with Avant is having the ability to provide valuable information to Technology decision-makers related to technology change and trends. Working as a partner with IT and technology teams to enable the best, risk-free, and most cost-effective decision.
They do the best job in the industry in the value they provide. Together we can help guide technology leaders with the right information to navigate the complex world of cloud, network, and communications providers.
This year they published a new AVANT Analytics 2024 State of Disruption Report.
This report is based on a survey of 501 U.S.-based enterprise decision-makers at the C-suite or Management/VP-level in IT, security, or finance.
To take part in the survey, respondents had to be involved in choosing or helping their organization to implement cloud, network, communications, and security infrastructure technology, including buying and/or selecting new solutions and providers.
Each report is developed by the AVANT Research & Analytics team with the assistance of their technical engineering teams who offer an agnostic approach.
In this article, we cover key highlights and trends impacting a variety of industries over the next 6-12 months (along with my take on several of the topics).
Key findings
Digital Transformation
? Most organizations (government and non-government) have begun their digital transformation journeys with only 28% saying they have completely concluded their digital transformation journey.
? Industry segments that showed the most momentum for digital transformation initiatives include financial services (including insurance), legal, and high-tech businesses, which all rely on technology to remain competitive.
My take: digital transformation is an ongoing journey, not an end state. Regardless of industry, Technology is changing all of the time, and so are organizations' technology needs.
Some organizations need help in completing their journey. This is not something you do on your own. And quite frankly, why would you?
UCaaS
? Adoption of UCaaS, as measured by company revenue, has occurred nearly as rapidly at small companies as at large enterprises, with over 80% of companies expected to have evaluated UCaaS solutions by the end of 2024.
Adoption and full migration of legacy PBXs, however, will still take some considerable time, with the current transformation to the UCaaS around 60% completed.
? User experience needs to be a top priority when selecting a UCaaS platform. When companies choose to defer moving to UCaaS, the decision is often based on the learning curve associated with using a new system.
My take: UCaaS is a great way to improve employee communications and collaboration and can be integrated with other platforms including CCaaS (more on that next).
Many organizations are stuck with legacy contracts, termination liability penalties, bandwidth issues at some sites, and the fear of change.
CCaaS
? Growth in seats migrating to CCaaS in the next 12 months is expected to be strongest in financial services and retail/e-commerce, followed closely by high-tech and manufacturing.
? Companies in the $50M to $100M revenue range are expected to grow CCaaS seats by 11% in the next 12 months.
My take: CCaaS is a huge disruptor in providing a better Customer Experience (CX), through the use of technologies such as AI, multi-channel communications, CRM and workforce management integration, and cloud.
CCaaS is critical in helping organizations build customer loyalty, improve Customer Service KPIs, reduce agent turnover, improve data and analytics, meet compliance requirements, and beat your competition.
In addition to Cybersecurity, improving the Customer Experience should be the next priority over the next 6-12 months.
Trusted Advisors
? In the 2024 survey, 34% of respondents felt that their internal teams are somewhat qualified to plan, manage, optimize, and troubleshoot the full range of their IT infrastructure.
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My take: many organizations may not have the personnel or expertise in-house to perform the functions needed for digital transformation. Including the selection of providers, negotiating costs, and assisting with implementation.
And it may not be the lack of qualifications, it is also simply the time needed to do these activities.
This is where the Trusted Advisor comes in.
Who wants to spend time meeting with several vendors and engineers, complete spreadsheets, side-by-side comparisons, and analyze case studies when these things can be done with the help of a Trusted Advisor?
If it is taking you months or years to select a provider, you are doing it wrong.
Security
Security solutions, including the selection of managed security providers, are another area where Trusted Advisors are frequently called upon for strategic guidance.
? Only 39% of respondents felt they were well prepared for a cyberattack; 32% of respondents already reported using third parties in security management.
? 69% of respondents said they feared or somewhat feared that a security breach could cost them their job.
My take: Security should continue to be top of mind for every technology and executive leader.
Forty-one percent of survey respondents reported that their security management is mostly managed by internal staff, while 32% said there was no third-party participation.
Many aspects of Security can be managed by a provider to save time and costs (Managed Detection & Response for example).
The bottom line, organizations need an agnostic, holistic approach to looking at gaps in people, processes, and technologies and identifying where they can consolidate security tech stacks.
Colocation
Data privacy and regulatory concerns are helping to drive growth for colocation services, as companies still own and manage their equipment.
Reasons why some companies have not migrated to colocation (among several other factors):
My take: Colocation is considered a commodity in my opinion, but there are many factors involved in determining the right colocation facility and planning according to your unique needs. That is where a Trusted Advisor can help. Whether it is a combination of accessing public or private cloud or bare metal, we can help you find the right colocation and determine power and space needs.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Few companies have yet to fully migrate to IaaS, with only 8% indicating they have done so.
Customers continue to rely on Trusted Advisors most frequently for assistance with cloud services. With multi-cloud a reality for most enterprises, Trusted Advisors are a key resource, with 78% of respondents using them for the procurement of cloud services.
My take: Cloud is a difficult animal. There are many providers and cloud solutions in the market. Whether you are leveraging public or private or both, cloud solutions such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), or Backup as a Service (BaaS) can offer many benefits in delivering digital transformation.
Conclusion
Digital transformation comes in many flavors and varies by organization size and industry.
Some initiatives are more important in one industry than another. Organizations tend to be laggards or leaders depending on their size and vertical.
Technology leaders need to leverage a Trusted Advisor to help them with technology decision-making if they want a truly agnostic approach and want to save time and effort.
Security should always be the #1 priority when it comes to digital transformation, and it drives technology decision-making and reduces the risk for certain technologies.
“Regardless of the flavor of cloud architecture being deployed, adoption has increased significantly compared to pre-pandemic levels. Yet, when asked why legacy on-premises solutions would still be in use, respondents unsurprisingly listed cybersecurity as their top concern due to ransomware attacks and breaches have impacted virtually every industry,” said Alex Danyluk, Managing Director, AVANT Analytics.
To learn more about the State of Disruption Report, or to receive a copy, email me at [email protected]
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