The pandemic caused a surge in video conferencing as remote work increased. Companies had to invest in video conferencing tools to keep operations going. Although some have returned to the office, hybrid work models are still common. As the market becomes more competitive, how are hardware vendors adapting?

A recent study from Parks Associates found that one-third of US households would switch their homeowner’s/renter’s insurance provider to acquire smart home devices. Smart home devices can detect and prevent costly damages, like water and faulty wiring, which can reduce premiums, claims, and payouts. Water damage is the most common home damage, costing an average of $9,633, while flood/weather-related damage costs an average of $8,625.

Companies struggling to bridge the white-collar talent gap in major metropolitan areas would be well advised to understand the role of flexible work arrangements in attracting and retaining women -- an increasingly important pool of labor in an otherwise constrained environment. So says Gwenn Rosener, CEO of FlexProfessionals, a recruiting and staffing agency for professionals that serves the Washington DC and Boston metropolitan areas, in a podcast interview for journalists.

According to new research from KPMG, ESG, and broader sustainability strategies have made their way to the top of board agendas in 2024 despite business leaders facing a bulging inbox of issues and challenges. Almost all respondents reported high ambitions for ESG in their organizations, and half now view sustainability as a strategic issue embedded in core business operations.

According to Saul Judah, VP Analyst at Gartner, a D&A governance program must prioritize business outcomes to be successful. During crises, successful CDAOs quickly pivot their D&A strategies to help their organizations. A strategic approach, positioning D&A as an essential business-centric model, is more effective than a reactive, tactical approach that only focuses on data governance.

The GSMA SGP.31/32 specifications have paved the way for mass adoption of eSIM technology. Enterprises can now enjoy easier device management, wider network coverage, and better commercial terms. Omdia predicts a surge in eSIM technology adoption in IoT from just over 1 billion in 2023 to over 3.6 billion in 2030.

A recent study finds employees who are significantly younger than their managers tend to have lower productivity levels than those who are closer in age. The study cites a lack of collaboration between different generations as the cause of friction and suggests that companies can improve productivity by adopting intergenerationally inclusive work practices.

IT distributor revenue fell 6.2% YoY to $20.6B in Q4 2023 (4Q23), marking the fifth consecutive quarter of decline. Enterprise spending on software, services and networking grew consistently, while consumer categories like personal computing, AV, imaging, electronics, peripherals and accessories surged in the pandemic but have since declined from their pandemic highs.

UK law firms face increasing financial fraud and ransomware attacks, posing severe threats to both the firms and their clients. Leaders in the sector must reassess their risk mitigation strategies. Nic Miller from Counter-RansomwareTM warns that law firms are often targeted since they handle high-value payments and possess sensitive client data.

The cloud market has been growing for over a decade, rewarding leaders who established scale. Some vendors in infrastructure and SaaS capitalized on this growth to become the largest cloud providers in their segments. However, they experienced revenue slowdowns in 2023 due to the market shift towards new features, capabilities, and go-to-market programs, as well as the "law of large numbers".

Top-performing supply chains are investing in AI/ML to optimize their processes twice as much as low-performing peers. The best organizations focus on productivity, not efficiency or cost savings, to sustain growth. A recent Gartner survey aims to understand how supply chains are adapting to changes in economic values and harnessing digital assets for productivity.

The automotive brake-by-wire systems market is expected to have a CAGR of 25.64% from 2022 to 2027, resulting in a market size surge of USD 10.33 billion. This is due to the effectiveness and efficiency of brake-by-wire systems, the trend of vehicle electrification, and the demand for lightweight vehicles. Major players like Brembo Spa, Continental AG, Haldex AB, and others are strengthening their market presence through alliances, partnerships, and innovation.

DeepTech, a class of emerging technologies built on scientific and engineering innovation, is set to reshape industries and address social challenges. By aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, DeepTech has the potential to make a significant social impact in areas such as healthcare, sustainability, and transportation.

The latest report by MIT SMR and BCG suggests that more and more companies are using AI to improve their KPIs, resulting in improved legacy performance metrics. The report is based on a global survey of over 3,000 respondents from various industries and interviews with executives leading AI initiatives. Most companies have yet to fully utilize the capabilities of AI to measurably improve their important metrics despite its ability to provide advanced analytics and predictive insights.

According to Lukasz Litwic, Research Leader at Ericsson, Versatile Video Coding (VVC) offers broadcasters and streaming service providers new options for delivering high-quality digital entertainment experiences. VVC also provides a future-proof strategy for dealing with the constantly-evolving technological landscape. Litwic will unveil guidelines and best practices for implementing VVC for Next-Gen Video Experiences at the Mile High Video conference in Denver

As demand for high-quality video continues to rise rapidly with the popularity of streaming services, social media video, and user-generated content, analysts at Verified Market Research project that the market for video encoding technology will reach $3.1 billion by the end of the decade, growing at a steady CAGR of 5.31%.

It is in this context that Versatile Video Coding (VVC) — a video codec that offers improved efficiency and applicability for a wide range of applications — provides significant business and economic implications for many sectors of the economy that depend on high-quality video experiences.

IMV is set to greatly enhance manufacturing engineering, training, safety, and production. According to a new report from ABI Research, spending on industrial metaverse solutions and services will grow at 22.8% to reach US$6.3 billion by 2030 as immersive and collaborative capabilities come to the forefront of industry 4.0 software development efforts to enable connectivity between digital twins and other systems.

In 2024, CIOs are expected to prioritize the adoption of gen AI for larger scale implementations. The primary motivation behind enterprise gen AI initiatives is to improve the velocity of existing operations. A recent global survey from Everest Group and Yates Ltd. suggests gen AI has successfully penetrated early enterprise adoption thresholds, with nearly 83% of global enterprises actively testing their capabilities or have already adopted gen AI for production-grade use cases.

While most large enterprise technology leaders have reconciled themselves to running complex hybrid enterprise infrastructures made up of on-prem and cloud-based resources for the foreseeable future, their risk-management posture should be firmly rooted in cloud-native security principles. So says Sean Flynn, Director of Security Technology and Strategy at Akamai, in a recent podcast interview with BizTechReports. 

Gartner, Inc. has highlighted the top trends that will impact technology providers in 2024.

“GenAI is dominating the technical and product agenda of nearly every tech provider,” said Eric Hunter, Managing Vice President at Gartner. “The technology reshapes a tech provider from its growth and product strategy down to the everyday tools used by its associates. Despite the potential for GenAI to reshape providers, it is not the only influence facing technology leaders. There are new friction points in growth plans, new points of fusion in marketing and sales, and new relationships opening up to TSPs.”