The Year That Was—And What It Means For 2023

What a year 2022 has been. We saw a definitive growth in remote work. In the years to come, we will see this trend reflected in urban planning. Central business districts will shrink; restaurants and shops will get re-distributed; suburbs will have better infrastructure, and small satellite work centres with shared workspaces will emerge. 

As remote work strengthens its foothold, it will neutralise location bias and drive better outcomes for organisations' inclusivity and diversity initiatives. Hopefully, it will result in bridging gender pay gaps. 

On the other hand, the trend has magnified the importance of onsite workdays because not all work arrangements can be 100 per cent remote. Onsite work now requires better planning and highlights its role in addressing social isolation and exposing employees to company values. These are complex issues, and they will soon lead progressive business schools to introduce modules on remote management. 

Thanks to remote work, the growth in connectivity has expanded the role of the internet of things (IoT). Valuable data on usage and preferences is generated by connected devices, providing insights into human behaviour. 

The IoT is distinct from the internet of behaviour (IoB): the former provides data to optimise processes, and the latter has the potential to create knowledge and wisdom. The IoB leads to a better understanding of people and their needs. It also re-emphasises the value of customer data for organisations and the legality of using that data. 

The IoB is a complex construct, and some organisations have recognised the responsibility it places on them. For example, Google has said it would delete the location history data for users visiting abortion clinics, counselling centres, fertility centres, addiction treatment facilities, domestic violence shelters, weight loss clinics, and cosmetic surgery clinics in the US. The decision aims to protect users from (improper) demands for data made by governments that could lead to messy legal situations.

However, I will remember November 2022 as a significant turning point. The world population crossed 8 billion. We added an incredible 1 billion people to the planet in just 12 years. The UN said the global population will peak at 10.4 billion around 2080 before it declines. 

In the coming years, the growing population will place great pressure on public transport as more people commute to work and have to record their presence at schools and colleges. 

We may have been fortunate that the pandemic increased our interest in remote work technologies because we will need them in 2080 when the planet begins to burst apart with 10.4 billion people. Remote work in 2080 will not be a trend, it will be a necessity.

All these trends— remote work, the IoB, the growth in population, and the sharpening of data and analytical technologies— are linked.

The growing population presents an attractive future for the IoB. Analysing user data will become the key to creating products consumers want and staying competitive. So, we should expect continuous investments in two technology tracks. First, in technologies that make remote work possible and dependable. 

Second, in technologies that capture, store, and analyse user data at scale and speed.  In both instances, securing networks, applications, and data will become the underlying key to success. Enterprise investments in cybersecurity will become of prime importance.

Investments in data and analytics will continue to grow. One EY study in 2022 indicated that 93 per cent of companies plan to increase investments in data and analytics. The advantages of these investments will go beyond harvesting the potential of the IoB. Data and AI are critical in an inflationary economy where the business priority will be to increase efficiencies, reduce labour bills and retain customers. 

One such example is Mobysoft, a company that uses data and predictive analytics in the social housing sector to schedule repairs to retain tenants and optimise rent collection and reduce arrears. 

One can also be confident that cybersecurity will attract as much attention as data and analytics, if not more. The growth in ransomware and phishing attacks is already well documented. And remote work trends are adding to the vulnerability of organisations, making it easy for dark actors to target organisations. 

Today, cyberattacks have become so lucrative that there are guides available on the dark web on how to launch attacks. 

For those who don’t want to spend time acquiring hacker expertise, an entire industry offering Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) has emerged over the last year or two. Experts advertise their capabilities on the dark web; they showcase their intrusion specialists, tools, infrastructure, assets, and exploit history. Their knowledge and top-quality codes can be rented in a pay-per-use model by interested customers, including corporate entities and governments. 

The business is so sophisticated that RaaS operators even provide dashboards to launch and track the progress of attack campaigns. Many have negotiation specialists and anonymous ransom payment portals that launder incoming payments. 

In at least one reported instance, a well-known ransomware gang had a “sales department” which allowed the victim to contact the gang via live chat – like today’s e-commerce businesses have customer service agents who resolve customer problems!

Adding to the problems of cybersecurity is a tribe of hacktivists who are not motivated by financial gain or business competitiveness. This is a rapidly growing category of hackers driven by their social and political convictions. Their battles are against unjust legal systems, police brutality, and environmental degradation. They see themselves as heroic outlaws, sort of modern-day Robin Hoods in pursuit of justice. 

Recently, a group calling itself Black Reward hacked into Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, stealing 50 gigabytes of information. Black Reward wanted the government of Iran to release political prisoners arrested over protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

It is easy to see why cybersecurity will be among the most critical areas of corporate investments. It will be viewed as an important means of protecting shareholder value and building customer trust. As the population grows and the rewards of data and analytics multiply, the imperative of investing in cybersecurity will become unavoidable.