2024 Year in Review – Top 4 IT Trends

Amidst a volatile geopolitical and macroeconomic environment, the global Information Technology (IT) sector has navigated several headwinds and tailwinds in 2024.

While accelerating digital transformation, automation, and cutting-edge technology adoption remain mission-critical priorities, most organisations are still finding their feet in an increasingly disruptive digital world. With change being the only constant, C-level executives are walking a tightrope between championing customer-led innovation and cost optimisation, as they look to maximise their technology ROI while saving enough to survive a rainy day.

While 76% of organisations looked at ramping up their IT spend this year, 53% of them struggled with attracting, developing, and retaining their IT talent. While 77% of organisations looked at adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and tapping into its use cases, 45% of them took more than six months to find skilled AI talent amidst cut-throat completion. Lacking the required capacity and capability in-house, most organisations are confronted with a home truth – having a strategic vision and transformation roadmap is one thing; overcoming the implementation roadblocks and translating the vision into reality is quite another.

In 2024, the IT sector stood at the forefront of a digital renaissance, with AI, automation, cybersecurity, and cloud computing becoming integral to business transformation. Organisations that effectively harness these technologies to enhance operational efficiency, agility, and resilience will set themselves apart as digital leaders. The ability to adapt and innovate in this rapidly evolving landscape will determine the success stories of tomorrow.

Looking back at 2024, here are four of the biggest takeaways from the world of IT.

1. Gen AI Has Well and Truly Arrived – and it is Here to Stay

From manufacturing to pharmaceutical, automotive to energy, financial services to consumer products, 2024 has witnessed the proliferation of Gen AI use cases across sectors. While accelerating product development, elevating customer experience, and boosting revenue growth remain major drivers behind Gen AI adoption, most organisations are tapping into use cases that can boost employee productivity and automate tasks at work. In fact, 8 in 10 global executives see at least one way Gen AI can benefit their employees in reducing repetitive and labour-intensive tasks, thereby enabling them to focus on more strategic and value-adding activities.

As organisations pilot and scale the adoption of Gen AI tools at work, issues regarding data integrity, bias, transparency, and security need to be addressed at the earliest. Establishing a robust risk management and governance structure is key to ensuring successful, scalable, and responsible Gen AI adoption across the board. With the right systems, processes, and safeguards in place, organisations can empower and upskill their employees to harness the unbridled potential of Gen AI at work.

2. Tackling IT Skills Gaps and the Talent Shortage Conundrum is More Difficult than Ever

Post the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global economic downturn, organisations have faced a multitude of conflicting priorities. Maximising quality of hires while minimising overall resourcing costs. Going to market to bridge existing skills gaps while having to significantly downsize their workforce to optimise costs. Maximising their innately human capital while investing in AI-powered initiatives. The list goes on. These trade-offs have put organisations in a dicey state, as they look to do more with less.

Shortage of high-calibre talent in AI, machine learning, automation, big data, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and other in-demand IT skillsets continue to pose severe hindrances to digital transformation efforts. In fact, 53% of organisations required many new types of IT talent or have had to completely revise the nature of their talent base this year. Widespread layoffs within the IT sector coupled with an increased adoption of AI and automation tools have culminated in a mismatched IT labour market across the globe. To bridge their acute skills gaps and IT talent shortage, organisations need to go beyond conventional methods and redesign their talent attraction, development, and retention strategies. Adopting an agile, people-centric approach is key to optimising each stage of the employee life cycle, thereby increasing employee satisfaction and long-term organisational success.

3. Facing Ever-Increasing Threats and Cyberattacks, Organisations are Strengthening their Cybersecurity Capabilities

Leveraging advanced techniques and disruptive technologies, cyber-criminals have become increasingly potent in conducting ransomware attacks, running phishing and automated intrusion campaigns, and breaching security perimeters of enterprises within seconds. Despite instilling cybersecurity and data privacy measures, organisations today are vulnerable to a wide range of cyberattacks, data breaches, and AI-powered threats – and their subsequent financial, legal, and reputational ramifications. The CrowdStrike outage that occurred in July 2024 disrupted airports, hospitals, financial institutions, and several enterprises across the globe – serving as a cautionary tale of how even cybersecurity companies are prone to operational glitches and system breakdowns.

Bolstering cybersecurity and operational risk management is no longer a luxury but a necessity for organisations to survive and thrive in today’s digital era. In fact, nearly 1 in 3 organisations value cybersecurity as the most critical skill required in their workforce. Having a dedicated risk management team, responsible for assessing and implementing robust safety mechanisms, is important. However, cybersecurity is not just within their purview; it is a shared responsibility of each and every employee, regardless of their designation or job scope. As 2024 draws to a close, organisations are finally recognising the importance of cultivating an institutional risk and integrity culture – before it’s too late.

4. Energy-Efficient Computing is Gaining Prominence, as Organisations Look to Scale Sustainably

In addition to the rapid advancements in AI, cloud computing, quantum computing, and Internet of Things (IoT), 2024 has witnessed an increasing shift towards green technologies and energy-efficient computing. With organisations looking to minimise their carbon footprint and achieve their sustainability targets, this approach involves building energy-efficient hardware, optimising IT infrastructure design, and using renewable energy sources to run day-to-day operations. This is key to countering the negative impact of running compute-intensive, energy-consuming AI operations and powering enterprise-scale data centres.

Although concerns remain regarding the high up-front costs and shortage of required skillsets and algorithms, green computing is expected to gain more traction moving forward – enabling organisations to intertwine their digital transformation goals and sustainability commitments.