Business leaders comment on how businesses should prepare for the new financial year
As the financial year of 2022 has come to an end, technology experts share their insights into the most popular technology investments businesses need to consider in this new financial year. Through the lens of experts in cybersecurity, enterprise business operations, and data management solutions, they delve into how businesses can invest in different aspects of technology in the success of a better financial year ahead.
David Maunsell, Chief Executive Officer of Haventec
“With 61% of all breaches involving bad actors accessing user credentials, it’s time for businesses to prioritise security initiatives that protect customer and employee identities.
Adding multi-factor authentication to a company's identity stack can mitigate credential theft and provide companies with peace of mind. Businesses have traditionally resisted MFA due to the added friction it introduces to the authentication experience. However, buyers are encouraged to evaluate modern solutions that are built with user experience and accessibility front of mind.
While MFA solves a significant part of the cyber security challenge, buyers are also encouraged to holistically evaluate the need to store UserIDs and Passwords and invest in building their roadmaps towards password free access to their digital services. Recent announcements from Apple and Microsoft indicate that momentum is building for high assurance passwordless authentication and organisations need to be prepared as their competitors, and the wider market, ramp up investment in passwordless solutions.”
Richard Gerdis, Vice President & General Manager at LogicMonitor
“Investments into technology that will break down silos will help to solve modern business problems in an increasingly competitive global ecosystem. Pair this with an evolving hybrid workforce, growing cybersecurity threats, supply chain/ logistics issues and a shortage of talent, businesses require a single unified platform to manage the compounded effects of doing business.
FY2023 investments should consider capabilities that identify, address and monitor everything across a business’ full IT stack that will directly result in positive business outcomes such as reduced time on menial tasks for employees and improved agility and visibility for the business. As such, C-suite executives should consider unified observability technology as a cornerstone for future business strategies.”
Paul Lancaster, Director of Pre Sales Engineering at Commvault
“Moving into FY23, it is interesting to see that most of the top technology investments listed rely heavily on data management and recovery processes, with Cyber Security, Edge Computing, and Artificial Intelligence as the key initiatives to be secured within an organisation.
As cyberattacks continue to accelerate and increase, protection against the likes of ransomware, data leakage, and theft is a key investment for all companies today and in the future. Investing in the security, and a secure data management strategy, will help companies ensure the integrity of their data assets as well as lifespan, sustainability, and profitability.
The momentum in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market showcases that a strong digital infrastructure in today’s cyber protection and deception also plays a large role for organisations in maintaining a competitive edge. Coming into the new fiscal year, both businesses and individuals need to understand what the threats are, where they are, and what the threat landscape looks like – to define the proper perimeters of security best suited for their IT environment and stay ahead of the curve.”
David Marsh, Principal Industry Consultant for Endava Australia, the digital acceleration company
“Online businesses thrived through the pandemic, as many consumers purchased products or services online for the first time, including items they would have traditionally purchased in person. Customers now expect a seamless digital shopping experience – which is also being extended in-store as bricks and mortar shopfronts re-open through omni-channel payment solutions. As we approach the end of financial year, it’s worth reviewing your existing customer experience to determine if it still meets customer expectations in the post pandemic era.
Moving forward in FY23, business owners should find the key touch points which could be modernised to make the most impactful change and accelerate them to success. While no single technology is one size fits all, a particular area which can benefit customer experience, alleviate friction and remove tension for business owners is online payments.”
Daryush Ashjari, Chief of Presales and Sales Engineering in Asia Pacific at Trellix
“The turn of the financial year encourages technology leaders to reassess their needs and adjust their investments accordingly. As such, I anticipate we will see an uptick in the desire for, and investment in, consolidated security solutions.
This is particularly the case as companies are working to protect themselves from a greater number and variety of cyber threats, with fewer skilled professionals, and smaller budgets. After attempting to fill gaps with the resources available to them, security and IT managers have been left with too many disconnected security tools and data sets from too many vendors. To relieve pressure on staff and strengthen defences against bad actors, it is important that businesses course-correct and invest in unified security solutions that defend the entire landscape of their technology assets in the new financial year.”
David Peterson, Senior Solutions Engineering Manager, Confluent ANZ
“In the new financial year, businesses should take a holistic approach to their tech investments and modernisation. Rather than simply digitising services and bolting on capabilities, organisations should tap into the data they are producing across the entire business -- breaking down silos to create data sharing patterns for internal stakeholders. This creates new value and leads to more practical and useful transformation.
Huge amounts of data is generated every day by businesses, but not all are mining the benefits it can provide them. Having solutions which tap into real-time data leads to better insights, more customer centric applications and ultimately to a better customer experience.”
