At this year’s Avant Special Forces Summit in September, we already saw what is coming down the pike for 2023. Although there has been lots of talk of security in past years, with increasing cyber-security threats, this will ramp up in 2023. We also think that more companies will move towards unified communications and UCaaS as a way to be more efficient. Finally, the death of the RFP will mean less time wasted getting technology vendors and getting better technology vendors. Here’s how we see it. 

There will be no room for a lack of security.

There have been some stunning cyber-security breaches in the past few years, from hospitals to unions to governments. The reality is that no company or nonprofit, big or small, is immune from being targeted by bad actors. And the responsibility will be on companies to make sure their data is secure, both for their employees and their customers or clients. One growing sector is pen-test and intrusion detection. Penetration testing allows professionals to test your security system as if they were a bad actor, trying to find points of weakness. Intrusion detection software determines if bad actors have already gotten in. We are also believers in backup and disaster recovery processes, because if someone holds your data hostage or deletes it, backup and DR can protect you.  

UCaaS will grow in 2023. 

A recent report highlighted how UCaaS is anticipated to grow in the next 5 years. During the pandemic, work from home became the norm. But now we have remote work and people in offices. We meet on video calls and phone calls, and chat, email and text with each other. The ways in which we communicate are now many and companies will look towards streamlining their communications with UCaaS. Instead of paying for video conferencing through Zoom, email through Microsoft, and VOIP through ringcentral, companies will look towards saving money by not paying for services twice. For example, they don’t have to pay for Zoom if they have MS Teams, and they can get a VOIP service through Teams as well. A company that is already using Zoom can upgrade to ZoomOne and for only $8/month per user, they get a complete UCaaS solution. Typical UCaaS solutions can run up to $25/month per user. ProfitComm has Zoom certification. Although sorting through the offerings of UCaaS may be complicated at first, unified communications will make things easier for companies in the end. 

RFPs will be a thing of the past. 

If we’ve all learned one thing in the past three years, it is to wash our hands. If we’ve learned two things, the second is that time is important for everyone. Employees want less time commuting and more flexible time. Employers want efficiency from their employees and want their time to be well-spent. We’ve known for a long time that RFPs are huge time suck. First, your team spends lots of time putting the request together. Then, you wait as companies put together a proposal. Finally, you have to spend a bunch of time sifting through proposals that don’t even meet your needs. 

This is why we developed the RFP Alternative. Using our proprietary process, we figure out exactly what your technology needs are and what your budget is, and then from our list of hundreds of vendors, we find the ones that best suit your needs. The choice is still yours, but the process is easier and faster. We can’t imagine finding technology vendors in any other way. 

If you have any questions or want to begin thinking about your technology needs for 2023, don’t hesitate to book a meeting with Denis or give us a call.