Report reveals top investment priorities for IT decision makers in 2019

The world of enterprise technology is constantly evolving for IT departments. Despite this, a new Toshiba report indicates that the key concerns for European IT decision makers are all too familiar.

Investment priorities in 2019

The report, titled Maximising Mobility, projects that the global mobile workforce will rise to 1.87 billion by 2022. As a result, this will account for 42.5% of the overall global workforce.

The average number of annual security breaches increased by 27.4% in 2017, but this figure is expected to rise. IT decision makers must therefore address the challenge of "balancing unhindered mobility with robust perimeter and network security."

The priorities of Europe's IT decision makers reflected this shift. In the report, 62% said that they are prioritising data security for investment over the next 12 months.

An additional 58% said that they are prioritising cloud-based solutions, while 54% said that they are focusing on improving productivity. 76% of IT decision makers reported a year-on-year increase in their budget in order to achieve these goals.

Embracing technological innovation

The majority of Europe's IT decision makers stated that the more innovative use of digital tools is a "key gateway" to improving productivity. 43% plan to invest in this, while 47% intend to invest in training.

The report highlighted wearables as one of the enterprise's up-and-coming technological innovations. While 80% of enterprises are aware of smart glasses as a solution, just 2% have already deployed one.

However, this will accelerate rapidly within the next three years. 89% of businesses will implement smart glasses in the engineering industry, with 83% in the logistics sector and 77% in manufacturing.

The production of related technologies will also increase. Global spending on VR and AR could reach $17.8 billion in 2018 - up by a massive 95% since 2017.

In addition to this, the enterprise VR training market will generate $216 million in 2018 alone, according to ABI Research. According to the report, the market will grow to $6.3 billion in 2022.

These technologies are integral "to the use-cases of smart glasses in the enterprise," Toshiba asserted. In a professional context, these technologies enable "hands-free working while receiving remote advice or overlaying instructions into the first-person view."

Looking forward to 2019? Take a look at next year's Infrastructure and Operations trends or Forrester's AI and automation predictions