Five trends in IT and digital communications in 2017

 Featured article by Magnus Hedberg is founder and CEO of Satpoint

In the below article, GroupTalks CEO Magnus Hedberg writes about what he believes are the strongest trends in IT and digital communications in 2017.

1. Continued digitization in many industries – from paper to electronic documentation

Many of those who work with documents are starting to replace the physical paper with Word- and Excel documents that are sent back and forth via email. But this also creates difficulties in knowing which document that is the latest version. The solution can be application forms in the smartphone/tablet, and web forms online in the cloud, where information directly can be saved in to databases, and where the data quickly can be analyzed, presented and accessed via the web.

2. Mobile workforces solves more tasks out on the field

Workforces become more mobile, and almost all tasks can be solved from a mobile phone while out on the field. In fact, many organizations also place the leadership role out on the field, using the iPad/tablet, which means that a large part of the staff will be more dependent on their smartphones than computers.

3. Combined communication paths from one device

More and more people discover the strength in combining text-based information with conversation when conducting working orders. This way you quickly can solve problems in groups, which is also possible with today’s smartphones. More and more people also appreciates Push to Talk group voice communication over traditional phone calls /conference calls, as neither is particularly effective at managing more than two participants.

4. Push to Talk continues to grow in security-, crisis-, logistics- and healthcare segments

Push to Talk is growing within the Security segment, using intelligent alarm and positioning solutions. There is also an increased demand within the segments for crisis coordination, logistics and healthcare, where companies and organizations sees great potential for a flexible, cost-effective, cloud-based PTT communication, which also gives the group the ability to easily call in personnel and send out status requests.

5. More and more cloud services are perceived as cost-effective

More and more people recognise the value of cloud services. One important reason for that is that you can eliminate startups costs completely for costly infrastructure and software. Instead you get a low monthly fee, which in turn is dynamically adaptable to the user’s needs. If more licenses are required for a period, you simply increase the temporary costs and then scale them down again afterwards. All depending on your needs.

Magnus Hedberg is founder and CEO of Satpoint, which was recently acquired by Telenor Maritime. He is also the founder and CEO of GroupTalk, both world leading providers of communications solutions. Mr Hedberg is a serial entrepreneur, and one of the founders of Marratech, a Swedish company that produced software for e-meetings, later sold to Google. Magnus Hedberg has an MSc from the Luleå University of Technology in Sweden.