One of the challenges of working in the technology industry is that things can change very quickly. What is a crucial and necessary tool one year might easily fall by the wayside the next, so it’s vital you keep up to date with the latest trends. This is especially important if you’re running web servers, as you need to understand changing factors such as how visitors will interact with your site and what devices they will use.
The ever-changing security landscape is also something you need to keep an eye on, as it’s easy to leave yourself vulnerable if you don’t keep up to date with the latest security patches or hacking trends. For 2013, some of the main issues that businesses will need to keep in mind when developing websites were recently named by Deloitte. It highlighted the impact of new devices and password security as among the top priorities.
‘PC-plus’ era
Many websites may have made efforts in the past year or so to make their site more friendly to mobile devices, as use of these gadgets is growing all the time. However, it’s important you don’t neglect your main website to do this, as – despite some suggestions to the contrary – the PC is not dead yet.
In fact, Deloitte observed 80% of web traffic in terms of bits will come from traditional PCs this year, which it said reflects a “PC-plus” era where mobile gadgets complement PCs rather than replace them. Therefore, it’s vital you have provisions in place to quickly detect what device a visitor is using and deliver the best experience, optimised for whatever gadget people have.
Security concerns
It was also noted you need to be wary when creating access passwords for your web server, as hackers will focus strongly on this area in 2013. It was predicted that more than 90% of user-generated passwords – including those traditionally rated as strong by IT departments – will be vulnerable to abuse.
This could cost businesses billions of dollars in losses if they are compromised, so high-value servers and websites are likely to demand two-factor authentication in the coming year, something you’ll have to be aware of when setting up a web server.