Businesses at Work 2023
Using anonymised data from over 17,000 global customers and the Okta Integration Network, Okta has identified key insights to help you stay ahead of global app and business trends.
Despite the turbulent backdrop, the data tells a surprising story of growth this year. We found that organisations across EMEA are prioritising security, increasing efficiency, and helping employees stay on top of their mental and physical health. Travel is also well and truly back on the map.
Here’s a deeper look.
Travel, business supplies, and sales top of mind.
Whether it’s jumping on planes, equipping businesses with the tools to succeed, or making up for lost business time and revenue, a few app categories stand out.
78%
YoY customer growth for travel apps
313%
unique user growth for sales and marketing apps
162%
unique user growth for business supplies
Growth of App Categories
As well as travel apps, business supplies – a category that didn’t even break the top 10 in last year’s report – showed a tremendous amount of growth, with a 162% increase in unique users. Sales and marketing apps are also superhot, reporting 313% YoY growth in unique users.
Most popular app categories in the UK
Judging by this year’s most popular app categories by region, UK businesses are prioritising investments in apps and tools that fuel design innovation to increase brand awareness and target new markets.
27%
YoY growth for design software
Diversity is the name of the game
This year’s fastest growing list features a diverse pool of apps, ranging from tools for collaboration, communication, and HR, to copy editing and security. In fact, the big winner this year is Travel Perk, a travel booking and expense management platform, with 255% YoY growth by number of customers.
There’s no one app to rule them all
Organisations rely on a large, diverse set of apps to deliver on their mission, and large companies (>2000 employees) lead the pack with an average of 211 apps a piece. Companies continue to add best-of-breed-apps – such as Zoom, Slack, and Box – on top of productivity suites.
“It’s critical for organisations to double down on workforce efficiency, invest in security, and innovate their customer-facing initiatives to thrive in today’s business environment. And, as our latest Businesses at Work report shows, many companies are embracing uncertainty to do just that.”
Todd McKinnon
CEO, Co-Founder
Why have your head in just one cloud?
This year’s data shows that growth in multi-cloud adoption that’s been visible since 2017 shows no sign of slowing down, and the favourite pairing of Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform continues to grow.
Apps are for work and home life
The lines are blurred between office and home walls when it comes to how employees are using apps.
Finance and banking
Looking at combined corporate and personal app use, digital payment gateway PayPal and newcomers Venmo and Stripe are finding a strong footing in our top finance and Banking apps.
Health and wellness
FitBit is King, but our two fastest growing apps by number of customers are LiveWell (up 32% YoY by number of customers) and Modern Health (up 30% YoY by number of customers), which focuses on mental health.
Secure access wherever
your employees work
46%
customer growth for security keys/biometrics
211%
YoY unique user growth for security keys/biometrics
Companies are stepping up to higher-assurance factors in their multifactor authentication deployments: Low assurance security questions are experiencing the slowest growth across the board (3% YoY by number of customers) while high-assurance security keys/biometrics (including Web Authentication) are growing more quickly: 46% YoY growth by number of customers, and a chart-topping 211% by unique users.
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tech trends of 2023
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