Today, more and more businesses are switching to remote or hybrid work. The number of employees who work remotely has increased from 19% to 62% in the US market. Remote work will remain one of the main business trends in the near future. 

How have IT strategies been transformed in the last year? 

Many businesses were forced to significantly change the IT paradigm: companies now need to protect not only their corporate networks but also remote users. It has become of the same importance as protecting office workstations and servers. 

Demand for "quarantine" technologies has noticeably grown. Private virtual networks (VPN), for secure remote access, video conferencing services (VC), cloud services, virtualization technologies, software as a service (SAAS) have largely increased.  

The constant growth of data volumes is forcing businesses to upgrade storage subsystems and backup systems for recovery.  Among other trends is an increased demand for IT consulting services. These trends are expected to continue, as well as a shift in major equipment purchases to the first half of the year due to the global shortage of semiconductors. 

Cybersecurity  

In 2020, the number of cyber threats has increased dramatically. During the pandemic, cybercriminals began to take advantage of company security gaps when employees were using remote access to corporate networks and cloud applications. 

Cisco analysts note that 61% of CEOs surveyed around the world confirmed that the number of cyber threats has increased by 25% since the start of Covid-19. In addition, so-called phishing is booming around the world, when pandemic-related keywords are used to lure users to fake sites and infect their PCs and corporate networks. In addition, companies have to deal with an epidemic of so-called ransomware that is affecting businesses around the world. 

In order to effectively resist these threats, top managers need to recognize that cybersecurity has already become one of the top business priorities. Secure and reliable cybersecurity solutions, virtual networks (VPNs), professional video conferencing services for online communication are becoming essential for the company's daily operations. 

How should digital leaders react to the new digital transformation?

Covid-19 will affect continue to business operations, growth patterns for a long time to come. Under these conditions, managers who lead digital transformation should first of all focus on the sustainability of their companies. Gartner analysts recommend the following steps.  

- Launch of digital platforms for remote work and ensuring the security of remote access and network support. 

- Start attracting customers and partners through new digital channels.

- Focus on the systematic implementation of digital technologies to empower their team and automate tasks. 

Fast decision-making is the new money  

Decisions on IT systems development should be made quickly, with a focus on long-term development. To lay the foundation for the development of your business in 2023-2024, you need to start projects today. This is caused by the disruptions in the operation of global supply chains, which significantly increase the delivery time for IT equipment and project implementation. It is recommended to pay more attention to cloud and SAAS technologies that can be quickly deployed and used in business processes. 

Summary  

In the next year the focus will remain on the increase of the business operational efficiency of the Effective companies will start actively moving away from the model of building the company's efficiency to the model of building its flexibility. In practice, this will manifest itself in an even greater immersion in the hybrid office format. Under these conditions, the issue of redesigning all work processes will continue to be relevant.