Top five technology trends for the year ahead

IT underwent a major change in 2020 as organizations were forced to quickly adopt strategies to handle new cybersecurity threats and increased remote working and collaboration needs, according to Matrix Integration.

Cybersecurity remains a top concern for 2021, as attackers continue to threaten organizations, particularly in energy/utilities, government, and manufacturing.

“Although every organization is putting more money towards cybersecurity, the ground is always shifting,” said Rob Wildman, VP of professional services at Matrix Integration.

“It takes an overall investment in not just technology, but in people who understand the security environment and can work with the larger IT team to coordinate efforts to prevent, detect and mitigate threats.”

In addition to cybersecurity, both businesses and technology experts expect a continuation of remote work and learning.

For 2021, it is predicted that organizations will continue or increase their investment in top five areas.

Cybersecurity

A different approach to cybersecurity in 2021 may be necessary. For example, consulting firm Accenture estimates that while direct attacks may have fallen, indirect attacks to supply chain and infrastructure are on the rise, causing organizations to broaden their approach to thwarting cyberattacks.

In addition, companies are implementing a great number of preventative measures such as air-gap backups, multifactor authentication, and other automated efforts to quarantine malware the moment it is recognized on the network.

Enterprise-level telephony systems for any business

With the increase in cloud-based services, SMBs can now have the same level of sophisticated phone services as major enterprises. The size of the system is easily managed and can be scaled up or down.

Advantages include no capital investments or aging hardware and simplified management and control. As remote work will likely continue into 2021 and beyond, IP-based phone systems make it easy for employees to connect from anywhere.

Unified collaboration

The ability to work together across applications is both a short- and long-term goal many organizations have embraced for 2021.

Edge-to-cloud

More than 70 percent of essential applications and data live in hardware-based data centers. Instead of moving these systems to the cloud – an expensive and time-consuming undertaking—new technology now moves the cloud to the edge.

Virtual IT departments

Many small- and medium-sized businesses are realizing that outsourcing their IT departments altogether generates a significant ROI.