Undoubtedly, 2020 was a challenging year. For those who used to work outside the home, staying inside came along with a set of skills that maybe we were not familiarized with. Between March and April, no matter where you were at, life as we knew it changed.
Lockdown; mobile phones that do not stop ringing; 24/7 emails, video and call conferences, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, endless chats.
Ten months later, video conferencing has quickly become the new way in which we communicate with each other. We have learned to be connected most of our time, whether from a desk computer, laptop, or cell phone. We even find it strange to think of past time, when one could finish their tasks and end the workday.
Many companies have managed to strategically position themselves throughout 2020. Companies such as Zoom and products such as Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams were our allies during the lockdown and will continue to be during 2021. Just an example: Microsoft only has reported that by April, Teams had hit 75 million daily users.
Why was the first semester the most difficult?
This new normality has exposed that organizations have been focusing on efficiency rather than contingencies plans that boarded different scenarios in which workers could access data and information from different access points in an easy, quick, and reliable way.
We were pushed to evolve for almost five years in only one. We cannot blame ourselves, however, we have to agree that many have a rough situation only because their IT architecture was feeble and confusing.
Since the start of lockdown, 75% of office workers have used at least two new types of technology for work. People were simply not ready for this accelerated change.
What to expect
Remote working is likely to continue growing during this year. We shall not forget this is, in a way, possibly due to our ISP’s bandwidth. “The average internet speed in the US increased from 84.9Mbps to 94.6Mbps” (“86% of US states increased internet speeds during COVID-19 lockdown” – N.F. Mendoza — August 27, 2020).
The demand for higher-speed internet and more steady connections will push the advancement of 5G and 6G mobile tech.
The other part of the responsibility relies on the transition from on-site to remote working. The IT administrators must secure a stable technological infrastructure, security policies, and practices. Sensitive data is no longer confined in our companies’ physical servers. There is an urgent necessity for updates and security.
Here are some top tier technologies trends that remote working and IT administration will face this year:
1) Privacy-enhancing computation to provide a safe and trusted environment in which sensitive data can be processed. Encryption nowadays, more than ever, is a must. Cybersecurity MUST keep pace with the rapid change. Is your Telecom Expense Management storing your passwords and user login in a secure way?
2) In order to secure location independence for workers, distributed clouding will help with latency issues and also privacy regulations. Specific clouding solutions will provide efficiency regarding bandwidth and data distribution. More than ever a TEM solution that helps you to manage cloud services license costs is needed.
3) Along with 5G networks settling in, IoT development will continue. At the same time, 5G will improve communication with tech devices enabling us to work together in real-time. With Asignet’s Mobile Managed Services you will guarantee that each user has the right plan for their work activities.
4) To cope with the pandemic, your business process should be dynamic and flexible and the supporting back office software should be as well. Forrester analysts found that “enterprises that embraced low-code platforms, digital process automation, and collaborative work management reacted faster and more effectively than firms relying only on traditional development”. Can your current TEM provider adapt quickly to your business process changes?
5) AI Robotics and industrial automation will be a key alternative solution to operate manufacturing. Organizations should develop strategies to automate tasks. Asignet’s exclusive technology platform allows secure control of the telecommunication network because it integrates automated inventory management with all the invoice information from suppliers.
6) Unified Communications as a Service: We previously talked about communication software. Asignet’s Unified communications along with RPA interacts autonomously with the MS Teams and network infrastructure, Active Directory, HR systems, and Office 365 services to provision, operate, and control the users and usage of those services without human intervention. This allows for increased productivity and costs savings when implementing and operating a next-generation communications platform.
The time to evolve is now. Not tomorrow, but today.
We have technologies that facilitate your day-to-day work. Regardless of your abilities, the time has come to take a leap, embrace technological advances as these will set the pace for our professional development from now on.
It is likely that we failed in the first attempts, as we did during the first stage of confinement. The key lies in adaptation, making the most of our resources, and ensuring that assets find sustained growth.
About Asignet
Asignet is the technology and automation leader of Telcom & IT Lifecycle Expenses Management utilizing its patented RPA Robot process automation platform. The Asignet platform builds and monitors telecom, SaaS, Cloud, IT billing, inventory, and usage, helping global enterprises to optimize, secure, and manage all IT assets and its expenses.
Contact us for more information.
