Snynet Solution Logo
MON - SUN: 10 AM - 6 PM
+60 11 5624 8319

Blog

How 2020 changed the way we think about work

Image Description

The pandemic ushered in unprecedented changes to everyday life in a matter of days, forcing us all to change the way we work. What is now clear is that remote working is here to stay, and IT management teams have been facing huge pressure to ensure day-to-day operations continue running as smoothly as possible, all while maintaining the highest levels of security.

IT teams were on the front lines when the pandemic began to spread across the globe, with drastic changes needing to be implemented in a matter of weeks to support a long-term hybrid working model. Recent research on the state of IT in a remote world has revealed how the role of IT professionals is now significantly different compared to before the pandemic. So what should teams have in mind for the new remote world?

Work-from-anywhere is the new normal

Prior to the pandemic, nearly 75% of employees worked in traditional office settings. As a result of COVID-19, this paradigm has shifted greatly. Over the span of a few months, 65% of employees shifted to remote only, while only 20% of employees continued to work in-office, and 15% worked a mix of in-office and remote. As 2021 begins, it’s clear that remote work is here to stay – with many companies making a permanent shift to remote work and others adopting hybrid models. This has had a significant impact on the priorities of IT teams.

Fewer endpoints, more control

The average number of endpoints IT is managing has decreased over the years, resulting in IT teams having better control overall. On average, IT teams were managing 750 endpoints in 2018, down to just 371 in 2020. In 2020, only 1 in 10 don’t know how many endpoints they are managing, compared to nearly 3 in 10 in 2018.

The tasks occupying IT teams’ time

With an evolving threat landscape and more prevalent BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) work environments, IT teams are spending more time managing cybersecurity threats and developing new security protocols than ever. Nearly 50% of IT professionals are spending 5 to 8 hours a day on security, compared to 35% in 2019. Additionally, IT is spending more time on virtual tasks. Team web meetings, remotely accessing employee devices, IT support calls and virtual events are among the top tasks occupying IT professionals’ time.

New opportunities are in abundance

Before the pandemic, IT teams assumed many tasks could never be automated or executed remotely, but many found they were able to adapt when forced to. Managing IT software and hardware, managing IT security, and employee IT development training and skill development are among the top tasks that were transitioned during remote work. This shift has opened up new opportunities for IT teams in how they are structured and how they operate moving forward.

Data breaches remain the top concern

The top IT security concerns continue to be data breaches. With cloud computing and adoption skyrocketing over the years, fear of a cloud data security breach has increased significantly. More than 50% cite cloud data breaches as a top security concern in 2020, up from 40% expressing concern in 2018. Other top concerns include malware (46%), and ransomware (40%). One concern that remains critical to IT teams is employee behaviors. In 2018 and again in 2020, 45% of IT professionals identify employee online habits and behaviors as a key IT security concern. In the remote work environment, it is more important than ever for IT teams to put in place new measures like security training and identity and access management in order to mitigate these ongoing risks.

Catalysts for change

More than a third of IT professionals cite the shift to remote work as the leading driver of change in the IT industry, up from 19% in 2019. While moving to the cloud and adoption of SaaS continue to be core focuses, a greater focus on IT infrastructure monitoring, and a shift from reactive to proactive IT support are seen as increasingly important trends.

Greatest challenges for IT teams

More than a third of IT professionals agree that a lack of budget is the biggest challenge their company is facing in trying to keep up with IT trends. IT training, lack of IT staff, lack of control over a remote workforce, and IT staff resistance to change are all seen as the most common reasons IT teams are struggling to adapt to changes in their field. With limited budget, IT teams must implement solutions that enable them to do more with less and prioritize implementing tools with security, automation, and monitoring functionality.

While many businesses will begin to reopen their doors as we recover from the pandemic, we’ll likely see many others continue the remote working journey – businesses must be prepared to support a long-term hybrid approach. 2020 underlined the importance of being able to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. Those businesses which ignore last year’s trends and find themselves unable to support a work-from-anywhere future will find themselves struggling to keep up with the new ways of working.

  • Ian Pitt, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, LogMeIn.

Date

11 Feb 2021

Sources

Share

Other Blog

  • Google Chrome 100 update may break your website - but there's a fix

    Google Chrome is set to reach version 100 early next year but unfortunately this milestone will cause some websites to no longer work in the browser.

    Although there are no major changes or revolutionary new features currently planned for Chrome 100, the search giant has been aware for some time that this landmark release will likely lead to problems for some older websites. 

    With Chrome 100 set release in March 2021, Google already began warning users and site owners about potential issues.

    User Agent string

    “In the first half of 2022, Chrome will reach a three-digit major version number: 100! When browsers first reached version 10 many eons ago, lots of issues were discovered with User-Agent parsing libraries as the major version number went from one digit to two," a blog post published in November 2021 first said.

    "Now that we are approaching version 100 in both Chrome and Firefox, with Edge not far behind, we want to detect possible issues related to three-digit version number early, so we are ready when it becomes a reality.”

    When Chrome's major version number goes from two digits to three, some older websites will no longer display correctly. Thankfully though, Google has a plan to avoid disrupting the web and the company has already begun contacting individual developers to warn them about the upcoming change.

    Google Chrome extension

    (Image credit: Shutterstock)

    In order for a website to know what browser and what version of it you're currently using, the site will check the User Agent string which is essentially a line of text that your browser attaches to every web connection it makes.

    Here is an example of a User Agent string: “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/96.0.4664.110 Safari/537.36”. At the end, you can see “Chrome/96.0.4664.110” which means we're running Chrome version 96. 

    While Google has considered forcing the major version number to the minor version position and staying at 99 so “Chrome/100” would instead be “Chrome/99.100”, this is only a backup plan. Instead, the search giant has begun contacting individual developers to let them know about this issue before Chrome 100 is released. Google has also added a new flag to Chrome (#force-major-version-to-100) which developers can use to see whether or not their sites will be affected.

    Although moving to version 100 has the potential to disrupt a lot of older sites, Google and Mozilla are working hard to address the issue before the rollouts of version 100 of both Chrome and Firefox next year .

    Via 9To5Google

    Read More

  • Microsoft turns down individual tracking in workplace software following outcry

    Microsoft claims the concerns were the result of flawed execution, not flawed intentions.

    Read More

  • WhatsApp backtracks on unpopular redesign decision

    WhatsApp is an app that's constantly developing and evolving, with changes and new features being introduced with astonishing frequency. But change does not always mean that there are new things to try out; sometimes there are lessons to be learned from the past.

    And this seems to be precisely what has happened. An update is in the process of rolling out to WhatsApp users that undoes a design change that was only very recently introduced. So, what is going on?

    In just the last few days, WhatsApp users were met with a new look for their contacts list. The redesign saw the arrival of new "Frequently contacted" and "Recent chat" options, and it was a change that did not go down well.

    The WhatsApp experts and fanatics at WABetaInfo asked their readers what they thought of the change. The tweets that came in response where far from glowing, with replies ranging from "not good" to "it's horrible".

    Now WhatsApp has apparently seen the error of its way and is reinstating the old look for the contact interface.

    Ch... ch… ch... changes...

    WABetaInfo is not claiming to have been instrumental in getting WhatsApp to change its mind and give people what they want, but it is likely that feedback from other sources was very similar. As a result, the contact list is reverting back to a simple alphabetical list, complete with an indication of the number of contacts.

    The quick change of heart just goes to highlight the importance of beta testing for gauging user reaction to features, settings and interface options. Users who contribute such feedback can be absolutely instrumental in shaping the future direction of an app.

    If you are part of the WhatsApp beta program, use the Play Store app to grab the latest update which should take you up to version 2.22.5.9 of the app and restore the familiar contacts interface. You may not see the update or the changes straight away, so you may need to be patient while it rolls out.

    Via WABetaInfo

    Read More

  • Resident Evil Village PC performance - the (almost) perfect PC port we all needed

    Resident Evil Village is here, and we put it to the test on every major current-generation graphics card, including the RTX 3060 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT.

    Read More

Find Out More About Us

Want to hire best people for your project? Look no further you came to the right place!

Contact Us