Trends in Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is a commonly-used term, but the concept has been in the works for decades. In recent decades, cloud has come into its own as a powerful mode of computing used for businesses large, medium and small. Read on to learn about current and future trends in cloud computing.

 

A Brief History of the Cloud

 

CompTIA gives a brief history of the development of the cloud in an article about cloud trends. The first vision of the cloud, in the 1960s, was put forth by MIT Professor John McCarthy. Cloud computing would offer computing as a public utility, each subscriber paying only for what they use. In the next ten years, machines were linked to a host machine. Internet protocol had proved itself late in the 1970s, and by the 1980s, many more computers were connected to the Internet. By the 1990s, mobile devices became part of the landscape, and were able to access the Internet remotely. The code that helped Amazon to provide its online marketplace led to developing the model cloud. Cloud continued progressing to the point of “powering business operations in some form for nearly every organization.” 

 

The Present State of Cloud Computing

 

Cloud computing is currently experiencing widespread demand, and focusing on efficiency. Edge computing, which may have a major role in the future, is currently decreasing latency (the time it takes for data to travel from its point of energy to its destination, and back again). Organizations can expand their capabilities and retain functionality across locations; this could be vital for Unified Communications. The “anything as a service” (XaaS) model provides multiple services that businesses need to make processes efficient. Desktop as a Service is part of this, providing a virtual desktop that users can access via the Internet. The back-end infrastructure and software are handled by the cloud provider. With remote work still popular, DaaS is still in demand. Artificial intelligence is still part of the picture, automating processes and increasing personalization. Deploying multiple cloud environments, either through multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud can help keep systems running when user demand is high; a backup cloud can take on workloads from other clouds that become overwhelmed. 

 

Future Trends in Cloud Computing

 

Efficiency will continue to be a desired goal in the future. Cloud automation’s role is to eliminate the need for humans to complete rote tasks, allowing systems to run more efficiently. Automation will also help businesses tie together cloud technologies to enhance efficiency. Edge computing will cut down on the use of data centers; instead, data will be handled on peripheral devices. Cloud computing, with its vast data stores, will give quantum computing the power it needs to operate. The cloud will also support artificial intelligence (AI) giving it the vast stores of data it needs for its models. In turn, AI will help with automation of cloud services. 

 

Exciting developments are in the future, though they can be overwhelming. To learn how to capitalize on upcoming trends, contact your trusted technology advisor today. 

Unified Communications for Business Success

Remote work has existed for decades, but got a big push just a few years ago, with so many away from the office. And some workers are staying remote, part of companies facilitating hybrid work environments. Business telecommunications needs to be up to the task, equipping workers to collaborate and communicate to get things done. Read on to learn more about the benefits of telecommunications technology for a connected workforce.

 

The Growth of Business Communications

 

Remote work has happened for years (the term “telecommuting” was coined more than 50 years ago), and tools for connection and collaboration have grown in sophistication. In the past, telephones have operated independently of the Internet, and other tools like email and conferencing have been separate. The market for Unified Communications has grown in the last few years, and is expected to grow to about $50 billion globally by 2025. Little wonder, considering the business benefits it brings.

 

Benefits of Integrated Telecommunications

 

Integration of modes of telecommunication like Voice Over IP (VoIP) telephony, customer relations management software, and web conferencing can improve communication and collaboration while saving your company money. With Unified Communications, a package of communication tools in the cloud is available with an internet connection. The cloud service provider handles the infrastructure, freeing businesses from the capital expense of purchase and maintenance of hardware. With more workers having the capacity to work remotely, businesses can cut spending on office space (though depending on its needs, a company may choose a hybrid workplace). Ability to connect with new clients virtually can even help you break into new markets near and far. 

 

Enhancement of Customer Experience

 

WIth integration of multiple modes of communication, in-office and remote workers can easily interact with each other, to facilitate a hybrid workforce. Customer relations management software brings up customer information quickly to allow the rep to quickly and accurately handle the call, building customer loyalty. Routing voice mail messages to email means no calls are missed. Videoconferencing can help workers collaborate on projects and share files to complete important work quickly.

 

Considerations for Unified Communications

 

If your company is still in the process of adopting UC, a network audit to find bottlenecks or weak spots is helpful in determining your network’s readiness. With vast amounts of data transmitted, your network needs to have enough bandwidth to handle the traffic. On top of that, data needs to remain safe from loss or compromise. 

 

Unified Communications is a powerful tool for companies with remote workers or a hybrid work environment. For assistance with your telecommunications strategy, contact your trusted technology advisor today. 

Applications of Artificial Intelligence for Small Business

We hear so much about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what it can do, as well as cautions about it. But how can it help your business run more efficiently as well as deliver amazing results in customer service? Read on to learn more about harnessing the power of AI for your small-to-medium-sized business.

 

A Brief Summary of Artificial Intelligence

 

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is an enabling technology made possible by machine learning. Machine learning is the process of teaching machines how to react to different data types, based on probabilities. Large language models (LLMs) are trained on huge amounts of data, which makes them able to understand and generate language and other types of content, performing a wide variety of tasks. The data is fed into these models from humans, and this plays a role in the quality of data.

 

Business Applications of Artificial Intelligence

 

Because it is trained on vast amounts of data, AI has the power to automate repeated processes, freeing up time for humans and labor cost for your company. Employees can focus on other tasks while AI works in the background. It has potential to be embedded in customer relationship management software, and to find information about customers based on past interaction. That way, customer service representatives can have the information at their fingertips and serve customers even more quickly. Even outside business hours, your company can continue to serve customers with chatbots that mimic human-to-human interaction. Data analysis is more rapid, and this has implications for cybersecurity. Trained on data from network traffic, AI can quickly detect suspicious activity and help avert a cyber attack. The technology could even provide information that leads to new markets and revenue streams.

 

Considerations for Using AI in Your Business

 

Artificial intelligence is an amazing powerhouse, no doubt about it. However, a business needs to decide how the technology will help reach business goals. If you are a small business looking for quicker data analysis to enhance cybersecurity, for example, AI-enabled technology is a good choice. For communications with customers and within the office, AI can help generate and summarize content–once again saving time.

 

Since AI’s results are only as good as the data training the algorithms, care needs to be taken to evaluate the content, making sure it’s as bias-free and accurate as possible. Moreover, it shouldn’t contain any personally identifiable information, data which can be traced to an individual. Compliance and regulatory issues may come into play, too. Your company may need to overcome resistance from some workers who might fear losing their jobs to artificial intelligence. You will likely need to take time to educate and train workers to see AI as a valuable tool and to use it to best advantage.

 

Artificial intelligence has many money- and time-saving ways to help your business. For more information, contact your trusted technology advisor today.

Cloud Trends in 2024

Cloud Computing, long a fundamental part of digital transformation, is seeing even more changes in 2024 and beyond. From hybrid and multi-cloud to the intersection of artificial intelligence and cloud computing, and the security and compliance implications, digital transformation and innovation will continue. Read on to learn more about upcoming cloud trends. 

 

Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments Rising in Popularity

 

Hybrid Cloud environments, wherein some of an organization’s computing resources are in a private cloud and others in a public cloud environment, seem to offer the best of both worlds. Hybrid clouds offer the cost-effectiveness of public cloud, while preserving data privacy by keeping some infrastructure on-premise. The latter can benefit businesses in industries that must comply with data protection regulations. It will be vital for businesses using hybrid cloud to know where business data resides–not to mention your cloud service provider’s regulatory compliance policies. 

 

With multi-cloud architecture, numerous providers are used, and this provides flexible solutions and benefits to fit your business. What your company needs to consider, though, is that additional configuration may be required for the different services to communicate with each other, and how this can impact the experience for end users. 

 

Artificial Intelligence in the Cloud

 

Another trend is the connection between cloud computing and artificial intelligence. What the two have in common is automation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) with its large reservoir of data can help automate and streamline mundane processes and free up time to work on the company’s strategic goals. Artificial intelligence, an enabling technology, can analyze data and provide insights that can lead to even more precise strategy. Cloud and AI can work together to enhance customer experience. Software as a Service (SaaS) will integrate with AI more and more in the coming years. 

 

Security and Compliance Continue in Importance

 

As always, with the advance of technology, security of data and systems and compliance with data protection regulations will always be vital. In the realm of Software as a Service (SaaS), cloud providers will focus on enhancements of security features. Since businesses and entire industries will increasingly need to comply with data-protection regulations. Business owners may want to meet with their providers and learn how these enhancements will aid compliance for the organization.

 

The cloud will continue to be integrated with technology like artificial intelligence. To learn more about cloud trends, contact your trusted technology provider. 

Protect Passwords to Safeguard Personally Identifiable Information

Businesses large and small deal every day with personally identifiable information from customers, employees and additional stakeholders. How do they protect it? While passwords alone are not considered personally identifiable information, they help keep it safe. Read on to learn more about how to manage passwords and keep data safe

 

The Role of Passwords in Safeguarding PII

 

Personally identifiable information (PII) is defined as data that can be linked with or traced to an individual. Such PII includes names, date of birth, address, Social Security numbers and other specific information about a person. Some of it is n-sensitive, part of public records or easily found online. Sensitive PII can include biometrics (used as part of multi-factor authentication, employment and financial records, and bank account credentials. Every business owner handles a great deal of personally identifiable information in the course of doing business. How can they protect it?

 

Passwords authenticate a user’s access to websites (including company websites) that hold personally identifiable, often sensitive, data on employees, customers and more. Employees properly trained in password management can be helpful in safeguarding a company’s data. One key practice, along with developing strong passwords, is refraining from sharing these passwords with others. 

 

Keeping Passwords Private Benefits Your Business

 

The reasons for keeping passwords secret may seem obvious–no one else can get into your accounts, or change your data, or leave it in danger of falling into the wrong hands. If your workers keep their passwords secret, they prevent sensitive information from being leaked to those who can misuse it. Individual workers (and your business as a whole) avoid penalties associated with regulatory non-compliance. By keeping passwords confidential, they avoid being held responsible for misuse. What’s more, with a strong password, they can always access the resources they need to succeed in their work. Even companies with strong controls and policies need to train their workers in password maintenance, making the practices part of the organization’s culture.

 

While passwords may or may not fall under the category of personally identifiable information, they definitely serve to protect it. For help in developing your company’s password policy, contact your trusted technology advisor today. 

From Cybersecurity to Cyber-Resilience

Cybersecurity is an ever-present issue, especially in these times of rapid innovation. With this innovation, companies need to remember the importance of protecting systems, devices, networks and data from cyber attack. But what if we all went a few steps beyond, thinking of what to do to deal with an incident while it’s occurring and after it happens. Read on to learn how to work toward making your organization cyber resilient in the face of today’s threat landscape.

Cybersecurity and Cyber-Resilience

The two concepts sound similar, but the difference between cybersecurity and cyber-resilience is the focus. Cybersecurity refers to protecting systems, networks and data from cyberattack, whereas cyber-resilience is about an organization’s ability to withstand and recover from an attack while and after it happens. Both are important, and both contribute to business resiliency. An attack happens about every 39 seconds, according to some sources. Common types include malware attacks, ransomware, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), and these attacks can steal data or access to it, or even stall your system. And the effect on your business is potentially devastating; even a short power outage can result in costly downtime. How will your organization not just prevent these hazards, but deal with and recover from them, and stay running and resilient?

Benefits of Cyber-Resilience

The threat landscape continues to expand, with more attacks and the attacks becoming more sophisticated. Considering the rate of cyberattacks already occurring, the probability of one striking any one organization is high. Protecting yourself, as well as having a plan to respond to an attack when it happens, benefits your company in numerous ways. For one, you can continue operating during the disaster and avoid lost revenue. Second, the ability to protect customers’ personally identifiable information increases their trust in your organization. Third, you avoid fines for failure to comply with data-protection regulations. Finally, your business can even achieve a competitive advantage in staying open when others have to close.

Elements of a Cyber-Resilience Strategy

According to a CompTIA article, a strategy will prepare you to respond to attacks and mitigate their damage. A cyber-resilience strategy starts with assessment and prevention, a deep knowledge of your technological assets, and any possibility of gaps that attackers can exploit. Actively implementing preventive measures can help you look out for threats before they become problems. Plans for response and recovery position your company to respond quickly and mitigate damage. Adaptation and flexibility involves knowing that each attack is different and being able to respond at the moment. Finally, education and ongoing training can acquaint workers with possible threats and how to respond. Practice through attack simulations is very helpful as part of training.

Cybersecurity, of course, is still important. Cyber-resilience goes beyond that, to recovering from an attack and keeping the business running. For help with your strategy, contact your trusted technology advisor today.

Aligning Information Technology Spending with Business Goals

As seen in various trend reports, spending is expected in certain areas like cloud computing, digital innovation, and more. These developments sound exciting, but whether or not your company wants to embark on one of these directions depends on your business goals. Read on to learn how to assess whether emerging technology fits with business plans.

 

Perform an Information Technology Audit

 

A good place to begin, when contemplating tech spend for the coming year, is assessing where you are. In cooperation and communication with your trusted technology advisory, CIO or the head of information technology, look at your IT picture–including infrastructure and devices as well as policies and operations. Reviewing all your tech assets can show where more spend might be needed.  Are there devices, such as, PCs, Macs, and servers are out of warranty and no longer in compliance? Is there any risk of data loss or compromise, or inability to comply with data protection regulations? And are there legacy systems that could be moved to the cloud, to save operating expenses? Finally, could expanding your consulting budget to work with your technology budget help you start new tech initiatives? These and other questions can show you strong points in your infrastructure as well as any deficiencies.

 

Examine Trends in Terms of How They Can Help Your Business

 

For 2024, many businesses are looking at some exciting trends. For example, Artificial Intelligence can help with automation, which in turn can save labor costs. Many companies are hoping to use the cloud for their internal infrastructure as well as customer-facing applications. Taking note of these trends and even being excited about them is significant, but you also need to look at your objectives. Would automation serve your business, and in what way? For example, automation might help your call center workers help customers with more complex problems, leaving simpler questions to a chatbot. Migrating a certain percentage of your internal infrastructure to the cloud can help convert capital expense to operating expense while taking advantage of the scale and security of cloud computing. With constant digital innovation, cybersecurity remains an issue and a key area of expenditure. 

 

Make Your Tech Department a Partner in Spending Decisions

 

Ideally, your tech department (or even head of IT) will be aligned with overall business objectives. This brings the assurance that IT investments will benefit the business as a whole and provide value (which is not just monetary). Alignment can lead to more effective and efficient IT operations, since unnecessary tasks could be eliminated. Alignment can strengthen the organization to be resilient and flexible in a challenging business environment.

 

In looking ahead to 2024 and beyond, excitement about new technologies needs to be tempered with consideration of how they support business goals and strategies. For more guidance, please contact your technology advisor today.

What’s Coming Up: Technological Trends in 2024 and Beyond

With cutting-edge technology and digital innovation continuing to take center stage, technology spending is expected to continue expanding. With digital innovation like artificial intelligence, cloud computing and even the Internet of Things also comes a greater potential of cyber threats. Read on to learn more about technology trends and how they may affect businesses in 2024 and beyond

 

Tech Spending to Increase in 2024

 

In general, worldwide technology spending is expected to increase by 8%, according to a Gartner article in October of 2023. The key sectors expecting growth include software at 13.8% IT services at 10.4%. Data privacy spending is expected to jump from 18.5% in 2023 to nearly 25% in 2024, and even network security equipment is expected to grow but more modestly, from 12.9% to 13.9%. Main business drivers are digital innovation, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity, according to a Telarus report for 2023. Businesses are expecting to think about moving legacy systems for business operations to the cloud, when previously most of the cloud applications used were for customer-facing services. This has the possibility of driving managed services spending as well. Along with digital innovation comes cybersecurity concerns, propelling information security and risk management spending to $215 billion, a 24% increase from 2023. 

 

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence

 

An IDC blog post forecasts global IT spending to expand to over $500 billion by 2027, with more spend allocated to AI implementation and adoption of AI-enhanced products and services. Technology providers anticipate investing money along with time and  brainpower in incorporating AI into the core of their business. Although AI is a major turning point–with ChatGPT’s 3.5 series released nearly a year ago– generative AI is not expected to come to the fore until about 2025. Artificial Intelligence is still expected to be in the background, improving processes. For example, it works with Microsoft’s Copilot to aid collaboration by combining the power of large language models with users’ data. It can operate with common MS applications like Word and Excel, offering assistance in real time. While primarily for businesses of 300 workers or more, it has potential to serve smaller businesses as well. 

 

Applications of Internet of Things

 

Internet of things (IoT) involves connecting devices to networks, with applications  in the energy and security sectors, including video surveillance. With more cloud use, data centers need physical security protection. A “smart” (connected) surveillance camera can be connected to other devices like alarms, to alert security professionals to potential threats. Artificial intelligence might operate with IoT to produce close-to-human image analysis.

 

The Internet of Things has much to offer the energy sector, too. Connected devices can monitor energy usage, helping reduce cost by scheduling appliances to be on and off at different times, shutting off some during peak times. Customers can partner with utility providers to make energy use more efficient and less expensive. 

 

Cybersecurity Considerations

 

Because digital innovation also leads to more threats, businesses looking to move customer service and back-office work to the cloud must pay attention to (and possibly spend more on) cybersecurity. Protections are needed for data, applications and infrastructure against escalating cyberthreats. The software sector also needs to pay attention to cybersecurity, with AI creating security fears like loss of data control. According to Gartner, double-digit growth is expected in all segments of enterprise security spending in 2024.

Taking a Proactive Approach to Cybersecurity

The state of cybersecurity seems to be getting better, though there’s always room for improvement. According to a recent report by CompTIA, “The State of Cybersecurity 2024”, more companies see the need to take a proactive approach and look at cybersecurity from a risk management standpoint. Read on to learn what this might mean to your efforts to protect technological assets.

 

Encouraging Signs, with Room for Greater Improvement

 

In recent years, businesses have made strides in adopting a proactive stance toward cybersecurity, according to the CompTIA report. Of the small to medium-size businesses surveyed, solid percentages have formal frameworks for cybersecurity (45% for small businesses, and 63% for medium-size companies. Many small companies are assessing their risk, but without a formal framework. Over the last year or so, general satisfaction about the state of cybersecurity has increased, as well as satisfaction of respondents with their own company’s cybersecurity. Even with these modest increases, progress is still somewhat slow.

 

In spite of said progress, data breaches still occur. The global average cost of a data breach is $4.45 million! In 2022,  96% of organizations had at least one breach, according to a report cited by CompTIA. The top of mind question is quite naturally “What is the cost of a cybersecurity incident?” What if organizations could also ask what the cost is not just in terms of money but in time and effort taken to prevent an incident? 

 

Constructing a Risk-Management Plan

 

Cybersecurity has often been considered a secondary factor in the past, but businesses are now shifting from a defensive posture to a proactive one. Risk management involves identifying the risks that come with doing business; assigning probabilities to specific risks relevant to the company; and proposing mitigation plans. A formal framework is helpful in considering all risks, including ones not normally connected with IT. One such risk comes from phishing schemes, where individuals are targeted with email containing links to ransomware. Many workers posting on social media sites could make their employers targets for these social engineering attacks. One concern cited by the cybersecurity report was whether new technology a company buys can introduce new cybersecurity concerns. 

 

Many factors need to be considered when analyzing and managing cybersecurity risks. For help with your company’s efforts, contact your trusted technology advisor today. 

Protect Your Network Using Defense in Depth

The old defenses against cyberattacks–firewalls, antivirus programs and operating system patches–worked well when the security perimeter was the office. Now that remote work is here to stay and more devices are connected to company networks, protecting networks is more complicated. Read on to learn how defense in depth, an integration of individual tools, can help you better protect your technological assets.

The Significance of Defense in Depth

 

With business operations having altered in the last several years, more endpoints are connected to networks, and the threat surface expands. Not every remote worker may have the most up-to-date antivirus protection, for example. Bad actors could use brute-force attacks, seeking entry into numerous parts of the network. With defense in depth, other controls would keep the criminals from getting very far. This redundancy can give administrators time to enact countermeasures to keep the intruder from penetrating the network deeply

Typically, defense in depth involves three layers of controls–administrative, physical and technical. Administrative controls have to do with the policies and procedures that workers follow; for example, restricting permission to certain portions of the network, and allowing access to the data and applications they need to do their work (least privilege). Another layer involves physical security, and protects data centers and IT systems from threats like data theft. These controls include guards, security cameras and biometrics and/or ID cards. The layers of controls are working at different layers yet are integrated to provide a strong defense against cyberattack.

 

Getting Started with Defense in Depth

 

But where to start? CompTIA’s article on the topic makes several suggestions. One is to identify what malicious activity might look like for your business. Analyze data to develop a baseline for what’s normal in order to detect any anomalies when they happen. What are your most critical technological assets, and what do you need to do to protect them? These assets would be the core from which to build other layers of protection. What intrusion detection systems do you have? Are there others you can implement? Once you have your systems in place, it’s time to penetration-test your environment to find any weak spots.

 

Individual technology tools like firewalls, patches and network monitoring can work even better when they are integrated into a defense-in-depth system. For guidance in getting started, contact your trusted technology advisor today.