For IT leaders, this shift raises some questions: Is the organization’s current remote work environment built for the long term, or will upgrades be required to its collaboration technology and its security tools and strategy? How will new employees be onboarded with technology and trained on security policies? How will physical offices be designed to keep people safe while also maximizing collaboration?
2. How To Empower Employees From Anywhere
One reason hybrid work is here to stay is that workers themselves are newly empowered. Many workers seem to be rethinking what matters most to them when it comes to their careers.
The “Great Resignation” has disrupted many industries, but it also presents an opportunity: Those businesses that build attractive workplace cultures will have a big advantage in the competition for talent. Deploying workplace technologies that put employee collaboration and ease of use at the core is a vital part of creating such a culture.
3. Hybrid Work Requires a New Security Approach
If distributed workforces are a permanent feature of modern business, organizations will have to adjust their thinking around security. Most organizations have recognized for several years now that authenticated identity is the new perimeter.
The pandemic, however, forced businesses to accelerate their plans for adopting zero-trust security principles. That’s because zero trust places identity at the center, which is vital in the world of remote work.
The result: 76 percent of organizations are implementing a zero-trust security model, according to Microsoft’s latest “Zero Trust Adoption Report.”
MORE ABOUT ZERO TRUST: Watch experts discuss how these principles can defend your environment.
4. Supply Chain Problems Will Continue
At some point, kinks in the supply chain that have slowed the economic recovery and frustrated businesses and consumers worldwide will get resolved. Predictions about when that will happen, however, should be taken with a grain of salt. Businesses should expect supply chain disruptions to continue well into 2022.
Some businesses in need of endpoints have found themselves struggling to get them in a timely fashion. It’s tough to grow if you can’t equip new employees with basic tech.
We’ve talked previously about how businesses should respond: Order early and work with a partner that can help you source the devices you want or a satisfactory alternative. Also, make use of your partner’s options for reserving endpoints just for you and for helping you secure financing for preordered devices.
Businesses such as retailers, meanwhile, will need high-level data analytics, edge computing technologies and other solutions to help them manage their own supply chains as effectively as possible. Some disruption is inevitable, but the businesses that minimize shortages and ensure customers get what they want when they want it during these challenging times will win lasting consumer loyalty.
The world has changed. To seize the future, businesses must move with the current, not wait for things to return to the way they used to be.
