Reducing digital friction for a better employee experience
IT departments added a stack of tasks to their docket when remote and hybrid working became the norm. While initial purchases of video conferencing and business communication subscriptions were temporary fixes, they were not the only long-term solutions necessary to provide the seamless digital experience employees needed to carry out their roles.
The pandemic has strengthened the need to improve the digital experience business case for organizations that wish to increase employee engagement, satisfaction and retention. Employees, so used to having immediate responses from their home-use apps, have come to expect the same instant feedback from workplace technology but in many cases are not getting it.
Too much information? How endless knowledge searches hold your organization back
Data volumes have skyrocketed in recent years, and Statista estimates that 59 sextillion bytes were generated in 2020 -- more than twice the amount generated in 2017.
What are we doing with the vast quantities of knowledge available to us? In most cases, as businesses, absolutely nothing. Only .5 percent of knowledge collected by organizations is used or analyzed, and less than half (.25 percent) plays any part in business decision-making.
4 steps to improve FinOps and cloud cost optimization
What’s the optimal way to manage cloud finances, one of the core disciplines of a FinOps practice?
The answer largely relies on automating efforts, but many FinOps practitioners haven’t taken full advantage of opportunities available to them or of the savings available to their organizations. According to a report from the FinOps Foundation, a Linux Foundation non-profit trade association focused on codifying and promoting cloud financial management best practices and standards, nearly half (49 percent) of the more than 800 respondents (with a collective $30+ billion in annual cloud spend) had little or no automation of cloud spend management.
The increasing importance of Cyber Threat Intelligence
Globally, the cyber threat level to organizations remains high and the current situation only serves to highlight this further. To this point, any organization that has substantial gaps in its cybersecurity capabilities is operating at risk, and when the threat landscape changes, as it has now, so we become more aware of the vulnerabilities that we have carried for some time and the need for better Cyber Threat Intelligence.
Two major cybersecurity events of the past 12 months really showcase the requirement for CTI in network security operations -- the SolarWinds software supply chain attack which broke at the start of 2021 and the Log4j vulnerability response process that occurred at the end of 2021. Both of these incidents highlight the need to rapidly gain situational awareness, contextualize vast amounts of information being shared, and prioritize remediation of significant threats.
Where will enterprise AI go in 2022?
If the pandemic was a stone, then the wave of digital transformation in its wake is a reverberating echo. 2020 and 2021 saw traditionally slow adopters of new technologies, from the largest financial institutions to local libraries, exploring new ways of providing digital-first experiences in a socially-distanced world. Artificial intelligence was of course decades in the making, but COVID pushed its proliferation to a point that has fully blossomed in the past two years.
Whether you’re a newcomer to the world of AI or its long-term champion, uncertainties both familiar and new continue to impact this ever-shifting landscape. There are, however, a few assurances to count on as AI’s trajectory progresses throughout the year.
AI can free us of busy work and usher in a new era of productivity
How much of their day do you think sales reps spend selling? All of it? Two-thirds? Maybe half? Nope.
The average rep spends just 35 percent of their time -- fewer than three hours a day -- actively selling. Where does the other 65 percent go? It’s devoured by internal meetings, travel, planning, and all the other peripheral, supporting, and administrative tasks they have to do. And here’s the thing: this trend isn’t unique to sales.
Why data-centric security is now a top priority for every business
In today’s business environment, data is one of the most valuable assets any organization owns. Consequently, a great deal of time and money is spent trying to ensure that the most effective data security measures are in place to protect it. But with so many options available, knowing which approach to take is becoming increasingly difficult.
Escalating cybercrime, the adoption of cloud computing, an explosion in mobile device usage, and varying technology and applications means there’s so much to consider. No matter the industry, a data security breach is now an increasingly likely scenario that all businesses could face. Security teams should therefore consider a strategy that is focused on protecting actual data throughout its entire lifecycle, rather than just focusing on the infrastructure around it.
The importance of face-to-face communication in the modern B2B sales process
Businesses now communicate with customers and prospects in new ways as technology has advanced. Today's sales reps use a variety of tools to accomplish their tasks, such as email, social media and video chat tools among others. Therefore, traditional in-person sales meetings have become less common.
However, even as the B2B sales process becomes increasingly digital, face-to-face meetings still provide certain benefits that no technology can replicate. In-person requests are 34 times more successful than those made over email, the close rate for in-person meetings is 57 percent, and executives and business travelers estimate that 28 percent of their current business would be lost without in-person meetings. While virtual communication is key, face-to-face meetings still hold the following advantages in the modern sales process.
Traditional telehealth is no longer the future of health care
Telehealth has taken the medical world by storm. Hospitals rapidly adopted these remote technologies out of necessity amid COVID-19, but it quickly became apparent that their potential goes even further.
Telehealth accounted for less than 1 percent of total health care volume before COVID, but it quickly became the norm. However, it won’t be the future of medicine. More than 70 percent of physicians are motivated to increase their telehealth use, and new technologies are emerging, so this practice is evolving. Here’s a look at how metaverse technologies are transforming the future of telemedicine.
Identity is the new frontline of cybersecurity
Identity is a battleground upon which all organizations must now fight. Responding to this growing threat is non-optional because identity is at the heart of the processes and technologies that power the new world of remote and hybrid working.
The "human element" is involved in 85 percent of breaches, with credential data theft and misuse now factoring into 61 percent of incidents, the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2021 reported last year. Attackers know this, so they are constantly searching for ways of accessing valid credentials which they can use to gain access to the network and then move undetected in search of new targets.
What's really happening with eSIM and the IoT?
In the technology industry, hype is a fact of life. But hype doesn’t just create inflated expectations that are soon dashed against the rocky shores of reality, it can also lead to the misperception that a particular development is at a dead-end when in reality it still offers the potential for real progress.
This is happening now with the Internet of Things and its impact on modern business. While the IoT is still seen by many as a valuable business opportunity, hyper-inflated expectations of the widespread deployment of paradigm-shifting applications have recently been tempered by technical difficulties and a slower pace of adoption than what was originally expected. Despite this, a steady stream of new developments continues to push the IoT into the digital mainstream, leading researchers like IoT Analytics to predict the number of IoT connections will top 27 billion by 2025.
AI: Data's guardian angel
AI is one of the biggest tech-driven talking points of recent years. It's a debate that also translates into some very big numbers, with the global Artificial Intelligence market predicted to grow in size from $51.08 Billion in 2020 to $641.30 Billion by 2028 in a huge acceleration of investment. For AI, industry hype is increasingly being reflected in reality.
Indeed, organizations across the public and private sectors have already seen widespread benefits, particularly its impact across complex applications such as automation, digital assistance, and data analytics.
What are the biggest benefits of real-time passenger information in 2022?
As we're entering the digital-first era with an emphasis on connectivity, we need to be more forward-thinking about the ways we're facilitating a fully connected public transport experience. Commuters are looking for a comfortable and seamless travel experience without disruptions.
What can significantly enhance their experience and ensure they’re choosing the same mode of transport again and again is real-time passenger information (RTPI). It provides commuters with live information on timetables, connections, and disruptions.
Why real-time experiences will make or break the metaverse
The metaverse is the latest battlefield for tech giants vying for business and consumer attention. Although the phrase has only fairly recently entered the public vernacular, when Facebook rebranded its parent company as Meta, it was actually coined in 1992 by author Neal Stephenson in 'Snowcrash'. In many ways its rise in popularity marks the 'coming of age' of virtual and augmented reality to date.
To make these new virtual worlds a success will require a truly real-time digital experience. Without this, our virtual experiences are unlikely to be lifelike and nor will they be "better" than real life. But in order to make this real-time digital experience in the metaverse a reality, organizations will need a raft of technical capabilities. This is a significant challenge for tech behemoths today, let alone in the metaverse future. So, what is needed to ensure the metaverse is a long-term success rather than a passing fad?
The surge in digital demand necessitates building the enterprise network of the future
If businesses want to win in the 21st century, then harnessing the power of the network across the entire organization is essential because digital is the new front door for every enterprise. Customer and workforce demands on the network are evolving faster than the pace of traditional businesses and the Covid-19 pandemic has only accelerated this change. The digital winners of tomorrow don’t think in terms of building solutions that merely solve today’s challenges. Their eyes are set on being ready for challenges that are yet to materialize. They build for change.
To thrive, companies need a different level of adaptability and creativity to handle competition, manage new threats and embrace new technologies. Yet the network is often overlooked. Like the forgotten but essential plumbing in a vast mansion which is being renovated for the future, the renovation will include modern new features and facilities to enhance the experience of living there for years to come. However, unless the owners also upgrade the plumbing to create more capacity and resilience, most of these new features won’t function effectively.
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