04-13-20 | Blog Post
Year after year, the biggest challenges facing CIOs seem to be, at least in part, an evolution of the previous year’s biggest challenges. Reviewing a 2018 CIO magazine survey, a top challenge was “data overload,” which was largely resolved with AI frameworks and tools. This led to a 2019 biggest challenge, protecting that same data and assuring compliance. 2019’s other CIO challenges included concerns common across multiple years: New security threats, staff skill gaps, lack of agility and outsourcing risks. A few new concerns also emerged including multi-cloud security and tools for a digital native workforce. Many of these challenges were being addressed with technology and IT budgets that had increased due to multiple years of economic prosperity. Then came January and February 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced immense personal challenges for practically every person in the world. Personal challenges are always of the highest priority and, unfortunately, typically are a factor in business challenges. From a business perspective, the pandemic has also introduced critical challenges to business continuity. For most CIOs, the evolutionary challenges of previous years were replaced in early 2020 with the immediate concerns of workforce relocation; implementing or expanding Work-From-Home (WFH) capabilities; securing remote access and data transport; revising policies; and assuring compliance with data protection laws in the new WFH environment. Aligned to these challenges, a recent survey from McKinsey detailed what 100 CIOs are focusing on in the first 60-90 days following the start of the pandemic:
Gartner adds the following to the list of CIO short term challenges: Revised business continuity plans, organizational resilience and rebounding growth. “Rebounding Growth” may be the most important of the next steps in planning–what’s the plan when we partially or fully reactivate the business, and what about re-integrating all those WFH resources?
Many of the changes made to accommodate newly distributed workforces, enable communication and collaboration platforms, and to address the elastic nature of business during a pandemic should receive consideration as permanent additions to the long-term business plan. Examples of this would be supplementing and digitalizing the ways in which we communicate with employees and customers, increasing the use of SaaS and trusted cloud services, and providing new resources to reinforce business continuity and disaster recovery. Prior to putting in place all of the urgent changes due to the pandemic, the way we work together was rapidly evolving. Location agnostic work teams, global collaboration, rapid adoption of SaaS and Cloud Service models, and the widespread use of consulting and specialist part-time workers, were all facets of the pre-pandemic challenges facing CIOs. In many instances, the short-term answers put in place to meet current workforce challenges may offer long-term solutions for our evolving work life.
Experiencing this level of rapid change in the business can be daunting, especially when considering the costs and resources required to deploy the appropriate solutions. Added to the workforce challenges there are new security concerns, required readiness assessments, Cloud vs Prem considerations, and revised business continuity and disaster recovery plans. To assist with these challenges, Otava has delivered a series of cost-effective promotions including:
Otava seeks to partner in ways that provide meaningful solutions to your current business problems. Consider our secure, compliant cloud solutions and specialized consultation services managed by a team of experts trained in the latest security best practices. Call 877-740-5028 or contact us to learn more.
Disaster recovery and business continuity in the remote workforce environment: In the decades-long evolution of the remote worker, policy, data protection, security and compliance all kept pace with the rollout of users and applications. Today, there is a new and onerous dimension added to this evolution: The mass and immediate need for remote work. (Read more)
Network security in the time of novel coronavirus: It’s not a new tact for cybercriminals to be opportunists in times of global crisis or when the workforce attention is focused on important national or regional events. Novel coronavirus poses an immediate threat and organizations must be ready to meet the demands of a remote workforce in a secure, compliant way. (Read more)
Tools to assist security, compliance and Improved Cloud Economics
The speed of change and adaptation in today’s IT arena is highly exacerbated by the buildout of hybrid and multi-cloud networks. The adoption of SaaS adds even more layers of complexity and security concerns. Here are a few typical examples. (Read more)
Otava provides secure, compliant hybrid cloud solutions for service providers, channel partners and enterprise clients. By actively aggregating best-of-breed cloud companies and investing in people, tools, and processes, Otava’s global footprint continues to expand. The company provides its customers with a clear path to transformation through its highly effective solutions and broad portfolio of hybrid cloud, data protection, disaster recovery, security and colocation services, all championed by its exceptional support team. Learn more at www.otava.com.
