By Stephen Sweett

Stephen Sweett

Last year was an unprecedented year that posed numerous challenges to organizations of all sizes. Many had to reimagine their business operations and learn new and innovative ways to serve their customers.

Government-mandated shutdowns, social distancing protocols, capacity regulations, furloughs and layoffs and travel restrictions are just a few of the major obstacles businesses had to navigate.

However, perhaps one of the most difficult obstacles to manage was that of IT. As organizations shifted to remote working in droves – and additional VPN connections, hardware and other resources were desperately needed – many company executives realized their IT solution wasn’t up to par.

Will we see this trend continue into this year? As we prepare for the year ahead, let’s take a look at some of the biggest IT challenges executives are expected to face.

Bridging the Skills Gap

IT continues to play a critical role in a business’s day-to-day operations. Couple that with the fact that IT is becoming increasingly complex due to digital transformation initiatives, and it is proving to be more and more difficult to find adequately skilled and qualified workers in the IT industry.

It was reported by Gartner that by 2020, skills gaps will have caused 75% of organizations to experience visible business disruptions. Fortunately, there are options to help remedy this issue should your organization find itself in a similar situation.

Many businesses partner with an IT staffing provider to aid in the efforts of sourcing and placing resources across their IT department. Staffing providers have a repository of candidates with a wide breadth of IT knowledge, as well as very niche skill sets, so they can easily accommodate any type of role you’re looking to fill. They also stand behind their resources, meaning that if for some reason they are not a fit for your organization, they will provide you with an alternative option.

Also helping bridge the skills gap is the incorporation of automation in your workflow processes. Not only can this help your organization save on overhead expenses and other costs, but it can also increase efficiency with quicker response times, better resolution rates, and reduced workloads on level 1 resources.

Protecting Against Vulnerabilities

Data privacy and cybersecurity threats are topics that have ongoing concerns, both from an organizational and consumer perspective.

Privacy laws, such as the EU’s General Protection Data Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), have set the standard on requirements organizations can expect to adhere to in the coming months and years.

With data breaches on the rise through ransomware, malware and phishing attacks, proprietary company and sensitive consumer data have never been more susceptible to exposure.

To help avoid this, it may be wise to have a network assessment completed to determine what, if any, steps need to be taken to ultimately decrease risks for your business. Partnering with a managed IT service provider for round-the-clock network monitoring, patch management, backup and disaster recovery solutions and more will add another layer of security to your IT systems and further protect you from potential threats.

If your organization doesn’t have the right technologies in place to detect and respond to a potential breach, as well as defined data handling policies, you may be looking at a very costly dilemma down the road.

Implementing New Technologies and Strategies

With the abundance of new products and technologies, it can be daunting for CIOs and CTOs to know which ones they should incorporate into their IT strategy and infrastructure to remain competitive.

However, it’s not feasible to simply introduce new technology and hope for success — it must be a methodical, well-planned initiative to see a return on your investment.

To better identify which types of technologies would best help you reach your IT goals, look at performing a …

… gap analysis or site survey to assess your business’s current information systems and software applications. These can typically be accomplished through a managed service provider. After the assessment, the managed service provider will make recommendations on necessary updates, additions, or replacements.

From there, you can create an IT road map to organize and prioritize the integration of new technologies into your IT environment, both from an adoption and cost standpoint.

Facing Uncertainty with the Cloud

Many organizations have recently adopted cloud solutions, and according to Gartner, up to 60% of organizations will use an external service provider’s cloud managed service offering by 2022, which is double the percentage of organizations from 2018.

While a cloud environment affords an organization numerous benefits and can help transform its business processes for the better, if the organization didn’t invest and manage properly in migrating to the cloud, they may face some negative consequences in the future.

A great example of this is transitioning to a cloud solution during the COVID-19 pandemic. A May 2020 study conducted by MariaDB revealed that 40% of businesses are accelerating their move to the cloud due to COVID-19.

Because of the rush to adopt a cloud solution, it is possible organizations had a “cloud-first” mentality — meaning their cloud strategy lacked vision, proper planning and execution. While they may have gotten the technology they initially wanted, was it the best decision for the company?

Before contemplating a move to the cloud, companies need to analyze the data and workloads they have to figure out the costs and potential service impacts involved. It may be worth a little more cost upfront to save a lot down the road.

Managing Operations in a Remote Environment

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced organizations across the globe to evolve to a permanent, fully remote workforce. While this is no doubt where today’s modern work environment was already heading, many company executives may still be a little apprehensive about the logistics of ensuring staff remains productive while customers continue to receive excellent service.

These companies will face the challenge of creating a digital transformation strategy to streamline business processes. Things like equipping employees with the necessary resources to be productive – and the tools to be able to track that productivity – will be crucial, and monitoring customer service levels needs to be transparent. These tools and technologies are ultimately going to play a critical role in providing support to customers from any location.

It is also important organizations have the proper IT infrastructure, applications and procedures in place to support a remote work environment, including plenty of bandwidth, secure VPN connections, bring your own device (BYOD) policies, video conferencing platforms and so much more.

There is much to consider when making the switch to a remote environment, and it can be overwhelming to satisfy every need for a seamless transition.

Face Challenges Head-On with an MSP

If some – or perhaps all – of these challenges resonate with you or your organization, the time is now to act on them and get ahead of any potential implications to your business.

Managed service providers can serve as your all-in-one IT partner, from assessment to planning, migration to implementation, to management of infrastructure and beyond. An MSP will be there every step of the way and ensure your company is positioned for success in 2021.

Stephen Sweett is president of Buchanan Technologies, where he started in 2000 in the role of regional vice president. Buchanan Technologies was named to the 2020 MSP 501 listing. Sweett oversees the sales and marketing departments with a focus on new business development and existing customer growth. He earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and finance at Saint Mary’s University. His strong leadership skills encourage staff to perform at their highest levels and his knowledge in process flow drives the operations and delivery side of the business. You may follow him on LinkedIn or @BuchananTech on Twitter.