Let's talk about "The Cloud"
All the IT technologies that we have developed over the previous decades have now culminated in a skill set to support cloud-based solutions. The pandemic has driven workers into conducting business remotely virtually overnight and fortunately the cloud infrastructure, networking, software applications and support mechanism was in place. Can you imagine what would have happened only five years ago when only 42% of enterprises had access to fiber buildouts?
Will the March 2021 workplace look like it does throughout 2021 or will it just be a blip and everything back to “normal” when a vaccination is administered to the masses, and we have “herd immunity"? We have seen organizations become more receptive to non-legacy solutions to adapt to the changing workforce and this trend will continue. The brick and mortar mentality have changed, we will be working remotely, we will be making more on-line purchases and most likely not traveling as extensively as pre-COVID. How will cloud computing evolve in 2021?
Security and Accessibility for remote workers:
We have spent years developing security protocols for users. Users expect instant access to data they require to do their job. The caveat is these users are now more prone to security risks. Virtualized desktops in the cloud otherwise known as Desktops as a Service are becoming the new norm. Eliminate security risks by controlling access, applications, printing, USB usage, etc. Maybe a thin client will be standard equipment?
Data protection from Ransomware:
Doesn’t it make sense to have a copy of your data “air gapped” and protected from ransomware? Immutability will be a popular term in 2021 as organizations realize that their last line of defense against ransomware demands a “protected” backup copy of their data. WCA incorporates Veeam Object Lock technology coupled with WORM (Write Once Read Many) Object based storage to build a Secure BaaS solution.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity:
Having an immutable copy of your data is terrific but it is difficult and time-consuming to rebuild a data center with just this data. A low-cost mirrored environment of your data center whether it’s on-premise or in the cloud or a hybrid is crucial to keep the business running. Maybe just replicate those mission critical servers to keep the trucks moving off the dock and bringing back the other servers via backups seems to be the trend.
Software as a Service:
?Seems like everyone is using SaaS based applications. You are still responsible for the data and just because it lives in the cloud doesn’t mean it is completely safe from accidental or deliberate deletion or corruption. O365 backup is crucial to ensure your everyday applications like email, OneDrive, Sharepoint, etc. are recoverable.
Infrastructure as a Service:
We have seen companies use their backup budgets to put their entire server environments in the cloud as backup are included. In IaaS, keeping SAN replicated snapshots for 7 days provides another “air-gapped” piece of protection. Eliminate OS and Virtualization upgrades with 100% SLA’s on the latest technology. Move some or all of your workloads and position your IT personnel up the stack to bring more value to your users and the business.