State Of IT 2021: Strategic Technology Budget and Trends

Covid-19 has been the greatest challenge to lives, livelihoods, businesses, and corporations in 2020. Heading into the post-Covid-19 era, companies must be intentional about their organizational practices since unprecedented challenges can realign organizational goals now and into the future. In 2021, companies will need to rely on technology more than ever. After the pandemic, there will be no such thing as "resuming normalcy." The state of IT in 2021 will broadly weigh in on strategic technology budget and trends.

During the remote workforce rush, IT staff everywhere quickly deployed technology to maintain business continuity. The significant move to work from home policies drove shifts in hardware, software, and services spend and will continue to impact organizations' flexible working arrangements indefinitely. As organizations find new ways to operate and drive growth, these strategic trends will allow businesses to differentiate themselves from their competitors.   

Study the Market Optics 

Is your business versatile enough to adjust to the latest market trends? The pandemic forced organizations to work remotely, and the turnover, though challenging in the beginning, employees later adjusted. 76% of businesses are now contemplating long-term IT changes, while another 50% wish to retain flexible work policies.   

What does this mean for your business? As you create your 2021 financial year budget, focus heavily on technology because the remote workforce would not be possible without advanced communications technology. Organizations have learned how to pivot from in-person meetings to digitalized processes and functions by adopting new software and tools. 56% of organizations plan on growing IT spend focusing on the need to upgrade outdated IT infrastructure.   

Outsourcing IT Tech Team 

17% of businesses plan to move to an "as-a-service" model, and 35% have or plan to accelerate the migration of workloads to the cloud. Managed hosting, managed storage and backup, and managed hardware support will account for most managed services spend in 2021. Your business-critical functions--servers, firewalls, remote offices, remote employees, line-of-business applications, spam filtering, and more-- are essential to your operations now more than ever. Partnering with an outsourced IT firm can provide your organization with solutions to meet your specific needs, giving you the time and expertise necessary to keep technology from disrupting productivity.   

Cybersecurity 

The pandemic has increased the movement where employees connect personal devices on corporate networks or use company devices on their home networks. With heightened cybercrime, the adoption of a wide range of newer security solutions are expected to increase. There will be significant growth in implementing security training tools, anti-ransomware solutions, dual-factor authentication, monitoring systems, cloud protection, and security solutions implemented by human intelligence machines within the near future. All organizations need to train their employees, apply regular updates and patches, and set up reliable and secure backups.   

Another area that needs protection is cloud computing and storage. Fraud operators are increasingly attempting to gain access to business and corporate networks, both cloud-based and on-premise. Where you store, your information is crucial. If you only focus on internal security and neglect the external storage and data, your network is not as safe as it needs to be. Protecting a network from hackers requires a layered approach, which is why it is a good idea to transfer the headache to an expert who will know what to do.   

New Way Forward 

With the shift to working from home unlikely to end in 2021, improving your office security position and remote / home users is critical. We hope for a normal return, but the new normal must include improving security on your network. Improving security can be challenging, so giving the IT department the budget they need to improve is essential. Surviving 2020 is commendable, and you should be pleased. Cybercrime is on the rise, do not allow it to be your downfall in 2021. 

Are you looking for a strategic technology partner? Do you need help deciding where to spend your IT budget? Total Computer Solutions can help you plan your IT strategy for 2021. Request a FREE Consultation by calling 336.804.8449 or email info@tcsusa.com. If you have any questions about our service, do not hesitate to contact us.