'Sloppy Digital Stampede' which was 2020, and what it means for 2021

Back in February, data security firm Asigra issued a warning to the IT community and service providers about vulnerabilities that could creep through remote monitoring and management platforms.

In the early days of the epidemic, tech companies tried to introduce new services, announced price cuts and eventually capitalized on businesses that found themselves in business, only matching the pace of proliferation of COVID-19 Were.

Data security vendors were part of the wave that introduced RMM with a tightly integrated backup solution. It was an attractive option for small businesses who suddenly realized how unprepared they were to meet the needs of a remote workforce. But Asigra's executive vice president, Aaron Farajun, wrote on the wall: Customers going this route were risking disaster.

"While the single-vendor approach and single-user interface are appealing, the bad guys will take advantage of it," he said, noting that just days after one of the world's most prominent network monitoring solution providers, SolarWinds announced its security update as accidental Announced the removal of malware from. “This slop is rife. It is the same with backup software. It is notoriously under-protected with MFA. "

The slope was broader in 2020. To keep the lights on and business operations, organizations were forced to make rapid changes to their digital transformation investments, leading to timeliness, high risk tolerance, and acceleration of "Go Digital" projects. There is no end in sight for the demand for remote access, SD branch, SD-WAN, and collaboration devices. IDC Canada says that more than 75% of Canadian organizations will adopt on-demand infrastructure by next year during a "digital getaway", and through 2021 two out of five organizations will have to redress the technical debt. This clean job is expected to run until 2022.

At the end of 2018, Accenture reported that only 35 percent of companies achieved their expected results from the cloud. This number has barely risen and today stands at 37 percent. However, businesses that are taking advantage of IT channel partners - which are typically large enterprises according to Accenture - reported receiving full benefits of their cloud initiatives (48 percent) more often than those who ( 35 percent) are not.

Last year, Accenture invested approximately $ 900 million in training and development for its workers. Over the past three years, it has trained more than 300,000 employees in new technologies - including automation, agile development and intelligent platforms. In Canada, Accenture supports various organizations focused on building digital skills - NPONE and employment among them. Jeffrey Russell, president of Accenture Canada, says that every single sector will be heavily clouded.

"We are accelerating our M&A pipeline so that we can better serve both the Canadian and global markets," Russell said, pointing to Avei's recent acquisition of Ottawa, a provider of consulting and technology services. "They will complement our federal and health care business."

On the front lines, solutions and managed service providers tried their best to withstand a barrage of new customers trying to establish a remote workforce for the first time or with tools they had never optimized before.

"Microsoft teams have exploded," said Craig McQueen, vice president of innovation at SoftGov. The Toronto-headquartered MSP is a big piece of the pie when it comes to Microsoft business in Canada. Collaboration tools such as teams (such as Microsoft and Vibex branded products, for that matter) are easy to conduct basic meetings, he explains, but are difficult to master and configure for specific situations.