Backup is not the most glamorous of IT functions. It doesn’t impress your customers, or your employees, for that matter. It’s not easy to connect the dots between backup and the bottom line. But backup is one of the most important IT functions that few people think about.

Cloud adoption is relatively straightforward. It generally refers to the implementation of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions such as Microsoft 365 or Salesforce.

Cloud migration is considerably more difficult. It refers to the process of moving an existing on-premises application to a cloud platform.

When organizations are looking to design and implement an A/V system, they seldom consider the long-term maintenance and management of the solution. They’re concerned about how the system is going to function — and, of course, the total cost of the project.

As unified communications solutions continue to evolve rapidly, organizations should follow best practices to protect their investments.

Unified communications is now a part of almost every company’s technology stack. By seamlessly blending a collection of once-independent applications, UC solutions deliver the cohesive communication and collaboration capabilities necessary to support increasingly decentralized operations.

Organizations should start with a thorough assessment of their existing IT environment before undertaking a cloud migration.

The public cloud has become a mainstream business resource. According to the 2024 State of the Cloud Report, 97 percent of organizations use public cloud services, with 89 percent of those using multiple clouds.

The business case for A/V systems has been well established for years. They deliver proven reductions in travel costs and offer a uniquely immersive way to engage users and share ideas and information. Still, many organizations considered them to be “nice-to-have” tools that were used only occasionally.

Many small to midsize businesses (SMBs) are eager to take advantage of the transformative power of AI. They’re prioritizing investments in systems and services that can support AI applications and workloads.

Storage, by contrast, seems far more prosaic.

IT teams are tasked with identifying and fending off cyber threats before they can damage the organization’s IT assets. However, a record total of 40,704 new vulnerabilities were identified in 2024, a 30 percent increase over 2023. Almost half of those were critical or high severity, 31 were zero-day exploits, and 129 are widely exploited.

Many organizations are faced with the need to upgrade their servers to support advanced applications. Many are also looking for ways to avoid the upfront costs and effort associated with buying, installing, maintaining and managing server hardware.

One option is to use a public cloud service and “rent” the service provider’s infrastructure.

Are business partners creating security risks for your organization?

Organizations often provide business partners and vendors with access to IT systems to perform certain tasks. While this can help you improve operational efficiency and transparency, research has shown that letting third parties access your network, especially those systems that house sensitive or confidential data, creates serious security risks.