The virtual contact center is here to stay. The transition to remote operations has been so successful that 77 percent of customer service organizations surveyed recently by Deloitte are either adopting or accelerating their work-from-home programs — and 80 percent plan to close their physical contact centers entirely.

One of the great challenges of remote work is that at-home employees are quite likely to encounter technical problems they can’t resolve themselves. They need responsive IT support to remain productive, but only the largest organizations are likely to have the resources necessary to provide around-the-clock remote support for scattered workforces.

A fast, reliable and secure Wi-Fi network is a business imperative, providing the connectivity necessary to support mobility, collaboration, IoT, edge computing and other important IT initiatives. It is such an entrenched technology that analysts say it now generates an annual global economic value approaching $5 trillion.

Cybersecurity officials warn that the worst of Log4Shell exploits are yet to come.

Federal cybersecurity officials say there have been few successful exploits of a critical vulnerability in a widely used logging utility for Java-based software. It may only be a matter of time, however.

IT Modernization is key to reducing risk and driving improved business outcomes.

Many organizations today are trying to meet 21st-century business requirements with 20th-century technology. Outdated systems make up nearly a third of the typical organization’s technology stack, according to a Vanson Bourne survey, and 80 percent of IT leaders say failure to modernize these systems will limit long-term growth.

Safeguarding data against loss, theft or corruption has always been one of the most critical functions of IT organizations. However, the process has become far more complex over the past several years. With the continued transition to cloud, mobile and remote working, the days of simply establishing a secure perimeter around a single, monolithic data repository are long gone.

Email remains the most common business communication and collaboration tool, far outpacing phone, text and video usage. The average office worker now sends and receives approximately 140 business emails each day, and analysts say usage continues to grow by about 7 percent annually.

For decades, companies spent most of their IT security resources on technologies and strategies designed to keep intruders out of their networks. The 2020 SolarWinds hack has inspired a shift in that philosophy, with increased emphasis on detecting and responding to threats that have already penetrated perimeter defenses.

The past two years have been great for business — if you’re in the cybercrime business. Economists say cybercrime now generates at least $1.5 trillion in revenues every year, roughly equal to the annual GDP of Russia. It is now more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined.

Co-managed support services help relieve the strain on overextended internal IT teams.

The largest enterprise organizations often have the necessary resources to fully staff an in-house IT department. Meanwhile, small businesses with tight budgets usually find it more cost-efficient to outsource IT services to a third-party provider.