Traditionally, IAM solutions have focused on managing identities, not securing them. However, increasingly complex IT environments coupled with a growing array of threats have made identity security a top priority.

In a recent survey, 78 percent of organizations said they plan to increase their spending on identity and access management (IAM) in 2025. These organizations recognize the strategic importance of identity security in preventing ransomware and other threats.

When organizations begin experimenting with AI and machine learning, they typically use public cloud services to avoid the cost and complexity of implementing AI-capable systems. As they transition into full-scale adoption of AI, however, they begin to see the drawbacks of the public cloud.

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.

Meeting spaces have come a long way in just a few years. Not that long ago, conference rooms were furnished with a table and chairs and one screen for PowerPoint presentations. Only the boardroom or executive meeting room had video conferencing, typically a complex and expensive system that saw limited use.

Data is one of the most valuable assets any organization has, but few are using it to its full advantage. Various studies have shown that 68 percent to 75 percent of data goes unused, meaning that it’s collected and stored but never analyzed or leveraged for insights.

What holds organizations back from achieving their objectives? What prevents them from developing innovative products, services or business models?

In many cases, employees are too plugged in to innovate. Always-on communication and a never-ending deluge of information leave them struggling to keep up with the pace of work.

Organizations are adopting generative AI tools to automate tasks and gain new insight into data. Gen AI has the potential to transform operational processes and enable unprecedented levels of efficiency and innovation. However, gen AI also creates new security threats.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a key enabler of contact center efforts to cut costs, improve efficiency and enhance the customer experience. Virtual agents, speech-to-text, intelligent routing, advanced error detection, automated data entry and real-time data analysis are among the many functions enabled by AI. As a result, the AI-powered contact center is becoming “a necessity for companies that want to deliver stellar customer experience and gain competitive advantage,” according to Robin Gareiss, CEO and Principal Analyst at the Metrigy research firm.

There has always been a need to analyze network performance data to understand how to utilize resources most efficiently. This need has only increased with growing numbers of users and devices connecting to the network. However, traditional network monitoring tools have inherent limitations.

Data breaches hit an all-time high in 2019, with an estimated 8.5 billion records exposed in more than 5,000 reported breaches. It may not get any better in 2020 as organizations encounter increasingly sophisticated threats while dealing with chronically short-staffed IT security teams.