In the rapidly shifting world of business technology, new workloads, complex network requirements and evolving cyber threats can overwhelm resource-constrained IT organizations. That’s why an estimated two-thirds of U.S. businesses partner with managed services providers (MSPs) to keep their IT environments operating at peak efficiency.

Small to midsized businesses (SMBs) are the bedrock of the global economy, representing 99 percent of all businesses worldwide and generating approximately 70 percent of the global gross domestic product. While they are often the most vulnerable in times of economic uncertainty, most remain committed to making judicious technology investments that build long-term business resilience.

Unprecedented business, economic, social and geopolitical challenges are contributing to a perfect storm of cybersecurity risks, but few organizations have the resources necessary to deal with the fallout. As cybercrime reaches all-time highs, a new study finds that the global cybersecurity workforce must grow by 72 percent to effectively address the crisis.

Network reliability has never been more important. Organizations across all industry sectors are increasingly dependent on their networks to extend connectivity to highly distributed remote workers, cloud services, edge devices and IoT infrastructure. Meeting those demands often requires upgrading legacy hardware-centric networks to more cloud- and software-driven environments to accommodate growing volumes of users, devices and traffic.

The accelerated adoption of technologies such as cloud computing, automation and artificial intelligence creates enormous operational benefits for most organizations but also contributes to increased network complexity. More than half of IT professionals say they are no longer confident in their organization’s ability to effectively manage this complexity, according to a new SolarWinds study.

It is beyond debate that IT modernization efforts require a well-defined cloud computing strategy. In a recent survey, more than 95 percent of IT leaders said they are aggressively pursuing plans to leverage public, private and hybrid clouds to help meet the future IT needs of their organizations.

Businesses across the globe are expanding their use of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to support hybrid work models, modernize IT environments and improve agility. In the process, many are also inadvertently putting business-critical data at risk.

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.

As we enter National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it is hard to escape the conclusion that cybersecurity has never been more important — or more difficult.

Threats are growing more frequent, sophisticated and costly. Data, devices and other assets keep moving beyond the reach of network perimeter defenses.

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To one degree or another, almost every business today is dependent upon technology. While smaller organizations may not require enterprise-class systems and platforms, they almost certainly are using communication and collaboration tools, networked computers, cloud services and a variety of applications.