Neil Taylor
Senior Project Consultant
12th January 2021
We asked Neil Taylor, Senior Project Consultant at Northdoor: “What are the main IT drivers that will affect enterprise businesses in 2021?”. Neil puts forward his predictions:
2020 saw huge change throughout society with IT playing an important role in allowing us to carry on as near to normal as possible. However, as we have already seen in the first few weeks of 2021, things are not going to miraculously go back to pre-COVID conditions.
Indeed, many of the changes are here to stay.
As hybrid workforces become common, companies will have to look at their legacy solutions
Although we begin this year with another lockdown, we will see over the course of 2021, offices reopening and staff returning the corporate environment. It will not be all employees though and many companies will have to deal with hybrid workforces.
Companies will look to implement technology that can compare and measure the productivity levels of office based and home workers. This will ensure that both sets of employees are able to continue to work in these new conditions and remain productive, no matter where they are based.
As we all know many of the solutions implemented by companies in 2020, were introduced quickly in order to ensure business continuity and allow home workers to operate effectively in a new environment.
In the rush to put together effective ways for employees to work from home many companies have implemented technology that was not previously on their radar. Indeed, whilst many of these solutions have existed for a number years, they were designed for occasional working from home or for a small number of employees, certainly not for an entire workforce, all working remotely.
2021 should provide an opportunity for organisations to take a step back and review what solutions have been implemented over the last few months. Whilst some of these solutions may have done the job in the short term, as working from home is likely to be a permanent situation for many, the technology in place has to be robust and suitable for the long-term.
Increase in cloud adoption
With so many working from home there will be less reliance on office space and as a result on premise servers. 2021 will see more companies moving into the cloud. During the pandemic, many will have had their hands forced into bringing in cloud technology to ensure business continuity.
Equally, some would have been reluctant to spend on change projects whilst there was such uncertainty. In 2021, as things get back to some kind of normality, levels of IT spend should reach previous levels. As a result, more companies will look to migrate to the cloud in order to work effectively with hybrid workforces. Any reluctance from senior decision makers about the cloud may have disappeared in 2020, as they realised that the cloud could be a trusted solution, and indeed, could be the answer for effective working in the future.
Drive for green technology
2021 will also likely see an increased shift towards green IT, whether this be forced by regulation and Government, pressure from customers and suppliers or more of an emphasis on environmental issues.
We have already seen the Government push their green agenda on to motorists and the car industry with electric cars and targets to reduce CO2 emissions. However, the IT sector has been generally ambivalent about this side of technology, unless it was associated with significant cost savings. I believe that in the next few months we are likely to see green credentials being more and more important. Companies will need to spend money on choosing environmental solutions even when they are not the cheap option, as societal and regulatory pressures increase on the IT sector.
About Neil:
“I’ve been working in IT roles for around 30 years now and have been at Northdoor for over 27 years. Having started as a graduate trainee I’ve seen a wide variety of technologies from Laptops/Desktops to Servers and Cloud solutions. My role is equally varied from Support, Implementation, Network/Systems Management, Consultant, Presales Tech to Service Delivery management, and some others too. I would say each of these has been a key role over the years but today it’s to try to adapt to whichever role supports the task I’m on, and that can mean on some days going through many of those roles.
My focus with customers is to help them by designing technologies solutions that are best fit for their business. Then help them understand, by simplifying the complexities of what they are being presented, the technology in solutions and how these solutions work for them. Finally making sure we deliver solutions as designed, within budget and on time with minimal impact to their day-to day business.”