ENTERPRISE 2021 - Transformative Technologies Post Pandemic Top 3 CIO Priorities for
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ENTERPRISE
2021
A SPECIAL ISSUE BY FRONTIER-ENTERPRISE.COM
FEATURES
Transformative
Technologies
Post Pandemic
INTERVIEWS
Top 3 CIO
Priorities for
2021
TECH PREDICTIONS
The New Hybrid
ENTERPRISE MAGAZINE ISSUE #1 Normal
www.frontier-enterprise.com
ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE
SPONSORED BY:
FROM THE EDITOR TABLE OF CONTENTS
Features
04 Managing the Covid-19 Pandemic with
Enterprise world. Many had predicted that the Digital Technologies
pandemic would have passed by now, SINGHEALTH
2021
but countries are still in the midst
of vaccinating their populations,
08 2020: A Strange Yet Transformative Year
and enterprises are still looking to EDITORIAL FEATURE
managing editor R AHUL JOSHI set in place measures that will have
contributing editor JOHN TANNER consequences for years (or decades)
14 The Digital Backbone
to come. EQUINIX
designer PATRICK SALONGA
was an unprecedented Enterprise 2021 is a special-issue
16 Continuous Transformation and the
publisher JIMMY YU 2020 year, and in some magazine from Frontier Enterprise Importance of Plan B
publisher CARESHMA R AMROOP ways marks a clean that aims to decode 2020 and unpack
STARHUB
client services manager L AR A FERNANDEZ break from the past. The pace, the the possibilities of 2021 - it seeks to
operating style and the business take stock of the changes we've seen
contact phone +65 6815 2996 models that enterprises were used and attempts to predict what the 18 Agility and Growth
email CONTACT@JICAR AMEDIA.COM to underwent permanent change in next year will bring. We've spoken to MTR FOODS
several verticals. Many offices were some of Asia-Pacific's top technology
editorial office emptied and the entire workplace and industry leaders in this issue — 19 Securing Digital Infrastructure
BITGLASS
135 MIDDLE ROAD, BYL ANDS BUILDING, went virtual in some cases. we hope it provides insights for our
#05-03, SINGAPORE 188975. readers and practical tips on how to
At the forefront of this change transform their own workplace in 20 The Telco Industry Boom
www.frontier-enterprise.com was technology. Standard operating this strange but promising year. COMVIVA
www.smehorizon.com procedures were cast aside as
www.jicaramedia.com improvised policies and makeshift 22 Moving Fast in FMCG
processes were overlaid on the MTR FOODS
Neither Jicara Media nor any of its sponsors or old workplace. Dozens of gadgets, Rahul Joshi
partners take any responsibilty for the opinions devices, and platforms came in to Head of Content, Jicara Media
23 People and Solutions
expressed in this issue. construct an entirely new virtual LENOVO
way of work, while cloud budgets
ramped up and CISOs scrambled 24 Helming the Risk Office
to make sense of application and VISA
network security in a nebulous new
27 Preparing for Another Pandemic
MANIPAL HEALTH
28 The Real Estate of Hybrid Work
JLL
30 The Outlook for Japan
WHITE & CASE
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ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE
S I N G H E A LT H
Managing the
Covid-19 Pandemic
with Digital
Technologies
Benedict Tan, Group Chief Information Officer for SingHealth, takes us through
some of the technologies deployed in managing the COVID-19 pandemic and
how digitalisation played a key role in managing the spread.
n the final month of 2020, the number of 5. Strict Classification:
I COVID-19 cases globally exceeded 77 million, Rigid adherence to the World
with around 1.7 million deaths thus far and a Health Organisation’s (WHO)
death rate of around 3%. However, Singapore has been definition in classifying
one of the countries that has been able to effectively COVID-19 deaths.
manage the mortality risk of the disease. With a death
rate of just 0.05%, it has performed far better than the Singapore’s COVID-19
global average, and has one of the lowest rates in measures can be described as
Southeast Asia and the world. an adoption of the “Hammer
and Dance” approach, which
According to a Reuters report released on 16 was first shared by health
September 2020, the success of Singapore in managing writer Tomas Pueyo on the
the virus can be attributed to five main factors: online platform Medium.
This approach involves the The SingHealth team (L-R): Thng Chiok Meng, Head Data and Digital Governance; Benedict Tan, Group Chief Digital Strategy Officer;
1. Infection Demographics: 95% of COVID-19 cases are initial ‘hammer’ - a series of Kevin Tay, Group Chief Information Officer; Mr Chua Kim Chuan, Chief Information Security Officer.
amongst the migrant worker population, who are aged in more extreme measures such
their 20s and 30s and with less risk of falling critically ill; as travel restrictions, lockdowns, and wide-spread public healthcare workload. The group consists of four Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Between February and
testing - to get the virus under control, before the public hospitals, five national specialty centres, three May that year, Singapore saw 238 cases of SARS and 33
2. Detection: Aggressive contact tracing and mass subsequent ‘dance’, where restrictions are gradually community hospitals, and eight polyclinics. Their deaths.
testing; lifted as the virus numbers are stabilized and controlled. flagship hospital, the Singapore General Hospital, was
voted as one of the top ten hospitals in the world in 2020 “During SARS, we were caught a little off-guard”,
3. Hospitalisation: All COVID-19 patients above 45 At the Healthcare Frontiers 2020 Conference, by Newsweek magazine. admitted Tan, “But since then, we have introduced
years old or with underlying conditions are cared for in Benedict Tan, Group Chief Digital Strategy Officer at various digital workflows and technologies in
hospital facilities; SingHealth spoke about how the organisation has been preparation for similar situations in the future. We had
able to effectively manage the COVID-19 situation by Lessons from Handling the SARS Epidemic already implemented these digital tools and solutions
4. Mandatory Mask-wearing: It has been compulsory adopting digital workflows and technologies. before the COVID-19 situation, and it really helped us a
for everyone to wear masks in public places since April COVID-19 is not the first time Singapore has been lot in managing the situation.”
2020; and SingHealth is Singapore’s largest group of healthcare faced with a nationwide virus outbreak. In 2003,
institutions and handles close to 50% of the country’s the country was facing an outbreak of Severe Acute The first solution is their Automated Visitor
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ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE
consultation capabilities through platforms such as Agency. SingHealth is no exception. Tan mentions that “at
Zoom. The learning gained when developing these These workflows and processes were also supported SingHealth, the smartphone is used for contact tracing,
A combination of cloud technologies made it easier for SingHealth to quickly by adopting standardised equipment and infrastructure, patient registration, dissemination of educational
adapt to the new solutions available and provide an allowing the organisation to rapidly scale up their materials, and even telehealth.”
computing, a well-architected effective range of healthcare services. services without any delays in set-up and testing. For
software stack and agile thinking example, the Singapore General Hospital was able to These advances have also increased the quality of care
quickly convert one of their multi-story carparks into a for patients themselves. For example, robots have been
methodologies meant that Digitalising Workflows fever screening area to deal with the surge of potential deployed at COVID-19 containment facilities to provide
Singapore and SingHealth were cases during the early onset of COVID-19 in March 2020. medical services to patients without exposing healthcare
SingHealth also took the initiative to digitalise many workers to additional risk. These robots are able to enter
able to develop minimum viable of their existing workflows and processes. With the large these facilities easily to consult and engage with residents
products quickly, deploy them number of healthcare facilities and services under its Harnessing the Data and New Technologies in on their medical status to ensure that their well-being is
umbrella, emphasis was put on standardising the process 2020 taken care of.
in real scenarios, and iterate and platforms used across the entire organisation.
the product to increase its Whilst the lessons learnt from SARS provided Instant messaging systems through platforms such
To help with managing patient records, SingHealth SingHealth with a strong digital foundation to manage as Telegram have also been set up to keep all patients and
effectiveness. developed a single Electronic Medical Record (EMR) COVID-19, SingHealth’s success in managing COVID-19 residents informed and aware of the developing situation.
system that was shared across all facilities in the also drew from its use of data and the new technologies Named the Dr Covid Chatbot, it provides educational
organisation. This allowed their staff to see patient that were available. As part of the global fight against information in different languages for all residents, and
records from across their family of medical facilities, the virus, many in the medical community have asks them simple questions to check on their physical and
Management System, which allows hospitals to control adding to the ease and timeliness of managing patient come together to share various digital data tools and mental well-being throughout their containment period.
the number of visitors to their inpatient wards. The conditions and ailments. It also helped provide a platform dashboards, allowing everyone to learn from each other’s
system is configurable, allowing them to adjust the for doctors to consult one another and collaborate experiences in dealing with the virus. In the hospitals, technology such as tablets and
number of visitors allowed in. For example, whilst in patient care, and serve as a single repository for iPads have also been deployed to allow patients the
four visitors per patient were allowed in normal data analytics. At the national level, Singapore has This data has allowed Singapore and SingHealth ability to track and monitor their own conditions
circumstances, the number was reduced to only one implemented the National Electronic Health Record to make informed decisions on the most effective and communicate with nurses and doctors when
visitor per patient during the COVID-19 outbreak to (NEHR) system where all public and some private health measures to be implemented. For example, whilst there necessary. Together with the use of medical robots, these
maintain safe distancing measures. and healthcare agencies submit summarised health were initial debates on the merits of mandatory mask technologies significantly increased the uptake and
records of the population. This platform has extended wearing in Singapore, the policy was introduced and acceptance of telehealth amongst patients and doctors,
Secondly, SingHealth, together with the Integrated the sharing of patients’ health records across Singapore’s enforced quickly once new data and research showed its with many using video consultations to stay in touch
Health Information Systems (IHiS) and the other public health system. effectiveness in controlling the spread of the virus. with their patients.
healthcare clusters, implemented a Staff Surveillance
System, or S3, portal. This was a system that allowed for A common system across the cluster of medical These data-driven decisions were supported through Tan raised this increasing acceptance of telehealth
all SingHealth staff, including their doctors and nurses, facilities was also set up to handle patient appointments a range of other technologies available. A combination of as just one example of the rapid acceleration of digital
to key in their temperatures twice a day. This helped the and registration, allowing them to quickly pull out cloud computing, a well-architected software stack and transformation due to COVID-19. “We are seeing an
organisation monitor the health and well-being of all patient information, review conditions, manage patients agile thinking methodologies meant that Singapore and accelerated pace of innovation”, he adds, “and it has
staff, ensure that there were no fever clusters, diseases remotely, and offer a range of care options to meet SingHealth was able to develop minimum viable products almost demolished many people’s preconceived mindsets
or infections spreading through the organisation, and their needs. It also helped them reduce visits and clinic quickly, deploy them in real scenarios, and iterate the and helped them adapt to this new normal.” ■
immediately isolate and lock-down any such cluster that sessions when issues such as safe distancing or safety product to increase its effectiveness. The Internet of
may form. measures arose. Things and Internet of Medical Things played a huge role
in areas such as patient management in foreign worker
The organisations’ telecommuting protocol was Digital communication platforms were set up dormitories.
also set-up, as they realized early on during the SARS internally to help with information-sharing across the
outbreak that working from home was important in organisation. An intranet website called Infopedia was However, one major development that underpinned
continuing business-as-usual, and these protocols were created, which allowed SingHealth to share information many of the management strategies was the ubiquity
quickly operationalised for a majority of staff in the event to all its staff members and help them manage the of the smartphone. Across Singapore, the smartphone
of any lockdown or safe distancing measures situation, and communicate routine instructions on has played an integral role in the country’s contact
changes or updates on the situation. The tightening of tracing protocol, with all residents expected to log their
This was further supported by the development communication channels was also strengthened by movements through the SafeEntry or TraceTogether
and strengthening of web conferencing and video utilising the TigerConnect secure messaging tool. systems developed by the Government Technology
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F E AT U R E
2020: A Strange Yet
to a survey from Censuswide hard way. A recent investigation by the for robotics companies to make
and Rackspace, IT budgets are Hong Kong Consumer Council found their business case for autonomous
spread across many groups within that retailers were often delivering service robots doing everything from
organizations, making it difficult perishables like meat, fruits and disinfecting shopping malls and
Transformative Year
for IT decision makers to maintain ice cream that arrived at customer hospitals to bringing food to your
visibility into where and how their doorsteps spoiled, overripe or melted. restaurant table.
IT budgets are being spent. Also,
many organisations are not properly Meanwhile, online travel agencies Perhaps an overlooked yet ironic
governing and optimizing IT costs. like Expedia and Tiket.com had the aspect of COVID-19 is its impact on
In short, 2020 was a year of forced change for enterprises as they scrambled to keep their businesses problem of customers requiring the so-called ‘gig economy’, which
Consequently, said Jeff DeVerter, refunds or changes in their bookings. includes Grab drivers, FoodPanda
running and customers served. But while it was rough going for most, COVID-19 had the ironically
head of CTO Solutions at Rackspace, delivery people, Airbnb hosts, or
positive impact of making the case for digital transformation and the need to put CX at the center of “Many businesses have found out A good year for some people who bid for jobs on sites like
the hard way in 2020 that their TaskRabbit and Upwork.
the business. Written by John Tanner, Contributing Editor at Frontier Enterprise.
IT systems, resources and spend Despite such challenges,
tracking weren’t ready for COVID.” however, e-commerce was perhaps Overall, 2020 was a mixed bag
here can be no doubt that get the spread of the coronavirus enterprises. unsurprisingly one of the few for gig-economy workers. Business-
T the biggest story of 2020 in under control, many enterprises Customers really are king business sectors that actually wise, COVID-19 meant more business
the enterprise technology were essentially forced to adopt WFH By May, the strain was already thrived in the year of COVID-19. for on-demand delivery drivers
sector was COVID-19. Indeed, the if they wanted to stay operational. showing on the bottom line as many Meanwhile, enterprises needed Amazon is the one that makes (although of course they also face
coronavirus dominated and disrupted enterprises either laid off workers, to make sure they weren’t losing the most headlines, of course, but higher risks just by being out and
virtually every aspect of our lives in That in turn meant IT managers cut salaries or froze scheduled pay customers as a result of stores overall the e-commerce sector got a about in the midst of a pandemic),
some form or other, in or out of the suddenly found themselves raises to cut costs (though it’s worth closing. Early in the pandemic, boost from the pandemic in terms but it also meant less business for
office – so much so that there was confronted with a new set of security adding that salary cuts and freezes enterprises were seeing significant of both revenue and new users. In ride-hailing services like Grab, Uber
practically no such thing as “out of issues: how to ensure that employees were also happening at C-level, not spikes in requests for support, Singapore alone, Accenture Applied and Lyft, and costly cancellations for
the office” as work from home (WFH) attempting to access sensitive data just the front line). amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For Intelligence estimates that the hosts who rent out their properties
became the new normal for many could do so securely from home – a example, Zendesk’s Benchmark island’s digital economy will rake on Airbnb and Vrbo.
organizations. daunting task if your employees are On the other hand, HR Snapshot showed a 20% year-on- in almost $500 million as a result
using their personal laptops and departments who were still hiring year increase in global tickets for of COVID-19. A separate report Moreover, COVID-19 highlighted
We're so used to COVID-19 by now iPads over their home broadband faced difficulties in connecting with the week of March 15-22. According from Google, Temasek and Bain the disparities between gig workers
that it’s almost easy to forget what connections rather than company- furloughed employees looking for to Zendesk, the three biggest & Company says that COVID-19 and traditional workers when it
a shock to the ecosystem the initial issued laptops connecting to a VPN. work elsewhere. This prompted categories by industry were: remote boosted Southeast Asia’s digital comes to things like health insurance
lockdowns were for many businesses. CHROs from Accenture, Lincoln conferencing and learning (with economy past the $100 billion mark. and qualifying for financial relief
Most business continuity plans Meanwhile, bosses and IT Financial Group, ServiceNow and a 216% surge in ticket requests) , Of that, e-commerce was the largest from government programs aimed to
(BCPs) were designed to sustain the managers found out the hard way Verizon to create and launch an airlines (199%), and grocery brands vertical, growing 63% to reach $62 help small businesses struggling to
average company for perhaps a few that WFH isn’t simply a matter analytics-driven platform called (39%). billion in 2020. survive in the pandemic.
days, maybe a week, but not several of technology, but employee People + Work Connect, which pools
months. Consequently, BCPs buckled management. Employees used to a non-confidential and aggregated E-commerce sites such as Meanwhile, COVID-19 gave a DX saves the day
as supply chains were disrupted team-building office environment workforce information by categories Coupang, Sendo and Bukalapak boost to digital payments in 2020,
and both customers and employees now had to cope not only with the such as location and experience to also found themselves prioritizing potentially setting the stage for While COVID-19 impacted
stayed home. Even videoconferencing stress of being cooped up to avoid the help HR managers spot potential customer experience and service, accelerated adoption as DX initiatives different sectors in different ways, by
and collaboration platforms like coronavirus, but also the challenges hires looking for work. While it’s not least because so many people also accelerate. Online banking also the latter part of the year a clear trend
Zoom, DingTalk and WeChat Work of maintaining the psychological not yet known just how effective turned to such sites to purchase saw a significant boost in usage in had emerged: for the enterprises that
found themselves caught off-guard division between work and personal the platform has been overall since everyday essentials while they were Singapore. weathered the COVID-19 storm best,
as demand for their platforms spiked time, and overcoming the paranoia its launch in April 2020, Accenture in lockdown and/or quarantine. digital transformation made all the
almost immediately as employees that the boss may think they’re not says over 265 companies from 95 Customer service wasn’t just a matter That said, the financial sector difference.
found themselves having to work working hard enough. countries have joined as of December of ensuring items were in stock and overall had its share of pandemic-
from home. 2020, with more than 400,000 roles transactions went through – they related challenges, from an escalation Indeed, the objective of DX is
By March – at which point the now on the platform. also had to work with supply chain of cyber-attacks specifically targeting to make enterprises of all stripes
Indeed, WFH blindsided many WHO officially designated the partners to ensure that deliveries financial institutions to the difficulties agile and flexible enough to adjust
enterprises across the region, as spread of the novel coronavirus as a IT departments were also were made on time. of establishing and maintaining quickly to sudden market shifts and
remote working wasn’t a common pandemic – it was painfully obvious disrupted by COVID-19 – not just trusted partner relationships over disruptions – to include, as it turns
practice in Asia at the start of 2020. that COVID-19 wasn’t just the flu, or in terms of having to support This was especially crucial for Zoom rather than in person. out, a global pandemic shutting down
As more governments started a repeat of SARS. It was also obvious WFH arrangements at scale, but online grocery deliveries – a fact that supply chains and forcing customers
imposing mandatory lockdowns to that the pandemic was impacting also budgeting for it. According Hong Kong consumers discovered the COVID-19 also provided a platform and employees alike to stay home.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, many in 2021 – hence the various claims a forecast, it is reality,” Sreekanti Security Technology and Strategy, technologies they have. SolarWinds.
organizations who had been dragging from industry watchers that WFH and says. “I believe we will shift from Asia Pacific, at Akamai.
their feet on DX initiatives have now other COVID-related policies will be a cloud-first mandate, to a cloud “According to Gartner, the “With tightening budgets and
found sufficient motivation to get the new normal. everywhere mandate.” “As traffic continues to grow, edge abatement of revenue uncertainty other pandemic-induced operational
cracking on it. By June, a survey from security will become increasingly in late 2020 will allow for the challenges, organizations and tech
GlobalData and Telstra found 93% of Many CEOs are at least open to the Keerti Melkote, president and critical to ensuring a strong security resurgence of more predictable teams will have no choice but to fully
businesses were recalibrating their idea of hybrid working environments founder of Aruba (a Hewlett Packard posture while balancing the need for IT spending by CIOs, but social embrace automation to optimize
digital transformation strategy to where employees have the option to Enterprise company), adds that speed, quality and resiliency we have distancing will continue through environments and reduce the time
at least some degree (with remote work from home. Indeed, they may IT teams will take the next step in come to expect when we’re using the 2021, capping office capacity at 40%,” spent on monotonous tasks,” Taylor
working a top priority, naturally). A have to if they want to attract new their transformational journey to Internet,” he says. Giese explains. “IT teams will need says. “This will include automating
separate survey from Twilio reported talent. A recent report from Deloitte the ‘intelligent edge’ and begin to to get even more creative with how time-consuming tasks like
that a whopping 97% of enterprise found that up to 47.8 million people create the requisite infrastructures. David Hughes, founder of Silver they’re spending their money, with workstation patching, configuration
decision makers said the pandemic in the ASEAN-6 nations (Indonesia, “As they do so, it won’t just be about Peak, predicts that the ‘new edge’ will IT spending expected to decrease. changes for network devices,
accelerated their company’s digital Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, connecting constituents to the cloud. evolve to bring together the principles Though organizations don’t need to compliance checks and remediation,
transformation strategy by an average Thailand, and Vietnam) could shift to It will be about how users and IoT of SD-WAN, SD-Branch and SASE put digital transformation on pause, server patching, and more.”
of six years. A more recent report entirely remote work over the next few devices are connected, and about (Secure access service edge) in 2021, there will be pressure for them to do
from IBM Institute For Business Value years. using data generated at the edge to which he says will significantly more with less, leading them to focus
found that the COVID-19 pandemic power new experiences and business enhance security posture and yield on strengthening the tech already in 2021 will see
accelerated digital transformation for In fact, most employees in Asia outcomes.” operational efficiencies. place to optimize businesses.“
59% of organizations in Singapore, hope those policies will remain the emergence
while 66% said they were able to in place long after COVID-19 is There’s also a 5G component to the Hughes also expects that edge Unfortunately, this will also apply of the “software-
complete initiatives that previously under control. A recent survey 2021 edge paradigm, as 5G rollouts strategies overall will be reevaluated to CISOs, says James Forbes-May, Vice
encountered resistance. from Skillsoft found that 89% of continue and telcos set their sights on in light of the ‘new normal’. “It’s now President – APAC for Barracuda. defined
workers across APAC want at least enterprises as the next big revenue commonly recognized that the global enterprise”,
When looking at those numbers, one COVID-19 practice adopted opportunity, says Frank Feldmann, pandemic has forever changed the “Security executives will need to
it’s worth remembering that some permanently, whether it’s flexible VP of the APAC Office of Technology at way we work and conduct business. achieve the same level of security or in which the
industries have been pushed harder working hours, remote working, Red Hat Asia Pacific. In 2021, enterprises will step back more with tighter budgets in 2021,” he software-defined
than others to embrace DX – perhaps more time dedicated to their physical and review what they learned in the says. “There will also be a continued
none more so than the healthcare and mental well-being, increased “5G, IoT and edge computing can past year and evolve their remote shortage of cybersecurity talent in principles of
sector, which not only had to deal with family time (47%), or a reduction be applied to smart fleet management, work strategies, applying a longer- the region despite the recession and SD-WAN will be
the pandemic on the front lines, but in unnecessary work meetings and wherein edge devices can monitor term perspective of the workplace. COVID-19 job losses.”
also had to guarantee IT and service outside commitments. critical vehicle systems and access This will include eliminating applied in other
delivery internally as remote working the 5G network to send alerts, track trade-offs between security and David Hughes is somewhat more areas like the
and social distancing measures kicked Here are selected vendor the flow of goods, plan routes, and user-experience and providing more optimistic, predicting that 2021 will
in. Experts attending Jicara Media’s predictions for 2021 worth betting facilitate communications between a consistent experience as users work see the emergence of the “software- data center and
recent Healthcare Frontiers 2020 on. a vehicle and any IoT-enabled entity from home, the road or the office.” defined enterprise”, in which the campus LAN.
Conference discussed how digitization that may affect or be affected by the software-defined principles of SD-
in healthcare is more crucial than ever The year of the edge and 5G vehicle,” Feldmann says. “We foresee DX acceleration (with caveats) WAN will be applied in other areas
– and that the pandemic has made this more APAC organizations and cities like the data center and campus LAN. One area primed for greater
necessity painfully clear. The network edge made a adopting 5G, IoT, and edge computing As mentioned earlier, digital automation is the IT help desk, she
difference in 2020 as enterprises in 2021 to become more connected transformation initiatives are “In 2021, these software-defined adds. “As monitoring and service desk
Break out the crystal balls embraced remote working and the and efficient. Emerging use cases generally expected to pick up speed in silos will begin to come together into integrations become more prevalent,
cloud to keep workers and customers for the three technologies include 2021. On the other hand, that doesn’t a broader software-defined enterprise tech pros will start the process of
By all reliable accounts, the alike connected. That trend will analyzing sensor data for predictive necessarily mean they’re going to architecture,” Hughes says. automating ticket assignments, asset
pandemic will continue through much continue in 2021 as the cloud maintenance and quality control, throw unlimited amounts of money updates, configuration management
of this year, even as vaccines are rolled becomes more crucial to enterprise augmented reality systems for at such projects and invest in all More automation (i.e. AI) database (CMDB) updates, updates to
out – between the reported virus operations, says Kumar Sreekanti, remote operations, and personalized new technologies. The disruption of customers, and more.”
mutations and the fact that countries Chief Technology Officer and Head ‘connected experiences’ for customer COVID-19 places several caveats in A key component of making all
with out-of-control infection rates of Software at Hewlett Packard and supplier engagement.” how managers approach their DX this work will be automation powered Andy Watson, Senior Vice
are struggling with proper vaccine Enterprise (HPE). strategies from here on out. by artificial intelligence and machine President and General Manager for
distribution, the chances of a swift end The increased focus on the edge learning – so much so that even Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China
to COVID-19 in 2021 are slim. “Three years ago, we predicted will make it more mission-critical, For a start, says Sascha Giese, one enterprises that have approached at SAP Concur also predicts that AI
the enterprise of the future would which in turn means edge security of several Head Geeks at Solar Winds, automation technologies with caution and automation will play a bigger role
Which means that many of the be edge-centric, cloud-enabled, and will become extremely important, IT managers are going to be expected will have a change of heart, says in workplaces in 2021 as the pace of
lessons learned in 2020 will still apply data-driven. Today, that is no longer says Fernando Serto, director of to do more with less and optimize the Chrystal Taylor, another Head Geek at digital change increases.
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“Many companies were in the vaccinations,” Tiviti says. solutions means companies are to be effective,” Gan says. “Previously held notions of inside/ Barracuda also reminds CISOs
early and mid-stages of digital automatically kept up-to-date with the outside will need to be discarded, and that humans remain the weakest
transformation when the pandemic He also expects AI to be critical most cutting-edge technology, without At the same time, enterprises will IT professionals will need to treat link in the security chain, and there
struck. They pivoted and sped up for real-time supply and demand having to worry about manual updates search for ways to strike the right every environment with the same level are several attack surfaces specific to
that transformation to address matching, which could have mitigated or replacing hardware,” he says. "As balance between work and leisure to of protections, irrespective of where COVID-19 that employees and CISOs
unprecedented global disruption and or even prevented the supply chain we move into a new year that likely ensure maximum productivity, he or who a user is. With a zero-trust alike need to watch for: COVID check-
customer needs, and now they will disruptions of 2020. Tiviti also will bring more uncertainty, multi- adds, noting that not every employee access approach, security becomes in apps; Contact tracing apps; and
be expected to continue operating predicts that AI will transform the tenant cloud solutions will become likes working from home – in fact, more dynamic and adaptive to meet COVID-19 vaccine.
within this new context,” he says. “As hiring process in the unpredictable job critical technology differentiators, a recent Barco survey found 63% of the changing needs of companies well
businesses maintain hybrid remote- market of 2021. helping businesses remain agile and respondents enjoyed WFH less than beyond the next year.” ESET offers some additional new
working models and anticipate other innovative, while also reducing their they did at the start of the pandemic. security threats to watch for in 2021:
potential disruptions in 2021 and Cloud cloud cloud (not to be e-waste footprints and helping them James Forbes-May of Barracuda
beyond, the role of automation and AI confused with multi-cloud) move closer to their sustainability “Given that we are expecting agrees that there will be an increased • Ransomware with a twist –
use cases in the workplace will grow. targets.” hybrid working to continue next focus on zero trust to secure pay up or your data gets leaked:
These may include enabling efficient As mentioned earlier, enterprises year, businesses need to encourage distributed enterprises and remote With ransomware attackers seeking
day-to-day communications between are expected to dive deeper into Challenges for the new hybrid the less tech savvy workforce to workers. greater leverage to coerce victims
knowledge workers doing their jobs hybrid cloud as part of their DX workplace stay motivated and focused as well into paying, as well as upping
from home and automating invoicing strategies. That will spur increasing as prioritising employee safety and “To reduce the security risk in the ante in ransom demands, the
and expenses to keep valued partners adoption of cloud-native apps, says The acceleration of DX in 2021 will well-being. Organisations need to [hybrid] environments, a zero-trust stakes are increasing for victims.
paid and to preserve budgets.” Red Hat’s Feldmann. necessitate a shift in corporate culture relook their company policies and approach will be the big focus for Exfiltration and extortion may not
and mindset – long identified as think of solutions to overcome these organizations in 2021 to provide be new techniques, but they are
Feldmann of Red Hat Asia “Cloud-native applications crucial elements of any successful DX challenges be it emotional well-being, secure, reliable and fast access to certainly growing trends, says Tony
Pacific agrees that we’ll see a lot can respond quickly to change, strategy, says Red Hat’s Feldmann. or sustaining the workplace culture cloud or on-premise applications Anscombe, ESET Chief Security
more automation in 2021 as APAC adapting and evolving with new and practices.” and workloads from any device and Evangelist: “Companies are becoming
organizations strive to reduce features and functionalities released “With APAC businesses location,” he says. “This ensures only smarter, deploying technologies that
complexity, lower operating costs incrementally more quickly, reliably recognizing that digital Don Weinstein, Corporate Vice the right person, with the right device, thwart attacks and creating resilient
and create an additional layer of and frequently with less risk,” transformation is driven by a President of Global Product and and the right permissions has access to backup and restore processes, so the
automated insight to optimize he says. “As more organizations change in mindset, we foresee Technology at ADP, agrees that company resources.” bad actors need a ‘Plan B’ to be able
business processes. For example, some adopt hybrid cloud to increase the more organizations embracing employers need to focus on the well- to monetize their effort and build
APAC banks are already using robotic scalability and availability of apps, open principles, processes, and being of their workers. Weinstein Security threats (old and new) resilience into the attack, rather
process automation (RPA) to approve those that also embrace cloud-native culture in 2021,” he says. “By doing expects this to be driven by a than being reliant on a single form of
credit card applications, automate development are in a better position so, organizations can nurture number of trends in 2021, including Which of course leads us to threat.”
payments, and validate claims. to build and run responsive, scalable, collaboration and empower employees a prioritized focus on resilience and the various security threats that
and fault-tolerant apps on any cloud.” to bring their best ideas and selves safety, advancing diversity, equity and enterprises will enjoy in 2021. The • “Fileless malware” attacks:
However, he warns, “they must to work, which can help accelerate inclusion within the workforce, paying short version: more of the same, plus these kinds of attacks piggyback on
have an enterprise-wide automation This in turn will drive container innovation and address changing close attention to culture and social more. the operating system’s own tools
strategy instead of deploying adoption in 2021, he adds. “With customer and business requirements responsibility, a dynamic approach to and processes and leverage them for
automation in silos in order to fully containers, developers can more in an agile manner.” WFH, and streamlining compliance- For example, says Forbes-May, malicious purposes. “Fileless threats
benefit from the technology.” easily release and update apps as a related tasks to alleviate the burden cloud security has never not been have been evolving rapidly, and it is
collection of loosely coupled services, At least some of that effort will go on HR and payroll departments while important, but it will become expected that in 2021 these methods
Drilling down into specific use like microservices, instead of towards sustaining the new hybrid work leveraging aid. more crucial in 2021 as enterprises will be used in increasingly complex
cases, Fabio Tiviti, Vice President of having to wait for one large release. environment by building effective and accelerate migration to cloud services and larger-scale attacks,” says Camilo
ASEAN at Infor, predicts that AI will Recognizing that containers can help secure hybrid workforces, says Gan That said, as the hybrid workforce and switch to SaaS-based apps over Gutiérrez Amaya, ESET Senior
become especially mission-critical for accelerate innovation, 45% of APAC Ta Loong, managing director of Barco blurs corporate and personal on-prem implementations. Security Researcher.
the healthcare sector in 2021. respondents from [Red Hat’s] 2021 South East Asia. boundaries, this will raise security
Global Tech Outlook expect more challenges and necessitate accelerated “While riding this wave of cloud Raen Lim, Area Vice President
“By applying machine learning to than half of their workloads to be “Workplaces are expected to be adoption of zero-trust access in 2021, adoption, don’t let security take a for South Asia at Splunk, agrees that
real-time global data sets, healthcare containerized in the next 12 months.” more flexible as hybrid working says Fernando Serto of Akamai. back seat due to budget and resource 2020 was “a year of unprecedented
professionals can more accurately models become mainstream. These constraints,” he advises. “Make sure challenge for IT security teams” due
track contact between staff and Infor’s Fabio Tiviti also expects workplaces without boundaries “As hybrid working arrangements you know who is responsible for the to remote working, and expects that
infected patients, enable accurate multi-tenant cloud architectures will also increase vulnerabilities gain momentum in 2021, the security of infrastructure, workloads CISOs can expect the bad guys are
diagnoses, utilize predictive analytics to be the new gold standard for and security concerns. Solutions lines between different security and assets in the cloud. Many don’t fully coming up with new tricks to exploit
to track personal protective equipment enterprises. adopted in the next year must address environments such as home/work, understand the responsibilities of both this reality to infiltrate company
(PPE), optimize workforce allocations, the security, connectivity and inside/outside will continue to blur, their organisation and public cloud systems. ■
and develop more effective and lasting “Using multi-tenant cloud productivity needs of the organisation becoming even more fluid,” Serto says. provider, which could leave gaps.”
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ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE
EQUINIX
The Digital Backbone customers building hybrid and multi-cloud solutions to manage large data flows and ingestion from various
at Equinix, it seems obvious that previous on-premise sources.
Tejaswini Tilak, Senior Director of Solution Marketing and Mac Lewis, Director-Strategic Alliances private IT infrastructure and application management
made adapting to the pandemic extremely difficult. How will enterprises be impacted by the pandemic
APAC at Equinix, take us through the necessary steps for transformation in a cloud-enabled world.
Also, these companies could not wait years to gradually and the post-pandemic reality?
change, it needed to happen immediately, and some
As you head into the office at the beginning of number of on-ramps each has located at Equinix IBX’s businesses suffered because they could not take [TT] The rapid global shift to remote work and
2021, what are your top 3 priorities for the year? globally. These on-ramps enable enterprise customers advantage of the agility and adaptability cloud-based time spent at home has demonstrated the increasing
to directly connect critical applications, that require low solutions offer. importance of infrastructure in today’s digital
[Tejaswini Tilak]: latency and secure connections to databases, data and businesses. Collaboration tools like Zoom, messaging
1. Customer centricity – some things have changed both hybrid and multi-clouds, supply chain partners and Lesson learned were understanding how cloud is apps like MS Teams and Slack, and cloud-based email
permanently due to COVID-19, in particular the shift to customers, while reducing complexity of the physical now at the core of any business, enabling engagement were already being deployed in organizations at some
digital. Clients are accelerating their move to digital as networking elements. locally, regionally and globally; but also with level. The current environment has driven a surge in
the advantages of digital have become quite clear. So, it’s customers, suppliers and other eco-system partners, the usage of those tools along with document sharing
important to stay focused on customer needs and help Not all cloud applications require high speed, real- to scale and change as unpredictable circumstances and collaboration resources such as Box and One
them take advantage of these digital shifts. time, low latency connections, however, critical business arise. Drive. Another critical application from an enterprise
applications and workloads are heavily dependent upon perspective in the remote working environment is VPN
2. Innovation and creativity – COVID-19 forced us to these elements to operate as customers expect. The second lesson is the need for various IT providers to gateways -- as secure corporate network access has
challenge some of the old norms and ways of working. work together, to design and execute an enterprise outcome. become more important.
But it also led to a lot of creative ways of adapting to the What were some of the biggest lessons of 2020? Transformation or migration to the cloud cannot just be
blended physical and digital worlds. We should continue undertaken by cloud-trained specialists for example. Due Service providers and similar businesses
to take advantage of the opportunities created due to new [TT] Lessons for businesses around the world centre to regulatory or audit reasons enterprises cannot refactor mirroring their practices were early adopters of digital
and digitally-enabled ways of doing work. on navigating their digital strategies to stay competitive all applications, or do not wish to move these, such as transformation. With the advent of COVID-19, these
in the new normal. As many global businesses have rebuilding existing databases from scratch, or migrating all digital leaders have experienced incredible surges in
3. Focus on wellness – Wellbeing should implemented shelter-in-place policies and enabled their SAP applications to the cloud. Therefore many other areas interconnection bandwidth growth, as they have the
remain top of mind. We can’t expect people employees to work remotely, this has shifted traffic from need to be considered when an enterprise is looking at its infrastructure in place to scale with the changes in demand.
to be back to 100% productibity and back corporate networks to their homes. cloud strategy. Potentially, up to 16 different technology According to our latest market research, GXI Vol.4, service
to “old normal”. Everyone is going to go partners may be required. providers show the highest growth rate of interconnection
through an adjustment period, so it’s Given the dynamically changing environment, bandwidth capacity, with a 5x increase in the forecast
important to focus on wellbeing. businesses need the ability to quickly ramp up - adding What do you see as being the most impactful over the next four years, driven by greater demands from
new locations, connections and applications – for technologies coming into play over the next year? enterprises at the edge. Enterprises are also transforming
[Mac Lewis]: business continuity. They need to continue assessing infrastructure to match service providers’ best practices,
Due to the accelerated requirement by their situational risks/needs, evaluating business [TT] I would emphasize two as being critical reaching over a 50% growth rate in 2023.
our enterprise customers to transform their continuity options and scenario planning. infrastructure pillars for enterprises as they look
current on-private premise applications for competitive advantage and resilience beyond the Data centers are part of the core digital infrastructure.
and IT infrastructure to a cloud-based The surge in digital use has never been so drastic in pandemic: cloud native infrastructure, and an edge-first Every time we post on social media, purchase a book
environment, we are: such a short span of time. The response to the enormous paradigm. online, stream a movie, send an email, etc. these
demand for increased bandwidth has demonstrated our communications move through a data center. The
Tejaswini Tilak 1. Focused on how we help these dependency on data centers and internet infrastructure [ML] We are seeing more customers looking to stay pandemic has reshaped internet usage patterns within
customers who are looking to migrate to to support us during and lead us through the crisis. competitive, increase productivity, explore new market a short period of time - we noticed that data exchange
Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud or opportunities and deliver better customer service surged over 40% in Q2 2020.
Oracle OCI. Many of Equinix's customers play a key role in the through the adoption of analytical cloud services, AI and
infrastructure supporting the health, financial, government ML capabilities. Enterprises are looking at multiple cloud [ML] In realty I think the ‘new norm’ is very apparent,
2: Identifying critical applications and and technology sectors, which are proving critical to services offerings from multiple cloud providers, and and already in play, from the way enterprises are needing
workloads the customer needs to migrate, maintaining public health and stabilizing the economy. in doing so, are needing to interconnect various public to manage their customer delivery, production, supply
rehost, refactor, retire/retain as key cloud services to access various workloads and data chain management, customer service and interactions
transformation aspects we can assist with. When you think about digital experiences -- such as this across multiple clouds in near real-time. to a far greater focus on internal employee welfare
virtual interview we are conducting from my home office, programs and communications.
3: Always keep the customers' business the online classes our kids are taking because of school To enable this fully, organisations need to access
requirements as the focus; identify and closures, and the streaming movies that are keeping us various databases, and data sources, which often reside All of these require a shift from traditional IT
work with multiple partners to execute the entertained during social distancing – all of these require in multiple locations -- including in other companies. solutions to cloud-based architecture, and where critical
desired business outcomes. internet connections to happen behind the scenes between applications and workloads need to be physically
companies. Those connections happen at Equinix. We are seeing far more Cloud2Cloud requirements connected and with very low latency to Azure via
The reason Equinix works with these from enterprises, which require low latency, very quick ExpressRoute, AWS via DirectConnect, Oracle OCI via
Mac Lewis four big cloud providers is due to the [ML] From the accelerated uptake we have seen of scalability, and multiple interconnection points able Fastconnect or Google Cloud via GCI. ■
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ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE
S TA R H U B
Continuous Transformation and
the Importance of Plan B The biggest lesson for
me is to have a plan
applications for them.
Companies that have
invested in and are quick
COVID-19 has impacted our
society, but it has also made us a
more aware society, focused on
to deploy technologies sustainability, diversity, well-being,
An interview with Kee Yaw Yee, Chief Information Officer, StarHub. Yaw Yee is responsible for the B that is ready to be to practical usage will and pursuing aspirations in a way
IT strategy, IT infrastructure, systems and applications required to support StarHub’s business activated and deployed strive in 2021 and that is seamless and digital. StarHub
beyond. wants to be part of this journey,
growth and customer goals. when disaster strikes enabling people and companies
and business and life to work with us and grow their
How has your own digital ecosystem. We are
normality is disrupted. workplace transformed expanding our enterprise business
The ability of businesses over 2020, and by pursuing growth in cybersecurity
what are your with Ensign InfoSecurity, cloud,
to operate in an precise workplace data analytics and software-as-a-
alternative paradigm is transformation service (SaaS) with Strateq, as well
strategies for 2021? as merging digital 5G services and
key for businesses to solutions with our core connectivity
survive. Except for critical products. Enterprises are expected to
business operations and continue investing in their network
activities that can only infrastructure and adopting cloud
can improve our resilience and be conducted on-site, our workforce and security services, data analytics
posture to deal with pandemics has been working remotely since and visualisation, Internet of Things
by adopting a more collaborative the pandemic hit. Starting this year, and data centre-related services as
and collective community mindset our employees are returning to the part of their digitalisation journey.
instead of pushing for individual office in a split-team arrangement
survival. Nobody is safe until while observing safe-distancing Business activities are resuming
Photograph courtesy of StarHub.
everyone is safe – this applies at the measures. We have successfully safely in phases, and it is still
country level. Only when the world transitioned into business-as-usual the early days of Singapore’s
leaders think and act in the interests work arrangement. reopening. Enterprise customers,
of the globe will we stand a chance being cautious, are deferring the
of weathering another pandemic Remote working and implementation of certain projects,
onslaught. conferencing tools are also evolving leading to some level of delays.
as the demand for such software Travel restrictions are still in effect,
platforms has increased. We are impacting mobile prepaid and
What do you see as being the discovering more and better ways roaming services. We are monitoring
As you head into the office at the 2) Improve and optimise our The biggest lesson for me is to have most impactful technologies for employees to engage with one the situation closely, and we expect
beginning of 2021, what are your operational IT with the aim to lower a plan B that is ready to be activated coming into play over the next another and external parties. My to see recovery – which may be
top 3 priorities for the year? our cost of doing business and deployed when disaster strikes year? What are your broad charter for my team this year is to uneven – as the COVID-19 situation
and business and life normality is technology predictions for 2021? continue to raise the bar on creating stabilises gradually in the future. ■
s the CIO for StarHub, 3) Improve our cybersecurity posture disrupted. The ability of businesses to user-friendly platforms for business
A my top priorities are as as we progressively expand our operate in an alternative paradigm is Amid a prolonged pandemic collaboration.
follows: digital business footprint key for businesses to survive. When situation, I believe technologies that
businesses survive, people can at enable business to proceed as usual
1) Progress the IT transformation least maintain their way of life if they will continue to maintain our way of How will your vertical be
programme that we embarked on What were some of the biggest continue to be employed. life. For example, drones, AI driving impacted by the pandemic and
last year, by keeping the vision lessons of 2020? Have we robotics and automation, and data the post-pandemic reality? What
and accelerating the momentum to learned these lessons, and is The world has survived a few analytics – while these technologies will the “new normal” look like
refresh our IT stack in order to drive the globe ready for another major pandemics but not without have existed for a while now, we will for your industry?
our digital strategy pandemic? significant casualties. I believe we find new, more practical and urgent
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ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE ENTERPRISE 2021 MAGAZINE
MTR FOODS BITGLASS
AGILITY & GROWTH Securing Digital
Ganesh Shenoy, Chief Financial Officer & Vice-President -
IT, at MTR Foods, details the multiple levels of workplace
Infrastructure
transformation involved in managing disruption. Jonathan Andresen, Senior Director of Marketing at Bitglass, explains precisely
Photograph courtesy of Bitglass.
what security strategies are needed to safeguard distributed workforces, and the
are available on tap. I think those across the globe
organisations which always had • Tele-medicine and remote rise of Secure Access Service Edge in enabling the future of work.
strong Business Continuity plans diagnostic capability which will
(also testing and refreshing them enable remote hospitals to get the benefit ith the office gradually trust network access security
constantly) were the organizations of medical experts for challenges in W entering the home, it forming their three main pillars.
which flourished and grew medical diagnosis and treatment has become increasingly This full suite of services allows
exponentially. Some of the key important for workers to be able to clients to secure their data regardless
characteristics that businesses need How has your workplace get the data that they need for their of where it resides, what devices
to specifically develop are : transformed over 2020, and work whenever and wherever they are used to access it, or where their that can leverage cloud services and
• Resilient attitude amongst what are your precise workplace want it, and in a secure fashion. users are accessing it from. Together mobile applications to work in a
its employees — a "never give up" transformation strategies for This emphasis on security also with the ability to customise the more productive way.
Photograph courtesy of MTR Foods.
culture — which comes through if 2021? needs to be supported by an agile IT security needs to a very granular
the organization nourishes an open security posture that still allows the level, this allows their clients to At the same time, many companies
As you head into the office at the minded, transparent, an innovative Our workplace transformation is business to be dynamic and adapt employ a strong policy engine that are still exploring ways to create
beginning of 2021, what are your and a “here to win” cultural mindset. at multiple levels. The front end now in implementing the digital tools provides modern security for the connections while working remotely.
top 3 priorities for the year? • Flexible and empowered executes its sales responsibility using necessary to support remote work. entire organisation, and yet retain Working as a team is still a big part
teams with open and clear two-way hand held devices moving towards an This need for both security and the agility to move quickly in their of the workplace, and technologies
hile the pandemic was communication channels up the almost contactless sales process with dynamism means that companies digital transformation and improve that allow real-time collaboration
W essentially a disruption, it hierarchy to ensure that the business its stockists including an automated need to constantly modernise productivity. or video telecommunication have
has triggered new learnings pulls in one direction. claims processing proess. IT infrastructure to support and become critical in supporting
/ insights leading to new ways of sustain their workforce. The Priorities of Digital interaction across physically distant
working which can be leveraged even What do you see as being the The office will most certainly Transformation groups of people.
after normalcy is restored. The top most impactful technologies move to a more flexible "Work from The Rise of Secure Access
priorities for 2021 are: coming into play over the next Home" model as we have worked Service Edge (SASE) What then does this digital The Workforce and Workplace
• Embedding digital and year? What are your broad almost a year on WFH without losing transformation look like? Andresen of the Future
automation tools / processes to technology predictions for 2021? much momentum. “With most companies pre- responds that there are a number
energise the front-end teams pandemic, you typically assume of priorities that Bitglass is helping With the pandemic accelerating
resulting in significant sales Several technologies which were How will your vertical be 10%-15% are going to be working clients with. The first is to help them what had already been a long-term
productivity on the fringe eg: Teams, Zoom etc impacted by the pandemic and remotely. Now, it is suddenly 90%- take advantage of new technologies trend towards mobility, cloud
• Accelerating more workflow have suddenly acquired significant the post-pandemic reality? What 100%,” shares Jonathan Andresen, that can support this process, such services, and remote working,
processes across the business value prominence without which businesses will the “new normal” look like Senior Director of Marketing at as the use of cloud services. With an employers and employees have
chain to move towards a paperless could not have functioned in 2020. for your industry? Bitglass. “With all your business increasing number of organisations also embraced the benefits of these
organization In addition, safety at manufacturing done remotely, architectures need having all their data residing in changes. For companies, remote
• Building a robust IT security workplaces triggered the rollout In the finance and IT functions to shift. We need a flexible security the cloud, the security platform for working has meant cost-savings on
framework as digitised processes of automated body scanners and which I lead, we have moved to posture that can grow with the the company must also be built to operational expenses such as office
scale at a much more rapid pace than devices to ensure early detection of a more digital way of working business and work in this kind of support that kind of architecture. space, and for their workers, many
before infections as well as maintain social in almost all functions which digital environment”. have warmed up to the flexibility and
distancing. Several other technology eliminate the need to work in an Using new technologies and convenience provided by a remote
What were some of the biggest developments in e-commerce, office. However, we have observed One solution that has come to ensuring security all feed into working option.
lessons of 2020? Have we manufacturing, automation will lead that processes and projects which the fore is SASE, or Secure Access the last priority, which is to
learned these lessons, and is to newer ways of interacting with require a more collaborative and Service Edge. SASE combines cloud help companies support a new “Remote working is not going to
the globe ready for another customers / consumers. Some of the engaging mindset (especially R&D, security and networking security modern workforce that revolves go away,” concludes Andresen. “It
pandemic? technology predictions for 2021 are: marketing etc) may require face to into a single platform. Whilst they around remote working. For most will be with us for awhile, not only
• Augmented reality based face meetings. So a blended work had started with a foundational organisations now, their workers because of the pandemic, but because
Disruptions are always great e-commerce sites for apparel, form is what we may finally evolve technology called CASB (Cloud lean heavily on mobile devices such employees like working like this, and
events in history which force fashion accessories etc towards. ■ Access Security Brokers), Bitglass as tablets, laptops, or even mobile companies find it cost-effective. It
everyone to challenge the status • Virtual fairs and exhibitions has built on that success to become phones. Yet, VPNs do not provide the will become increasingly normalized
quo not just for survival but to also which may include multiple discussion a full SASE provider, with cloud speed and scalability required - this in 2021 and 2022, and form a big part
leverage the opportunities that tracks etc inviting experts from security, web security, and zero- increases the need for new solutions of our work-life balance.” ■
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