Five Items to Consider for Modernization

Modernization: The concept isn’t new, but the form factor may be. This is due in most part to the consumption models of cloud, SaaS, and hybrid offers that are now available. Modernization has taken many shapes over the past 20 years because of the technologies that are available at any given time.

Machine learning is changing the way the world thinks and operates. Let’s face it, when the words “Machine Learning Algorithm” present themselves in a room full of peers, everyone takes a deep breath. Some are confused by the thought of math; others are thinking, “Oh no, which algorithm do we use for this problem?”

The return to the office—and the hybrid workplace—are hot topics for C-level executives across the nation, as companies decide how and where team members will work going forward. But creating a new way to work, in which some people work 100% in the office, some work 100% at home and others do a bit of both, presents a challenge for employers. How do you start? Who works from where? How do you set up your offices differently today?

Healthcare IT vendor Allscripts recently faced a significant and costly upgrade for its operating system environment. At the same time, its premises-based contact center system was up for annual maintenance renewal. Allscripts decided to take the opportunity to simplify contact center operations and move to the cloud—a move that was in line with its general commitment to cloud migration.

With public cloud adoption becoming the way of life for the increasing number of organizations looking to solve business challenges with remote working, questions about its security implications are inevitable. However, security has many different meanings and challenges in the public cloud with native solutions.

There is an old saying that states, “Take care of your house and let others worry about theirs.” This might be valid in the pre-internet world, but with so many dependencies and relationships that have been created between partners and third-party suppliers, the “trust but verify” motto has become commonplace—or has it? Companies are only as strong as their weakest links. Creating a strong cybersecurity program internally is not enough, as the program should include all aspects of business in which data is vulnerable.

When people talk about endpoint modernization, everyone assumes that we’re referring to the elimination of hard physical phones. My response to that is a big MAYBE! If you’re telling me that you’re eliminating hardphones to enable a collaborative architecture that more easily supports a remote and mobile-first user-base, then you had me at hello. But sadly, the response I usually get is “We’re looking to cut costs.” And there, you lost me. I always suggest you recheck your math.

What role does the IT department play in your business? Does it contribute to strategic initiatives, or does it mostly provide day-to-day support for your users and systems?

Over the years, we have seen a shift from the concept of traditional IT, where a relational database was used for everything, to the public cloud. As the rate of generation and the demand for data continues to grow at an exponential rate, many businesses now face the challenge of not knowing how to cope with the rapid changes while having so much data at their disposal. Users that once dealt with Gigabytes (GBs) of data find themselves now having to learn how to work with Petabytes (PBs). This goes to show that in order for businesses to continue to excel, they need to remain proactive and evolve along with the ever-changing world of technology.

Healthcare: If any industry or vertical landed on the map more than ever this past year, it was healthcare. We’ve talked to more healthcare customers than any other vertical during this time, and it makes sense why: healthcare has touched all of us in some way or another this past year. Whether someone has been ill, needed checkups, or is now getting vaccinated, it has or will touch all of us.