CV_Fall20_2

VIRTUAL REALITY C OVID-19 accomplished in a matter of months what digital transforma- tion initiatives have been moving toward for years, suggests an annual survey done this summer by IDG for Masergy. With workers moving home (a trend expected to continue post- pandemic) and the ongoing uncertain- ty caused by an unprecedented crisis, enterprise connectivity and network modernization plans were instantly pushed to the forefront of corporate agendas. Nearly two-thirds of respon- dents to the IDG survey, for instance, reported investing more in network infrastructure in the second quarter of 2020 – when employees first shifted en masse from in-office to remote – than they did in the first quarter. Not surprisingly, survey respondents reported giving top priority, and by a wide margin, to building out technol- ogy that enables remote work and collaboration tools compared to other initiatives, said IDG. “We have been doing this survey since 2017,” explained Ray Watson, vice president of innovation at Maser- gy. “We’ve never seen business continuity and global workforce enablement rise to the top the way they do in our 2020 study.” Indeed, IT organizations reacted quickly to lockdowns, turning to remote access technologies and cloud communications technologies to enable business continuity despite closed offices, but those that used legacy networks to make that transi- tion hit snags, said Watson. “Now that working from home is the ‘new normal,’ every corporate network is in the spotlight,” Watson said. “It’s clear that IT departments remain challenged when it comes to turning their temporary remote work setups into sustainable solutions that are globally reliable and, most of all, secure.” TURNINGTHE TRANSFORMATION SD-WAN in high gear heading into ‘new normal’ By Martin Vilaboy 56 CHANNEL VISION | September - October, 2020