How has 2021 been for you and your business? We hope it’s been a successful year and that technology has aided, not hampered, your success.
There have been several aspects of IT that have been big this year for businesses. We’ll take a look at what was predicted and what we’ve found has been the most useful for our clients.
Technology to work from home
It was always going to be big this year: remote working, home working, work from anywhere. Whatever you want to call it, since lockdown, as a nation we’ve had to get up out of our city centre or usual workplace office chairs and get busy elsewhere instead. At home during lockdown, and, well, anywhere where there’s an internet connection, we’ve got to work during various lockdowns, and not lockdowns.
Nearly 60% of British workers work remotely in first half of 2021
It’s quite an astounding figure, considering that in 1998 only four million of us worked some of the time from home. And despite many companies not quite prepared to let their workforce abandon the office entirely, statistics gathered reveal that workers now increasingly look for remote and hybrid working options when they search for jobs. And, around 57% of British workers want to be able to work from home.
Managers surprised by productivity
Hybrid and home working has not all been plain sailing, and there are real issues of loneliness and isolation when it comes to working away from the buzz of a colleague-filled office, but in the main, studies show that managers have been surprised by staff productivity.
A whopping 71% of managers said they were surprised by workers’ productivity, with around 50% saying they thought workers were more productive at home than in the office.
Project management apps monitoring work
With project management tools like Trello and Asana, as well as messaging and conferencing tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom, teams have been able to collaborate just as effectively as in the office, over projects, with managers also being able to stay in full visibility of work and outputs.
It’s all enabled by the cloud
We couldn’t have got to where we are now in hybrid, work-from-anywhere, collaborative working without the cloud. Businesses migration to the cloud has been huge in 2021.
In 2021, the percentage of corporate data stored on the cloud rose to 50% worldwide.
“During 2021, we’ve done so many migrations to Microsoft 365 for businesses. And moving them to a more modern desktop: Windows 10 Pro so that devices can be encrypted. It works so well; Microsoft have really nailed it and that helps businesses hugely.” Shaun Wilders, Cultrix Managing Director
Cybersecurity remains a big deal
With the rise in remote working and earlier than usual adoption of technologies, there have naturally been increased opportunities for cybercriminals to take advantage of holes in our online protection. This continues to be an issue for 2022, but as we become more aware of our personal data, there is a growing move by individuals and companies to take cybercrime seriously.
“The National Cyber Security Centre exists to make the UK a safe place to live and work online, and we recommend all our clients regularly check in with the advice given. Take Five, is a national campaign to help raise awareness of cybercrime amongst businesses. Everything we do for clients when it comes to migrating to the cloud and remote working, has cybersecurity built in – that’s a given. We never take our eyes off business continuity, safety and security for our clients.”
Watch this space…
For 2022 we envision even more migrations to the cloud for those business that have not yet adopted the technology, and more ways to stay safe, increasingly operating with such sensitive personal and business data online.
“It's really work from anywhere now. You can uproot your desktop/laptop, take it anywhere, plug it in and as long as you have internet, work exactly the same as if you were in the traditional office. It's completely location independent, with access to everything you need to do your job regardless of where you are.”
So, from the Cultrix non-traditional work-from-anywhere headquarters, we would like to wish you a safe and happy new year, of remote, or otherwise, working for 2022. We hope it continues to be another good year for operations for all our clients and fellow business.
The Cultrix Team
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