Print.IT Reseller - issue 68

01732 759725 4 BULLETIN Top IT trends for 2020 Netwrix, a vendor of information security and governance software, has announced the release of the Netwrix IT Trends 2020 report, which identifies the top priorities for organisations in 2020 based on a global survey of 1,045 IT pros. Maintaining data security was listed by 74% of respondents in the UK. In addition, 30% named data privacy. To help achieve these goals, 39% of respondents plan to work on increasing cybersecurity awareness among employees. Streamlining IT operations is also a top goal. To increase operational efficiency, 70% of UK respondents will be automating manual tasks and 35% plan to integrate their existing solutions. Digital transformation was named by 57% of the UK organisations, and 52% have cloud migrations planned. Adhering to compliance standards is a priority for 39% of UK respondents. This relatively low number might indicate that they realise that compliance is a natural by-product of a thorough and continuous approach to cybersecurity. The skills shortage will be addressed through IT education and new hires. To gain the cybersecurity expertise they need, about 30% of UK organisations plan to educate their current IT staff and 22% expect to employ additional IT talent. www.netwrix.com Head to the cloud An event involving comms specialists Avoira and Rocom and manufacturer Avaya, hosted at Manchester United Football Club, showcased how cloud collaboration platforms are empowering digital transformation – as millennials take a growing impact on the workplace and shape future technology trends. The event illustrated how organisations can gain a competitive edge through digital transformation and the cloud – with live product demonstrations on how to improve productivity through collaboration technology. The audience heard how a new world of ‘consumption’ is dawning, fuelled by half the workforce being made up of millennials by 2020 – who have different expectations of tech. www.avoira.com Fresh insights on targeted attacks Barracuda, a provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, has released a new report with key findings about business email compromise attacks. The latest report, titled Spear Phishing: Top Threats and Trends Vol. 3 – Defending against business email compromise attacks , reveals new details about these highly targeted threats, including the latest tactics used by cybercriminals and the steps organisations can take to help defend their business. www.barracuda.com/spear-phishing- report-3 Tools to work effectively Research from Kyocera has revealed that the large majority of public sector staff feel that their organisational workspaces are ill-equipped, impacting their capacity to effectively complete their work. This is subsequently contributing towards challenges in attracting and retaining staff. The research, conducted by GovNewsDirect to survey the views of 406 staff across 348 public sector organisations, explored the attitudes and perceptions of staff towards how their organisations operate and their culture. The results of the survey showed a clear correlation between organisations’ working culture and staff performance and retention. When asked if their organisation is fully equipped with the workspace tools and devices to carry out work efficiently, only 13% of respondents ‘strongly agreed’, whilst almost a quarter (23%) disagreed. Alongside this, 75% emphasised their organisations’ struggles in attracting and retaining staff, which underlines the potential impact of a lack of these tools. However, the research also provided some cause for optimism. 61% anticipate that their organisations will provide the right tools and devices to work efficiently within the next five years. In addition, respondents suggested that organisations that implement BYOD policies and new technologies such as cloud computing, will enhance staff productivity and morale. Many also felt that updating workspace tools and embracing digital transformation would offer a significant advantage when recruiting new talent. kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk CompTIA and Google team up Technology industry leaders CompTIA and Google’s Grow with Google initiative to create economic opportunities, are teaming up to address growing employer demand for tech support specialists. The two organisations are offering a co-skilled badge of completion to individuals who successfully complete the Google IT Support Professional Certificate program and earn their CompTIA A+ certification. The dual credentialed badge can be posted on LinkedIn and used in job searches to catch the eye of potential employers. www.comptia.org The war on cyber crime A survey of 1,032 IT workers in full or part-time employment, carried out by technology services provider Probrand .co.uk has revealed that more than one in five (21%) don’t actually know what a ‘cyber-attack’ constitutes. Used as an umbrella term, ‘cyber-attack’ is used to cover everything from a simple phishing email, right across to a server attack, however, many IT workers have never seen or understand what the actual detail of an attack actually looks like. Almost half (43%) of the IT workers surveyed admitted to being unaware of how to defend their company from a cyber-attack, with one in three (32%) relying on external agencies for crisis support. Furthermore, only 12% of respondents admitted to knowing what their company’s business continuity plan fully constitutes. www.Probrand.co.uk