Three IT changes to improve your business in 2021

In the Middle East, as around the world, the coronavirus pandemic saw technology leaders tasked with maintaining business continuity in the face of work-from-home developments, data privacy threats and increased cyberattacks. 2021 could accelerate that trend.

With COVID-19 likely to continue shaping the immediate business ecosystem, CIOs will be entrusted with a greater share of the business. Technology leaders will be under greater pressure to deliver big results and performance metrics will be more closely monitored.

Accordingly, for Middle Eastern CIOs looking to stay ahead of the game in 2021, here are three tech-focused resolutions that are easy to implement and could win management appreciation.

Build a security patch management team

Barely two weeks into the new year, Microsoft released a security bulletin patching 83 vulnerabilities and addressing 10 critical bugs. One bug has been patched a second time since it was first covered by Google. While vulnerabilities are often patched before they are exploited, such as a few years ago with WannaCry and Heartbleed, the frequency and scale of new attacks affirms the need for organisations to implement best practices for even the most basic security habits.

In many cases vulnerabilities can be patched before they are exploited, such as with WannaCry and Hearbleed. But keeping systems up to date to mitigate the cost and reputation fallout of such attacks can be a full-time job with around-the-clock monitoring and requires a dedicated service team. Organisations often cannot achieve this critical security level on their own. Partnering with a managed services provider (MSP) can yield quick and measurable results for a fraction of the price required to maintain an inhouse team.

Rationalise IT spending

The revenue uncertainties created by the pandemic have made cost management a key priority. Although Gartner estimates that global IT spend will grow 4.3% to $3.68 trillion in 2021, that is still 3.3% down on 2019. CIOs will come under increasing pressure to demonstrate cost efficiencies while simultaneously realising greater ROI on existing outlay. An MSP can help achieve just these results.

For one UAE client, BIOS Middle East leveraged the cloud to lower costs, improve agility and innovate faster. Key result areas included a 50% reduction in ongoing IT costs, a cap on future capital expenditure, regulatory compliance for IT, and improved critical data protection. Read the case study here.

Centralize helpdesk calls

In every customer-focused industry, service channels are under greater pressure than ever. Across the region, customer service volume is on the rise and agents are now expected to offer strategic advice on complex issues.

Centralising operations across geographies into a single cloud-supported end-user helpdesk can ease the pressure by delivering timely and consistent user experiences backed by the latest knowledge – particularly valuable amid everchanging conditions. BIOS Middle East’s helpdesk operates 24x7x365 and currently supports more than 10,000 users, while providing real-time visibility into incidents, trouble tickets, statistics and fixes. BIOS agents are also equipped to implement a fix themselves.

Each of the strategies above represents a resolution that can be realised quickly and KPI that is easy to achieve. BIOS offer a service called BIOS Assist, which actually covers these three resolutions and more. Included in the service is:

• End point patching
• End point Antivirus monitoring
• 24x7 end user support
• A centralized helpdesk called Vision
• Monthly reporting