At the moment, it’s easy to separate the world into before and after COVID-19.
Things are no different in enterprise IT. The information technology world has responded to the recent upheavals, making the IT space a different place to be in 2021.
Struggling to keep up with the changes? Here’s the state of IT 2021.
Table of Contents
Industry Developments
While the IT industry is (naturally) defined by technology trends, there are also a couple of shifts to note in the non-tech side of the industry.
Business Fulfillment, Not Wish Fulfillment
One of the most interesting shifts we’ve seen in the IT industry is the shift toward practicality.
In the past, IT services have often been pitched as wish-fulfillment or basic outsourcing. These often failed to meet in the middle to offer businesses solutions to practical, day-to-day business operations.
Many vendors have noticed that trend and switched gears. They’re now responding to the need for less idealized solutions. In doing so, they’ve become immediately more relevant to business owners.
The Skills Gap
As reliance on IT increases, the skills gap only widens.
Many employers report problems finding candidates to fill IT positions. In turn, that can affect a whole business, top to bottom, and cause a business to fall behind its competitors. The skills gap has attracted more attention than ever in the post-COVID world.
Key Technologies
The IT space grows more complex by the day, but we can look at a few key technologies defining 2021.
Virtual Meetings
The poster child for the post-coronavirus world, virtual meeting software has dominated the IT discussion in the last year or so.
Just take a look at Zoom, which has gone from being a competitor in the virtual meeting space to a literal household name. That’s the leader of the pack, but virtual meeting software of all kinds is now the bedrock of the industry.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is no longer the industry’s hottest buzzword, but its quiet relevance is still growing. Like Zoom and its ilk, cloud computing has also benefited from the social impact of COVID-19.
With businesses moving to remote working—some permanently—cloud computing has become an essential part of the modern enterprise IT package.
The AI Revolution
As if to bring us full circle, there’s the AI revolution. Although AI has long been one of those idealized solutions, the daily reality of AI is here and it’s more potent than many can even imagine.
We’re not talking about sapient software (yet), but AI algorithms can supplement almost any business process. The next wave of automation has already begun. AI is the foundation of the future of IT.
Information Technology in 2021
It’s a strange time for information technology. IT is no longer the newfangled thing in business, but that’s only a testament to how essential and intrinsic enterprise IT has become. Liberated from its novelty, the IT industry continues to expand daily.
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