2021 Business and Tech Predictions

6. The majority of businesses will use cloud-based storage infrastructure (i.e., on Azure or AWS) by the end of 2021: 39% already did before the pandemic accelerated cloud migrations, and an additional 20% plan to by 2022. Source: Storage Trends in 2020 and Beyond

7. Cloud-first IT infrastructure will become the new normal. Even before the “remote work revolution” prompted businesses to speed up cloud plans, 45% of businesses were already planning or considering migrating their entire server environment to public clouds. Source: 2020 State of Virtualization

8. Connectivity will continue to be a bottleneck for some remote workers. 72% of businesses say insufficient internet bandwidth (either in homes or in the office) limits remote worker productivity. Source: COVID-19’s Impact on IT

9. Perhaps that’s why more than one-third of businesses will be interested in testing emerging low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet services — such as SpaceX’s Starlink — primarily provide low-latency broadband connections to underserved rural offices and workers. Source: Spiceworks Community poll on use cases for low-earth satellite internet

10. Networking upgrades ahead: 45% of businesses plan to upgrade to newer Wi-Fi or Ethernet standards by 2022. The most popular upgrade destinations will be 10GbE and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax). Source: Networking Trends in 2020 and Beyond

11. Because many organizations aren’t adequately securing work-from-home environments, cyberattacks on remote workers and devices are predicted to increase by 20 to 40 percent, with typically under-resourced small businesses being more vulnerable. Source: Top 7 Cybersecurity Trends CISOs Must Watch Closely in 2021 via Toolbox.com

12. As more corporate data and devices leave the protective boundaries of corporate firewalls, demand for new security solutions will surge in 2021 — even while organizations cut back in other areas. The majority of organizations plan to adopt employee security training tools, anti-ransomware solutions, hardware-based authentication, and breach detection systems within the next two years. Source: 2021 State of IT