The growing risk of COVID-19 infection requires companies to operate remotely. Expanding Cloud access and cybersecurity measures could help avoid a downturn.  

The World Health Organization recently upgraded the coronavirus threat to a pandemic. This designation has global, community, and business implications. The outbreak has forced Italy to shutter wide-ranging business and services. In terms of American companies weathering the crisis, industry leaders must act decisively to maintain operational integrity, and that means determined IT strategies.

Brick-And-Mortar Coronavirus Strategies

It’s crucial for valued employees who travel to work to take precautions that minimize the threat of infection. The Novel Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, can be transmitted from person-to-person contact or passed on through inanimate objects. Because symptoms may not manifest for weeks after contracting the contagion, it may remain active on things such as countertops, desktop computers, keyboards, doorknobs, elevator buttons, and many others. Staff members that are currently working at a facility are advised to sanitize high-traffic spaces, devices and practice washing hands with hot water and cleansers that enjoy a 60-percent or higher alcohol content, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.

COVID-19 Is Now A Cybersecurity Threat

It may be difficult to fathom, but hackers are leveraging public fear of the virus for profit. Since the first outbreak in Wuhan, China made international news. Disgraceful hackers have concocted phishing schemes. A sudden rise in coronavirus-themed websites and frightening direct emails are being laced with malicious applications.

“As the virus spreads across the globe, people are naturally searching online for the latest information and updates on how it might affect them, and what they can do to protect themselves and their families. And as you might expect, cyber-criminals are quick to take advantage of these concerns for their gain,” a Check Point report on COVID-19 cybercrime states. “Hackers around the globe have found the Coronavirus serving them well as an enabler for their activities and are still riding the wave of the epidemic. Our Global Threat Index for January 2020 shows cyber-criminals are exploiting interest in the global epidemic to spread malicious activity, with several spam campaigns relating to the outbreak of the virus.”

Heightened IT employee education and training about COVID-19 schemes are crucial in the coming weeks. Cybercriminals have reportedly been targeting areas that have even small outbreaks of the virus. Their strategy appears to be to manipulate unsuspecting people in a region with phony direct emails that appear to be from health agencies. Schemes include entering personal and credit card information to get a coronavirus test kit. Once you click on a link, digital bandits can take control of your device, penetrate a business network, and raid sensitive data.

IT Can Improve Business Continuity During COVID-19 Crisis

For companies that already allow employees remote access to data and profit-driving networks, taking the next steps to augment and expand this strategy could make a substantial difference. Critical next steps include working with a managed IT specialist to expand Cloud bandwidth and shift additional workers into virtual workspaces. Ranked among the more significant challenges will be increasing the bandwidth on the Cloud.

Fortunately, many providers are already readying for a flood of organizations undertaking this strategy. Along with augmentation, third-party IT experts can shorten the time it takes to supply workers with profiles that include appropriate levels of permissions and privileges.

Having personnel work remotely does come with a certain risk. Cybersecurity protocols can differ from in-house networks substantially when accessing the Cloud. Given hackers are working overtime to take advantage of the pandemic, new users may put your operation at increased risk. Along with adding employees to Cloud-based efforts, it is in every business’s best interest to proportionately increase cybersecurity oversight.

The COVID-19 outbreak has quickly taught the business community that incidents halfway around the world can cause local disruption. The silver lining is that health organizations, government leaders, and captains of industry are working diligently to combat the virus. It is also prompting many to change the way they manage day-to-day tasks by leaning on IT experts to mitigate risk going forward.

Decision-makers will be tasked with keeping pace with emerging trends or falling behind. This IT service management arena is expected to undergo major changes.  

Professionals in the IT service management environment continue to build bridges and influence organizations in a positive fashion. The niche outfits that deliver improved processes, procedures and structures to information technologies in a wide range of sectors have emerged among the most trusted confidants among corporate decision-makers. That’s why an increasing number of CEOs would be wise to consider these IT service management (ITSM) trends and how they could impact business outcomes in the coming year.

Business Intelligence Outpaces Artificial Intelligence

It may seem deflating, but the reality of AI has lagged far behind its promise. Whether AI was over-hyped or hyper-marketed does really matter. What does matter is that it has yet to be the Earth-shattering business tool many had hoped. That being said, organizations are shifting away from the singular focus on AI potential and investing in things such as Chatbot software to handle customer service needs.

Chatbot ranks among the more convincing human-sounding programs and has real meat-and-potato benefits in the here and now. AI, by contrast, remains more futuristic than a profit-driving resource, at least for now. What trends such as this boil down to is that business intelligence (BI) is outpacing AI. It’s clear that AI alone cannot progress without savvy BI moving forward. Industry leaders are making the distinction between the benefits of BI over AI.

Smart Automation Takes A Major Step Forward

While technology innovators might not yet be ready to deem AI the latest Napster, Betamax, or Windows 8, it appears to be a side dish for the time being in favor of automation. Service desks automation is hotly trending, and a fast-growing number of operations are all-in on the movement.

But the other side of that coin calls for outfits put greater effort into minimizing redundancies and enhancing efficiency. In order to enjoy the benefits of service desk automation over the long haul, IT redesigns, and improved groundwork will need to be put in place. Smart automation is not necessarily new to the ITSM seen, but things such as robotic process automation are quickly moving to the front of the line. CEOs who want to keep pace with competitors would be wise to take note.

Enterprise Service Management Makes Game-Changing Shift

There are mixed emotions about the role of valued employees in the enterprise service management arena. Automation seems to hover like a dark cloud over personnel that imposes a gloom that their value is waning. But that sinking feeling appears to be reversing as we head deeper into 2020.

A powerful trend has emerged that places heightened value on the “employee experience.” Companies that were laser-focused on tech solutions are now pivoting and competing for best-of-the-best employees. However, talented industry professionals will now be tasked with standing out in the crowded field of go-getters in enterprise service management circles.

Another facet of enhanced emphasis on enterprise service management is the expectation that collaborative efforts among departments will also increase. The end-goal appears to be delivering a 360-degree experience to customers that outpaces that of competitors. People are trending over technology, and that’s not something ITSM insiders anticipated until recently.

Enhanced ITSM Cybersecurity Becomes A Reality

The number of cybersecurity threats and breaches continues to grow. This seems disheartening, considering the best efforts of many organizations placing greater emphasis on cyber-defenses. Ranked among the more profound problems with hackers is that they are equally content spending time and energy attacking large outfits or plucking the low-hanging fruit of smaller companies with subpar security.

Recent surveys indicate that the overall service sector is ramping up efforts to implement enhanced protocols and best practices that put them on par with the most rigorously secure operations. This is not to say that the service sector has been lagging behind. The reality is that cybercriminals continue to employ some of the most creatively duplicitous strategies. After all, they don’t contribute anything positive to the business community. Their efforts are solely focused on pilfering valuable data that resulted from hard work. The ITSM trend appears to be fiercely pushing back in 2020 once and for all.