2020: A Year in Review, and Looking Forward to 2021
Editor's note, October 2026: This review was published in January 2021 and reflects our view at that time; the outlook for 2021 is kept as written. Read on in 2021: The Year in Review, and Looking Forward to 2022, 2022: The Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2023 and Cybersecurity in the Enterprise Landscape: 2024 Year in Review.
We can certainly agree that 2020 was unconventional, to say the least. Looking back, we can still appreciate some of the positives that came out of it.
2020 in review
In response to COVID-19 and the precautions that followed, everyone, businesses and individuals alike, had to change how they go about their daily lives. Many companies had to keep employees deemed "non-essential" at home, while operations and customers still needed attention.
Thankfully, in 2020 most people and organizations had access to technology that minimized the disruption of moving to an entirely digital workplace. Still, COVID-19 turned into a stress test of how prepared companies were for mobility and digital workplace transformation. Some businesses were fully mobile-ready before the pandemic struck; others, halfway through their digital transformation, only had to make small adjustments.
Some businesses, however, were caught completely off guard and had to improvise, struggle and take uninformed, unnecessary risks to cope with the sudden changes. That was an opportunity for attackers: people started using new devices from their home offices, with few or no enterprise management solutions, to access corporate resources and keep the business running. This larger attack surface put the security of mobile infrastructure at the forefront of 2020. It shows in the way most UEM vendors consolidated their offerings and added products such as Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) and other Zero Trust features, which continuously verify users, devices and apps to secure and restrict access to corporate data.
The real star of 2020, though, was collaboration tools. With employees working remotely, solutions such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom became more popular, because people still need to communicate easily and work on projects together. For a company like ISEC7, deeply immersed in the digital workplace, platforms like Microsoft Teams keep employees as connected and engaged as possible. We compared the two big suites in Cloud Solutions: Microsoft 365 vs. Google Workspace.
In the end, the pandemic made companies realize how crucial mobility and digital workplace transformation are for their workforce.
2021: What to look forward to
The year of 5G
5G has been around for some time, and 2021 may finally be its year, with more and more manufacturers releasing affordable 5G-capable devices. What started as a premium feature on high-end devices will gradually become standard on new devices, as happened with 4G.
Internet of Things
The past year saw many Internet of Things (IoT) devices come to market. They bring reliability, speed and mobility to applications that need them. Examples include watches, smart speakers and smart fridges, which rely on technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee and LoRaWAN. As the drive for devices that are always connected and relay information continues, we will see a global increase in, and reliance on, the IoT. Our series starts with Demystifying Technology: Internet of Things (IoT).
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) offers a container-like experience and secure, effortless deployment for BYOD programs, and it could benefit greatly from the speed of 5G. Because VDI relies on an encrypted pixel stream, a lower-latency network makes a noticeable difference to the user experience. More on the topic in Demystifying Technology: Virtualization Beyond Servers.
Private LTE and CBRS
In the same vein, Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) could take off in the US as a replacement for Wi-Fi in mission-critical applications. Operated as a private wireless network, it allows better control over the network, a focused coverage area, and the security and privacy built into the LTE protocol. Its main limitation for now is adoption by more mobile endpoint manufacturers.
Planning your next steps in the digital workplace? Our team supports endpoint management and endpoint security projects, and our trainings help your IT team keep up. Contact us with any questions.
