If you’re like most of us, you’re sitting at your desk wondering what’s next.
The pandemic has caused so much uncertainty.
Most business leaders are used to planning and making things happen. It’s what gets you into business in the first place! The United States is a great place for business-minded entrepreneurial types to have a vision, make some plans, and execute -- at least until March 2020.
Now that 4 months have passed and a clear end to the situation is still not in sight, what will the next 6-12 months look like?
From a business point of view, let me state that my crystal ball could be a little cloudy. However, it looks like we can expect a slow economic recovery starting in the 4th quarter – though it’s possible that the real recovery doesn’t start until after the election. I expect the business tide to turn at the end of 2020, but let’s hope recovery begins sooner.
As for technology – where I’m a bit more qualified to speak – we'll see some issues with the current state of work-from-home employees.
Here are a few things businesses will need to address in the very near future:
Security
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) will be a must.
Gone are the days of sitting down anywhere we please and logging into our corporate systems with just a username and password. Very soon (if not already) we’ll all be forced to verify our identity one more time to get into our systems. This could be with a code or an app on our mobile devices, or with a fob of some kind.
We’ve converted our systems already – and frankly, I feel much more secure.
Nobody enjoys taking an extra step to log in, but too many hacks could have been stopped if the company had MFA in place.
Endpoint Detection Response (EDR) is a set of advanced malware defense tools that correlate threat indicators from security appliances to stop known and evasive threats.
Currently, these tools aren’t required by insurance companies or compliance standards, but the requirement is coming. Several manufacturers have announced that by the end of this year, they will not do business with companies that do not have MFA and EDR in place.
It’s just too risky without it.
Collaboration
Most of us have learned how to Zoom (which is synonymous with virtual meeting these days) well by now.
We spend much of our day sitting on video conferences -- and everyone I’ve talked to is tired of it!
I think video conferencing is here to stay and that it has enormous benefits, but certain face-to-face interactions work better. My bet is that teams will split time between in-person and video meetings in the future.
“Hoteling” At the Office
Office space is very expensive. Many companies are considering reducing the amount of space they occupy.
Some have even suggested “hoteling” at the office instead of having a desk for each person. Much like going to stay at a hotel, employees would check-in and check-out of a shared workspace. Systems would be shared, then sanitized after each use so they’re ready for the next person.
This could let employers reduce their office space and give employees the best of both worlds – work from home sometimes, work at the office sometimes.
It’s unclear if these things will come to fruition in the next few quarters, but I’m pretty sure they’ll happen soon.
Who knows what else will change, but change is for certain!
Make it a great month!
Marty
