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It’s been over 6 years since the global launch of Windows 10,  a product that was heralded as ‘the last ever version’ of the world’s most used operating system.

Unlike its predecessor, Windows 8, Windows 10 was not created as a short-term solution but as an OS for life. An ever-present product that would receive regular patches and updates to deliver security enhancement and new functionality, and therefore avoiding the need to replace with a new version several years down the line.

The office is unlikely to be the same place again. New modes of working and more freedoms regarding the location of where work gets done is making businesses question how much real estate they need and how they make that which they retain perform better for the people that use it. If people are to no longer be tethered to desks within the office, connectivity quickly gets called into question. Reliable Wi-Fi networks will be a key ingredient to reimaging the office for years to come. But looked at and deployed differently, there’s much more value the network can give.

The deployment of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, or VDI, technology was already on the rise before the emergence of the Covid19 pandemic. However, the immediate need to deliver remote working across entire organisations, and now the longer-term adoption of hybrid working models, has elevated interest in the technology from businesses of all sizes.

Security is rarely far from the top of an IT team’s agenda, and while unusual exploits continue to emerge, tried and tested attack vectors are still the most likely method of breach. Email threats is top of that list. It’s one that has seen a significant increase in recent months, and presents an area of obvious focus for organisations as they review their defences.

While virtual conference calls and online meetings were already available to businesses, the events of the last 12 months have seen platforms like Microsoft Teams become defacto meeting platforms.

The onset of remote working means that your people are now accustomed to logging in to multiple calls a day, and these new practices are unlikely to go away any time soon.

Last week, Nationwide Building Society announced that it will be giving 13,000 of 18,000 employees – a whopping 72% of its workforce – the choice about where they work after stay-at-home restrictions are lifted. This is in response to a staff survey, in which 57% of their employees said they would prefer to work from home full time and 36% said they’d like a mix of home-based and office work*. And they’re not the only ones. This is the latest big name to get on board with hybrid working, following other commercial giants including British Airways, BP, HSBC and Lloyds.

Like parting ways with an old friend, it can be difficult to say goodbye to your legacy technology. Familiarity and the belief that you can (or must) continue to sweat technology assets can cause you to lose sight of whether it’s actually doing what you need it to, as well as objectivity about the economics of what you’re operating.

2020 was the year video conferencing platforms truly came into their own. By no means a new concept prior to the pandemic, their popularity was certainly fast-tracked due to nothing more than necessity. Ever since Lockdown 1.0, new solutions and old have gone head-to-head in the bid to become the preferred virtual meeting platform, with Zoom and Microsoft Teams at the forefront.

It goes without saying that the events of 2020 have irrevocably changed the face of the digital landscape forever. The unexpected arrival of COVID-19 has challenged businesses to think differently, not only about their IT, but how they fundamentally operate and communicate on a day-to-day basis.

There’s no doubt about it – the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting lockdown restrictions has had a fundamental and potentially long-lasting impact on businesses all over the globe. While the shift to remote working was already seeing considerable uptake prior to the arrival of the virus, this trend has very suddenly and unexpectedly become a necessity.