Move over 2020, let’s look forward to 2021!

18 Dec 2020 12641 views 0 minutes to read Contributors

This year, businesses have had to totally reassess their ways of working. Many have battled simply to survive the lockdowns and restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Others have been overwhelmed or forced to pivot and some have flourished.

Moving into 2021, we all find ourselves operating in a very different landscape. Prior to 2020, who would have thought that millions of people could switch to working from home in a matter of a few days, or that entire sectors would have to close and only reopen with social distancing measures in place? As a result, strategy and business continuity planning are now measured in weeks and months rather than quarters and years.

Here are three major 2020 trends that will continue to evolve in 2021:

Automation will help you pivot and flourish

Technology has been accelerating change for many years but in 2020 we all had to move at the speed of light. For the ecommerce and logistics sectors, business is booming and their database environments are being pushed to the max. Others, such as hospitality and events companies, are proving remarkably adept at pivoting their operations and embracing online channels.

The timely launch of our Automated Index Management (AiM) tool in March proved invaluable to customers who needed to boost their database performance and reliability. In just a couple of clicks they can now create, install and modify the way indexes are made.  As such, they have gained valuable time and ensured data security even with employees working remotely.

WFH is here to stay

Across Europe, many businesses have had to make sure that employees can work from home, safely and securely. Returning to the office is still some way off. In fact, many people are even finding they are more productive from home.

While some organizations may be missing the energy and creativity that comes with face-to-face interaction, working from home is likely to continue until at least summer 2021. We believe this will be a year of experimenting and mixing up different ways of working. Longer term, working remotely with some form of hybrid home/head office/local hub approach will increasingly be seen as the norm rather than the exception.

Whatever work model businesses settle on, being able to access systems remotely and securely will continue to be essential. Companies will also need flexibility and specialist expertise to troubleshoot problems and support employees.

Accurate, timely data will help you expect the unexpected

No matter how well-prepared you thought your business was for 2020, you couldn’t have anticipated a global pandemic, stay-at-home orders or a halt to events, travel and industry conferences. While it’s tough to envision the future amid so much uncertainty, accurate, timely and accessible management information can help to make planning and decision making easier. This will be a major focus for us throughout 2021.

We are already working on improving our database reporting tools to make them more visual and easy to understand. Many companies will have difficult decisions to make over the coming months and they need data right on the spot. As such, they are looking more strategically at their database environment to help them anticipate problems and potential opportunities – and we are ready to respond to bespoke requests for data audits and reports that will give you the information you need on everything from database downtime to fresh insights into how you can save time and money through automating routine database tasks.

We hope you enjoy a well-earned rest over the holidays. Then, whatever your specific business plans, we are here to help you turn the uncertainty of 2020 into a more rewarding 2021.

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