This week Google unveiled a number of exciting announcements at its annual developers’ conference, Google I/O 2021. Announcements included Android 12 and several security and privacy features that are coming to its platforms. At Ivanti, we are particularly excited about what Google is doing to improve user security and privacy. The consistent theme of Google I/O was Secure by default, Private by design, and You’re in control.

There are some marketing campaigns that just work. They resonate with their audience, they add value, they’re interesting and topical – but they’re also rare. In 2020, the MobileIron (now Ivanti) communications team launched a new campaign to tell the story of the Everywhere Enterprise (a precursor to Ivanti’s Everywhere Workplace).

Over the past year, organizations worldwide have seen an increasing number of cyberattacks. Phishing and vulnerability exploits continue to be leading attack channels. The content adapts to the times (COVID-19-related phishing, for example), but the attack channels themselves are not new. Combating these attack types requires a focus on transforming security operations and response.

One of the biggest reasons organizations don’t try out a new software vendor is the perceived costs of switching. Most cite the fear of implementation being too expensive, too difficult, or too time-consuming—all excuses to justify maintaining a vendor contract, even if that vendor is performing poorly and not meeting expectations. But what’s at risk when organizations simply renew year after year? Who loses if the status quo is maintained?

As your DevOps and IT Service Management (ITSM) teams continue to increase, so should your ability to provide self-service infrastructure capabilities. Whether you are a ServiceNow or Puppet administrator looking to expand automation to other groups such as Site Reliability Engineering or the IT Service Desk, the integration of Puppet Enterprise and ServiceNow is now at your fingertips.

According to the latest report on ITSM in 2021 and beyond, when asked what main area their service desk would be focusing on in 2021, the largest proportion of respondents specified they will be focusing on automation of processes, tasks, and ticket handling. Some of the biggest trends are around Chatbots and Virtual Agents, as specified by 44% of respondents, and self-service, as specified by 42% of respondents.

Customer preferences are constantly evolving, just as much as technology. This can have a significant impact on your business and its internal operations. Such fast-paced evolution demands an equally fast change management function. Organizations that focus just on the mechanics of change management but ignore the principles and intended outcomes are likely to make mistakes. But you can avoid these mistakes through intelligent design and application of change management.

Customer preferences are constantly evolving, just as much as technology. This can have a significant impact on your business and its internal operations. Such fast-paced evolution demands an equally fast change management function. Organizations that focus just on the mechanics of change management but ignore the principles and intended outcomes are likely to make mistakes. But you can avoid these mistakes through intelligent design and application of change management.

As the digital-first operating world evolves, IT organizations are struggling to decide which practices to maintain and which to phase out. This transition from a “plan/build/run” lifecycle to a more agile, team-oriented structure has become the catalyst for organizational conflict, challenging the very foundation of how companies should operate.