Think about your last online order. If you’re a frequent online shopper and have created profiles for sites you visit often (*raises hand*), then you’re probably familiar with customized recommendations. Based on your purchase history, location, and other factors, the website may suggest other items you might be interested in buying. And if you’re on the site long enough, chatbots may appear asking if you have questions or need assistance locating something.

The year 2020 has been a rollercoaster. With nearly every aspect of our daily lives flipped on its head, it’s hard to think of a single thing that went as planned or any of us were prepared for. That is, until it comes to our IT teams. The success of organizations during the reality of an unprecedented global pandemic is due in large part to IT pros’ preparedness and ability to adapt and manage through substantial change.

In the first of these two articles, we covered the first five steps public sector organizations should take to change how they think about their cybersecurity to overcome this challenge. So far, we’ve explored: considering risk, tech environment knowledge, effective cyberhygiene, security at every level, and security as a trust-builder. We’ll continue by looking at the final five steps on this journey to build a stronger security strategy.

Both the technology and infrastructure we use have changed how we deliver services to our customers (or employees in this case). But how are our businesses adapting to these changes? How are we identifying relationships across new environments? Are we understanding the implications of what’s being introduced? In order to keep business applications and operations running smoothly, it’s crucial to understand the value of three key ITIL practices: configuration, change, and release management.

If you’ve run across other articles I’ve written about hybrid cloud, you’ll notice a familiar theme: it’s an artifact of other technology decisions nobody asked for. As such, it’s left up to IT operations to figure out how to know if it’s working well, cost-effectively, or as expected in the first place. However, tools are improving rapidly, and IT teams are gaining skill with the model and technologies.

The U.K. public sector holds some of the most important and sensitive data in the country, from private medical records to military intelligence. Consistently protecting this data is a major priority, which means the IT teams working within the public sector are entrusted with implementing the most effective security measures to prevent attacks or internal mishaps.