We work with over 150+ vendors and partners, continually in contact with them. Rather than selling the technology, we looked into how they’ve adapted and what they see as the latest trends.

 

Our partner network says COVID-19 has changed their organisation focus, with some hitting their yearly targets within two months – some having their technology consumption go from 1.5m users to 10m within 21 days – others adapting and creating short-term offerings to plug the hole which they anticipate.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic initially frightened shareholders, investors, vendors and solution providers’ plans for 2020 in the cloud technology market. However, soon after, technology priorities shifted as their prospects and customers faced the pandemic’s force of either group to remote and work from home scenarios or suspending operations entirely.

After enduring weeks of pandemic situations and understanding the beginnings of what a recovery will look like, solution providers are starting to recognise the short-term technology demands of the prospects and customers. According to research by The 2112 Group, these are what solution providers say are the top 5 technologies for the remainder of 2020.

5. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR)

Companies understand that their operations will cease if they cannot have access to their data and IT resources.   Nevertheless, business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) services are gaining revived recognition in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses are reevaluating their business continuity plans and resources as they identified gaps in their capabilities during the shift to decreased operations and remote workforces.

 

 

4. Networking

Though basic infrastructure and network may not be the most riveting technology, yet one-quarter (26%) of solution providers claim switching and routing will continue to be an essential product set. Businesses are reevaluating their network capacity demand to account for the shifting use cases as a consequence of the pandemic. Many companies anticipate reconfiguring their networks to support more remote connections and reduced latency for cloud-based applications.

 

 

3. Communications and Collaboration

Before the pandemic, Zoom established itself as one of the popular kids of the cloud-based video conferencing platforms. With Microsoft Teams physically distanced, Zoom with its minimal subscription and free offering sprinted on ahead overnight. Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, and Google Meet observed growth in demand and utilisation. Every video conferencing, collaboration, and unified communications service is witnessing growth as businesses look to empower their new work from home contact centre and aiding the workforce to keep connected during social distancing. As we all look to the recovery period, many think working from home will become the new norm and permanent for many people, shaping communications and collaboration as a red-hot commodity for the foreseeable future.

 

2. Cloud Infrastructure Services

The cloud is earning its keep throughout the pandemic. Each company reluctant around migrating their infrastructure to the cloud – in both hosted or hybrid configurations – discovered promptly through their pandemic encounter the need of having access to data and resources. While the economy took a high in the first quarter as spending came to a sudden halt, cloud service providers witnessed considerable increases in their sales and consumption.

 

 

 

 

1. Security

For the past couple of years, Security technologies are always high on the agenda and demand as the threat of hackers is everywhere, and growing government regulations enforce data protection. The pandemic exposed new problems with IT security: An uneven distribution. As businesses moved to a work from home strategy, they soon realised that their security standards weren’t up to the job. People leaving the office were now using home PCs with consumer operating systems, inadequate security software, and poorly secured WiFi networks. Security technologies – especially managed security services – is witnessing growing demand as business reinforce their data protection measures to account for their distributed workforces.