Johnny Karam, Managing Director and Vice President, International Emerging Region, Veritas Technologies
A new hybrid work model has changed the way we engage with and exchange business data in many Middle Eastern organizations. While this has enhanced corporate efficiencies and provided people with a better work-life balance, it has also increased the complexity of IT departments. In addition, as bad actors continue to play on the susceptibility of many organizations using remote working arrangements, the ongoing growth in ransomware assaults has piled rising pressure on IT staff and business executives alike.
Businesses in the region must now consider how they can minimize any anticipated dangers to their data, both from outside and within their organizations, in line with the UAE government’s aspirations to embrace a safer and stronger cyber infrastructure. Following that, here are some of the important themes we expect to see in the coming year.
Two corporate issues will converge in 2022, requiring businesses to align their compliance plans. To begin with, while accelerated digital transformation initiatives and the shift to hybrid work have helped many organizations not only survive, but thrive in unprecedented times, they have also fragmented data across an increasingly broad variety of messaging and collaboration platforms. Second, while new UAE data protection regulations, such as the DIFC’s DPL and the ADGM’s Data Protection Regulations 2021, have been critical in making foreign data transfers easier by aligning with the EU’s GDPR, the constantly changing international regulatory landscape makes staying on top of compliance even more difficult.
Many firms have embraced a myriad of data management, privacy, and compliance solutions in order to stay compliant, but the number of these solutions is quickly growing out of control. These two issues will converge in 2022. Organizations are realizing that they don’t have the resources to maintain extending and managing their toolbox, but they also can’t afford to be out of compliance. Businesses will be able to manage data archiving, privacy, risk, and discovery from a single unified and integrated platform, resulting in simplified management and enhanced efficiency.
Ransomware’s stratospheric rise has brought attention to the hazards of malware, making cybersecurity a frequently trending issue on social media and in the news. As a result, the average employee will be considerably more aware of ransomware assaults and, as a result, more open to learning how to defend against them. This will provide businesses with the finest chance in a long time to persuade their staff to support their security plan. That’s lucky, since they’ve never been in more danger. Employees should expect a significant increase in messages on preserving company data and how they may contribute to the solution in 2022.
Ransomware assaults have increased considerably in the last year across all industry sectors, and hackers are becoming more sophisticated. We predict AI-powered security and data protection to take centre stage in 2022, for both hackers and the companies that try to keep them at away. Organizations will respond by employing AI and ML technology to secure infrastructures and protect data with tools that are constantly learning and improving on their own as hackers launch attacks that can automatically adapt to evade detection. This will be critical in allowing competent IT team members to devote more time to innovative projects.
Many businesses have realised that in order to retain and attract new employees, they must offer increasing working flexibility, and local governments are responding by taking efforts to promote this new work culture. The UAE has amended its labour regulations to allow for more flexible working arrangements in the post-COVID-19 environment. These new rules, which were issued by His Highness, President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will take effect on February 2, 2022, and will allow private sector employees to choose between temporary and flexible work, freelancing jobs, compressed working hours, and shared tasks.
This means increased complexity and less predictability for IT employees. To survive and grow in their increasingly heterogeneous settings, IT departments will need to reject point solutions that only work for one use case and embrace platforms and portfolios that can assist them throughout their increasingly heterogeneous environments. They may find themselves drowning in administrative and financial obligations if they don’t do so.
Whether they realise it or not, using personal or non-official channels for business communication is an issue that practically every company will face in the new year. This is largely due to the change to a “work from anywhere” culture, which is increasing the amount of on-the-go discussions by text, phone, video, social media platforms, or chat, with workers dipping in and out of various tools to communicate with various contacts. According to a recent Veritas study, 87 percent of office workers in the UAE have communicated sensitive and business-critical firm data using instant messaging and business collaboration technologies as they spend more time utilising them.
Data from the business world is currently available in a variety of formats. Through video conferencing and texting systems, deals are made, orders are handled, and sensitive personnel information is shared. However, what is motivated by worker convenience presents confusion for the compliance team, because if those talks are business-related, they must be recorded and monitored. We urge that, by 2022, businesses proactively update their rules to ensure that, if a social or collaboration tool is utilised in the course of business, it is included in their compliance plan.
A global skills deficit, combined with the acceleration of digital transformation, means that fewer people are managing more systems than ever before. Many businesses are experiencing a backlog of work as a result of this. According to Veritas study, it will take another two years for the average organisation to finish bringing its security up to date with the technology used during the epidemic. In order for businesses to sign up for new projects on top of this, resellers will need to persuade them that they are easy to install and provide enough value to justify stretching these deadlines out even further. In order to get new sales off the ground in 2022, it will be necessary to simplify solutions and handle as much of the implementation weight as possible.
The scale of change can almost seem daunting as firms continue to speed their digital transformation initiatives in this shifting industry, but there are many positive outcomes on the horizon. We are seeing a profusion of new efficiencies, particularly in the UAE, as the country recognises the need of establishing a digital-first infrastructure. However, one critical takeaway for the coming year is the necessity to future-proof your firm by implementing a thorough data management strategy that protects data protection today, rather than later. Data has evolved into the beating heart of any business, allowing it to grow and thrive. Protecting it effectively will be the most important factor in achieving success in 2022 and beyond.
