Hybrid working is here to stay. With it comes increased online activity, information technology requirements and security threats. Simultaneously, costs are being squeezed and the regulatory landscape is changing at pace and scale. We know uncertainty and turbulence will continue to impact organisations throughout 2022, but which trends will impact tech operations the most? In partnership with Tanium, we brought Nimbus Ninety members together to discuss what’s next for tech leaders in 2022.

Over the last 20 years, organisations have channelled their energy, focus and resources into building digital-first customer and user experiences. Meanwhile, the pandemic, by fundamentally altering the nature of customer interactions, has cemented the place of digital self-service, automation and personalised tech stacks within the customer experience journey. In this sense, organisations are positioned, better than ever before, to deliver flawless customer experience through a digital-first approach. But what happens when a chatbot lets a customer down or their problem is too complex for self-service? These important humanised interactions, fundamental to reaching solutions and maintaining brand loyalty, are left to burnt out and ill equipped service providers. Over a breakfast cuppa, Nimbus Ninety, in partnership with Sabio, brought members together from across the community to break down these interactions and explore how technology could provide the solution to complex humanised services.

The last eighteen months has seen drastic change across the data world. With momentum building around data tooling, organisations would be forgiven for thinking they finally had what they needed. However, March 2022 signals the end of support life for data platforms that have dominated the market for years. Whether organisations are mid-migration or yet to start their journey, complex, risky and expensive big data cloud migrations are staring them in the face. So what can organisations do to simplify and de-risk these big data cloud migrations? Nimbus Ninety, in partnership with Unravel Data, Appsbroker and Google Cloud, brought together members from across industry to lend support, share challenges and, perhaps most importantly, enjoy a cheese twist or two. The evening began with presentations from Firat Tekiner, EMEA Data Analytics Practice Lead at Google Cloud and Andy MacInnes, CTO at Appsbroker before breaking out into a highly enjoyable and productive virtual roundtable discussion.

Many organisations struggle with inconsistent infrastructure, inefficiencies and risks, and a need to modernise and secure data centres. With VMware Cloud on AWS, organisations are able to unlock new capabilities to drive new efficiencies, better consolidation of IT systems, and enhanced customer experience.

According to the National Cyber Security Centre’s 2021 annual review, there were three times as many ransomware attacks in the first quarter of 2021 than in the whole of 2019. Consultancy UK’s survey of business leaders illustrates many anticipate a rise in cyber-attacks in 2022, with 61% stating that ransomware, in particular, will pose a mounting threat. As our lives have become increasingly digitally focussed, so has crime. With the pandemic accelerating the shift to working from home, what can organisations do to safeguard themselves from being held hostage by online trojans? Nimbus Ninety members were given a step-by-step guide to understanding ransomware recovery by Stefan Ehmann, Business Lead Object Storage Solutions EMEA and Tom Christensen, Global Technology Advisor & Executive Analyst from Hitachi Vantara.

Customers are used to speed and ease online. When an app doesn't load in seconds, this customer loyalty can be lost in seconds too. To deliver a frictionless CX every time and retain hard-won customers, performance testing throughout the development cycle is key.

The past 18 months have fundamentally changed how government operates. Government services, from large central departments to local councils, have had a mission-critical requirement to deliver cloud-first services. This has rapidly accelerated migration to the cloud. But it has not been a journey without challenges and IT leaders in government have innovated at pace to utilise and maximise its potential.

As we approach 2022, organisations are looking at long-term strategic approaches to enabling remote work. As IT and business leaders plan a vision for this new future, security and risk mitigation are at the top of their agendas. This shift also requires a new approach towards employee accessibility and trust. Nimbus Ninety and Ping Identity sat down with IT and security leaders to discuss their long-term plans of enabling work-from-anywhere and in particular, how their approaches to security and passwordless authentication.

Delivering frictionless CX has never been more important. In the last 18 months, we’ve seen widespread migration to online-first for customers across the globe. As a result, customer expectations online have rapidly shape-shifted. Today the customer experience really matters: 67% of customers claim they have higher CX standards than ever before. Yet simultaneously, 66% of enterprises say their customers demand stronger security and privacy. This presents a tricky question for business leaders. Should they prioritise a frictionless customer experience or a highly secure one?

Rapid technology changes are fuelling a “fourth industrial revolution” which is fundamentally altering the way people, live, work and relate to one another. This has been accelerated in the public sector with Intel finding that COVID-19 has brought forward digital transformation by up to 7 years. It is now more important than ever to focus on the key technology trends impacting global governments: cybersecurity, 5G, cloud, artificial intelligence and future ways of working. Intel, with their “digital readiness for leaders programme”, has educated and empowered government leaders on these emerging technologies. Representatives of the UK Government and Defence gathered to hear the insights Intel had to move forward and transform ways of working through technology-enabled opportunities.