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2020 was a year of unprecedented events. Businesses were forced to take on the challenges of a boom in remote workforces, the necessity for online commerce platforms, and the lack of access to physical equipment. As we head into the new year, businesses will be more alert to adapting their operations for the foreseeable future. This will lead to new expectations and considerations around data storage and access, cybersecurity, and cloud availability.

2021 will see more organizations turn to data center providers for easy storage of and access to their data — many businesses who were relying on on-premise storage will have been hit hard by the remote work shift. While this will be beneficial for data center providers, this will also come with increased pressure on data center providers to offer extensive security measures. With many organizations’ IT teams short-staffed and the fact that cybercrime quadrupled during the pandemic, a record number of companies will likely be vulnerable to attacks from hackers.

Many companies will have already implemented a strong backup and disaster recovery program to tackle this threat. However, this action is a very “defensive” strategy. In the new year, businesses will look to become more proactive and offensive against outages, data loss, and digital adversaries. One way that this will be achieved is by companies seeking data center providers that can not only handle cloud storage, colocation, data protection, and connectivity tasks but also offer expert managed SOC services. Data center providers will have to not only step up their SOC services but will also have to ensure that they are offering key tools such as vulnerability management and scanning to ensure a clean and secure IT environment.

Aside from security measures implemented at third-party data centers, the increase of cybercrime in 2020 will cause businesses to invest more in cybersecurity to tackle ransomware attacks and avoid legal penalties. It has been reported that more than half of organizations have fallen victim to ransomware in the past year, and of those companies, 26 percent paid the hackers to get their systems back up and running. With what appears to be a successful tactic, it is logical to expect the number of ransomware attacks to continue to rise in 2021.

However, this year also brought with it the announcement by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that paying the ransom will not only encourage hackers to continue these attacks but could now go against OFAC regulations leading to penalties and fines. With businesses feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place due to the growing cyberattacks and the possibility of receiving fines for paying the cyberattacks’ ransoms, next year will see an increase in popularity of multi-layered cybersecurity products that include protection solutions such as vulnerability management, frequent data backup and snapshots, cloud-based security services, and secure data centers to restore lost or corrupt data. These solutions will enable companies to better tackle the cyberattack threats and restore data without facing penalties from the OFAC.

2020 also prompted an increase in reliance on the cloud. With workforces dispersed as they self-isolated due to the pandemic, the number of businesses that adopted the cloud for everyday operations skyrocketed. In fact, by the end of 2020, it is estimated that 83 percent of enterprise workloads will be in the cloud, and 94 percent of all enterprises will have adopted a cloud service.

This will translate into cloud projects becoming more diverse and creative in the new year. With the forced transition to the cloud due to state-mandated lockdowns and closures, companies who preferred utilizing systems that required physical maintenance support have become comfortable with using cloud-based systems. This will lead to businesses exploring how they use cloud computing in 2021.

For example, cloud projects may begin to revolve around business-critical systems as opposed to solely being utilized for data consolidation and process integration. To adjust to changing markets, businesses of all sizes will use cloud-based analytics software to cope with changes in demand and supply chain disruption. As the way cloud computing is used changes, companies will turn to cloud service providers to facilitate the diverse uses. Cloud service providers will have to ensure that they have the necessary network connectivity and redundant architecture for maximum response and uptime, even at times of peak demand.

While things regarding the pandemic look hopeful going into 2021, some things such as the remote work boom and the reliance on cloud computing will carry over into the new year. In fact, some major companies, such as Twitter, have already announced that they will allow employees to work remotely permanently and utilize cloud computing for everyday tasks. Third-party service providers who offer data center, cybersecurity, and cloud computing solutions need to prepare for the increased demands and expectations that will come with the new business landscape of 2021.