Now, more than ever, it’s important to know how to manage IT in a hybrid work environment. Changes in modern working environments have had a dramatic impact on how technology is managed within organisations.

Consider this; five, even 10 years ago, your operations may have consisted of desktops within an office environment that was centrally managed by an information technology team. However, due to the impacts of major global events such as pandemics, war, or even climate impacts, you’ve had to transform your business approach. Now, instead of a series of desktops in a workplace, you’re dealing with clusters of laptops that are often working in remote environments that are not necessarily familiar to the network administrator. 

If you’re undertaking a Master of IT Management or a similar qualification that teaches how to manage IT, you may be considering how businesses manage IT infrastructure in these newly emerging hybrid environments. Let’s explore how technology is critical for the success of a business, and how an organisation can adopt some simple strategies to really transform their business approach so that they are prepared for the issues of tomorrow, today.

Technology is Critical for Business Success

It’s hard to believe now, but 20 years ago, companies like eBay and Amazon were relatively small. At the time online shopping and eCommerce were in their infancy – the ideas of bright young developers that hadn’t fully developed. However, as time has gone on, the Internet has become a fierce battleground for online sales and web shopping.

In recent years, retail eCommerce sales have topped 6 trillion US dollars annually, according to a recent study by Statista. No matter whether your business is an online retailer, a services provider, or you simply manage file transfers, knowing how to manage IT effectively has become critical for the success of your business. Gone are the vast majority of businesses managed by paper and books. The modern enterprise has gone digital – they are supported by software suites, enabling collaboration, conferencing, and improved business efficiencies.

Technology is no doubt going to be critical in the years ahead. As the world races to adapt to emerging cyber concerns and a changing environment, understanding how to manage IT, and how technology may change, is a great way to prepare yourself and your organisation for the challenges ahead.

Simple Strategies For How To Manage IT In A Hybrid Work Environment

This article is a simple primer, but the following strategies are readily available to help you get started with planning how to manage IT for your distributed company.

A Hybrid Environment Can Present Challenges

No matter whether your business is on-site all the time or works remotely, a hybrid operating environment can provide unique challenges for IT infrastructure teams. Managing system security, data loss, and document management, amongst others, can be a challenging experience for many IT managers.

Strategy 1: Considerations of how you manage company app deployment and download strategy can be vital in managing and mitigating the cyber risks that may present to your organisation.

Consider the importance of a centralised app directory for businesses. Rather than allowing your employees to download any app they want, presenting a security risk, having a set of secure restricted applications can enable employees to do their job without increasing risk. Considerations of how you manage company app deployment and download strategy can be vital in managing and mitigating the cyber risks that may present to your organisation.

Enforcing a Cyber-Secure Mindset

Something else to really consider as a business that’s grappling with how to manage IT in a hybrid work environment: The enforcement of a cyber-secure mindset…

Strategy 2: Encourage your employees to question strange and suspicious emails.

Encourage your employees to question strange and suspicious emails. After all, with the relative rate of scam emails and SMS rising dramatically in recent years, having employees who are prepared for the eventual phishing attack is a great way to prepare your organisation for the future.

Additional strategies that should be considered include:

• Strategy 3: The regular enforcement of password refreshes and
• Strategy 4: Encouraging company employees to take on future learning opportunities such as enhanced cyber training.
• Strategy 5: Running an organization-wide suite of practical tests to test things like cyber awareness to help patch holes at a human level.

We have all seen in recent years the impact of poor cyber mindsets at work. These have included the impacts of the leaks of more than 10 million customer records at Optus and Medibank respectively.

These attacks have a dramatic effect on customers; people are suddenly wondering whether they’re at risk of fraud or theft, which highlights just how important it is for modern businesses to consider the needs of their customers within their cybersecurity approach within they make plans for how to manage IT in a hybrid work environment.

Where Will the Future Take Hybrid Work?

As work transforms from a solely in-person experience, understanding what changes will impact organisations, as well as their customers is critical and also timely. Consider what has changed within the organisation that you work in.

Perhaps it is something as simple as a reporting strategy, maybe it’s something more complex, such as the devices that you use to connect and communicate with your fellow employees. There’s no doubt that hybrid work will be transforming the digital landscape in the years to come including the ways that employees and employers interact.