46.3% of organizations’ assets are ageing or obsolete – compared with
4.3% in 2017 – signaling prolonged refresh cycles as business sweat assets and
move to multi-cloud environments
NTT
Ltd.’s ‘2020 Global Network Insights Report’ has found
that as businesses move
applications to multi-cloud environments, investment in the cloud is outpacing
organizations’ on-premises infrastructure spend. This has caused refresh and upgrade
patterns to slow down, with many businesses choosing to continue
to sweat network assets and to slow investment in
re-architecting their on-premises network and security infrastructure. As a
result, there has been an increase in obsolete and unpatched network devices
containing software vulnerabilities, introducing risk, and exposing the
organization to information security threats.
The report, which is based
on data from technology assessments conducted on more than 1,000 clients
covering over 800,000 network devices, found 46.3% of organizations’ network
assets were ageing or obsolete, as a weighted average, representing a huge surge
on 2017, when this figure was just 4.3%.
The COVID-19 outbreak and consequent surge in
bandwidth consumption is putting strain on the network, compounding existing
challenges, and, ultimately, creating a perfect storm. With an increase in
remote working, remote access and consumption of voice and video services,
organizations’ network and security infrastructure are under incredible
pressure.
The security risk of ageing and obsolete devices in
the future workplace
Obsolete devices have, on
average, twice as many vulnerabilities per device (42.2) when compared with
ageing (26.8) and current ones (19.4), creating unnecessary risk. This risk is
exacerbated further when businesses do not patch a device or revisit the
operating system version for the duration of its lifetime. And although
patching is relatively simple, and often free under a maintenance agreement or
extended warranty, many businesses still don't patch their devices.
In the ‘new normal,’ as businesses reimagine the
way we work, embedding resilience into the organization’s operations will be
key. The pandemic will introduce permanent changes to the way businesses
operate, including implementing smart workspaces that accommodate social
distancing within their physical offices, while many companies will continue to
embrace remote working. Meanwhile, with the adoption of new wireless infrastructure
on the rise – an increase of 13% year-on-year – and the rise of open office and
co-working spaces, a novel approach to all network architecture will be needed.
Businesses will need the tools, knowledge and
expertise to be able to re-architect the network for the short, mid and
long-term evolution of the ‘new normal’ with people working remotely, and from
any device at any time. They will need to find strategic partners who can guide
them with a view of what the future network looks like – not just in terms of
supporting corporate space, but also public and retail areas where social
distancing is typically difficult to attain. For example, as we move into the
‘new normal’, AI and machine learning may be applied to help monitor social
distancing measures – the network will be the platform enabler.
The evolution of the network must go hand in hand
with digital transformation
As part of digital
transformation strategies, leading organizations are already using networks to
enable new business models (e.g. the Internet of Things) or optimize existing
operating models (e.g. asset tracking). Alternatively, businesses may be
investing in technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), as part of
their digital transformation initiatives in order to save cost and scale
services in an agile manner. No matter what the reason; digital transformation
is helping to improve the customer and employee experience, powered by the
network. These initiatives will only be accelerated with the support of
relevant, secure infrastructure in the ‘new normal’ especially with respect to
businesses’ technology, operational and financial initiatives.
Rob Lopez continues, “The network is the platform
for business digital transformation. It needs to be ubiquitous, flexible, robust
and secure to adapt easily to business change, while increasing the maturity of
the operational support environment. Businesses that use a high-level of
network automation and intelligence to optimize operations will gain a
significant competitive advantage and realize the benefits of the cloud
economy, securely.”