Like most industries, high-tech manufacturing is undergoing a digital transformation. Data is influencing the way products are designed, produced, and distributed. Factories, warehouses, and supply chains are being transformed into smart spaces equipped with connected devices that generate valuable data.

State and municipal governments once thought the cloud wasn’t an option for them. They were unwilling to surrender control to a cloud provider and lacked confidence in cloud security. Government agencies are responsible for handling sensitive data that needs to be kept secure. This data might contain information about constituents or even matters of intelligence. 

Unified communications is typically thought of as an environment used for efficient employee collaboration. Workers can use a variety of communication tools and file sharing capabilities to work on projects anytime, from anywhere. However, unified communications also helps students participate in personalized learning initiatives. 

Financial organizations face unique challenges when developing disaster recovery strategies. Most organizations have an enterprise continuity plan (ECP) that includes disaster recovery. Unlike in other industries, having an effective disaster recovery plan is a requirement in finance. The Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC) issued requirements in 2015 that were influenced by the effect that Hurricane Katrina had on banks. 

The colocation market is thriving and shows the potential for future growth. Researchers at MarketsandMarkets have anticipated that the colocation market will almost double from the $31.52 billion recorded in 2017 to $62.30 billion in 2022.

With health care providers relying on electronic health records (EHRs) and telemedicine to give patients the best care, databases at hospitals and medical centers are increasingly strained. The volume of data can be difficult to store, and its complexity makes it difficult to manage efficiently. HIPAA compliance regulations require that access to data be tightly controlled. 

Colleges and universities have become increasingly dependent on technology. Student records and research findings are digitized, many classes are conducted online, and faculty and students communicate regularly over the Internet. Institutions have multiple campuses that need to seamlessly collaborate with each other and access large volumes of data. 

Most of today’s companies are embracing digital transformation, but they have reached varying levels of digital maturity. Companies with the highest level of maturity will have created documented strategies for the transformation and gained the support of the C-suite for digital initiatives.

Companies are switching from traditional phone systems to cloud-based unified communications as a service (UCaaS) as a means of embracing trends in workplace communication. The 2017 State of Telecommuting in the U.S. Employee Workforcereport found that 3.9 million employees are working from home half of the time. UCaaS makes it easier for workers to stay connected to other employees and for customers and clients to reach them no matter where they are. 

Sometimes, March comes in like a lion and goes out like one, too. Winter isn’t over yet simply because the calendar says it's spring. Even well into March and April, the Northeast often encounters severe wintery weather. For example, Winter Storm Stella hit in March 2017, bringing hurricane-force winds and up to 2 feet of snowfall to the Northeast.