For almost two years, IT leaders have been consumed with digital transformation efforts in the wake of COVID. With this new pressure, business leaders have needed to design a holistic strategy for the company’s IT transformation and reallocate budget and personnel towards modern cloud-based technologies. COVID not only accelerated digital transformation efforts but also permanently dispersed the workforce away from offices, away from secure data centers and networks to remote locations.

Two words will reshape the industry over the next several years. Modern workplace. This term means many things to different audiences. To some this is an emphasis on using platforms like Microsoft Teams, or Zoom for collaboration at work. To others this is around securely connecting employees to private applications, and across hybrid work environments, or even ensuring their business ecosystem has access to data.

With the emergence of remote work, IT leaders have had to react quickly, many decide to simply buy more VPNs. Now years later, 77% of companies will make hybrid work a permanent fixture. They’re looking for better alternatives for application connectivity. The new reality is that user experience is key to productivity. Ransomware has grown 500% year over year, and VPNs are one of the largest culprits because they allow network access.