Managing a mobile computing environment was already complex enough at the beginning of this year. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, driving many employees (and their mobile devices) out of the office and into their homes, limiting the visibility and control of IT teams.

Most enterprises were already getting on board with unified endpoint management tools, recognizing the need for a common platform to help them manage their fleets of smartphones, tablets and notebook computers, along with associated mobile apps and content. But for organizations that were dragging their feet with UEM, 2020 has served as a wake-up call about the importance of these tools.

For organizations still looking for the right fit, here are four ways that UEM solutions can help navigate these challenging times.

As many of us hit the six-month mark of remote work due to COVID-19, we’ve grown accustomed to days filled with virtual meetings instead of face-to-face gatherings. Cisco has been there for this transition, helping fill the void of empty conference rooms with Webex to facilitate an easy solution for video and online meetings.

From a user perspective, this transition to a reliance on virtual meetings has not been without challenges. Have you ever been unsure if you were muted, or scrambled to locate and mute that chatty person on your participant list? Do you find yourself wishing some of those Event and Training Center features were available in Meeting Center? Do you ever feel overwhelmed because you are the only one in a meeting with host privileges to manage the call? If you are like me and answered yes to all these questions, you will be excited to hear about the new features that are included in Cisco Webex 40.9.

During the global pandemic, Emerging Technologies — the area of IT that I focus on — has seen an exciting influx of new technologies and offerings in a short amount of time that help keep people safe and connected.

Some of these technologies, especially robotics and drones, are causing disruption in the channel in a couple of ways: by providing new avenues for people to communicate in a socially distant world and sanitizing entire rooms autonomously. These emerging technologies are providing peace of mind to coworkers, students and teachers as businesses and schools create plans to reopen.

Roughly a decade ago, many businesses moved from legacy PBX (or private branch exchange) phone systems to on-premises Voice over IP (VoIP) systems. In more recent years, some organizations have taken the next step and moved away from on-premises to embrace cloud collaboration suites that incorporate voice, video, persistent chat, file sharing and other features in a hosted model with simplified management.

Still, many companies maintain their on-premises systems. Leaders at these organizations know they’ll likely need to deploy a cloud collaboration suite eventually. But to get the most value out of both their existing systems and their future solutions, they must carefully consider when, why and how to make the move.

Over the past six months, the world has seen an unprecedented shift toward telecommuting and other forms of remote work. That shift not only changed the locations where people work, it also forced a rapid change in some of the tools they use to make things work in new, unplanned environments. This unexpected hurry left organizations and individuals making quick decisions about the adoption of cloud tools, sometimes without the careful thought and planning that goes into other IT decisions.

Unfortunately, cybercriminals haven’t changed their approach. They’re still seeking to undermine the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems and data. If anything, they’re harder at work, seizing upon this disruption as an opportunity to take advantage of lax security controls. In order to defend our organizations in this new world, we need to get back to basics and increase the visibility we have into what is going on within our on-premises and cloud environments.

When many businesses shuttered their physical offices and sent employees home in March, IT departments scrambled to scale up their virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environments.

At the time, the priority was getting users set up with remote access to the work resources they needed as quickly as possible, so IT departments largely received a pass for skipping the time-consuming steps that would have made their environments more efficient. But now that remote work is the “new normal” for many organizations, it’s important to take a step back and optimize those virtual desktop environments.

Business and IT leaders looking to build out VDI environments that work for their organizations should follow these best practices.