October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) is urging the country to act now and boost protection from cyber threats. According to its report, Annual Cyber Threat Report 2020-21, one cybercrime is reported to the ACSC every 8 minutes, so it’s important for individuals and businesses to boost cyber defences ­– the first step of which is turning on automatic updates. Make no mistake, it’s critical to keep devices and software up to date.

Amid dramatic advances in technology in the past few years, the trend to a mobile and cloud first ethos has entered the mainstream. While the enterprise initially struggled to keep up, the business advantages of enterprise mobility are now hard to ignore.

It seems like an eternity since the advent of 4G and smartphones ushered in the era of enterprise mobility, with voice and data IP services and a fast broadband internet experience serving as a primary engine of growth. The introduction of 5G mobile data networks takes this to a whole new level. Offering faster speeds and increased data capacity with lower latency and greater device density, the fifth generation of mobile wireless communications technology is fast becoming an integral part of every business strategy.

Back in the day – around about ten years ago – bring your own device or BYOD represented a bold move reflecting the new relationship technology played in people’s work and personal lives and the shift to a more mobile and always on work culture. Led by employee demand for the same level of technology performance at work as they enjoy at home, companies began to figure out how to allow employees’ smartphones, tablets, and laptop devices to access corporate networks while ensuring the infrastructure remains secure.

During the onset of the pandemic last year, the adoption of cloud technologies gathered pace as more and more businesses opted for a cloud-first technology strategy. This in turn has fuelled new demand for SD-WAN services.