The past year of upheaval in the digital landscape has created a number of singular challenges for the Legal sector, in addition to firms' longstanding obligations around security and data governance.

As students finally make their long-awaited return to the classroom, it is important that schools, colleges, and other institutes of education do not lose sight of the increasingly complex cyber security landscape they must navigate, and ensure the lessons learned throughout lockdown continue to be acted upon.

There's no doubt that the past two years have challenged the Hospitality & Leisure sectors in ways that would previously have been unimaginable, with social distancing requirements limiting the number of guests who can be hosted and making familiar processes like checking in and out significantly more complex. But, like every sector impacted by the pandemic, these challenges have inspired a new wave on innovation, as IT infrastructure has evolved to support staff and guests alike, ensuring safety does not have to come at the expense of an enjoyable stay.

Let's consider some of the ways the challenges of COVID-19 have impacted the Hospitality & Leisure sector, and how the lessons learned can - in the long term - open up new opportunities to deliver truly unforgettable experiences for every guest…

Ever since the Cloud as a concept entered the public consciousness, concerns about its perceived cyber security weaknesses have been a major obstacle to organisations - and, indeed, entire sectors - embracing digital transformation. The AEC sector, in particular, has traditionally been slow to begin the process of Cloud transformation, although the number of future-minded firms phasing out their legacy systems and embracing the scalability, agility, and operational resilience the Cloud has to offer in recent years indicates that we are seeing a shift in this regard.

The healthcare sector generates higher volumes of patient data on a daily basis than ever before - all of which conceals a rich vein of opportunities to optimise efficiency and enhance patient care. The demand for more efficient diagnosis and more effective management of data has naturally led to the rise of digital pathology and - in turn - the Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) that underpin these initiatives.

In a heightened cyber threat landscape - where ransomware attacks are increasing in frequency and sophistication - and having weathered the challenges of COVID-19 and the resulting move to hybrid working, the Finance sector is still continually challenged to demonstrate to its customers that critical services will remain available no matter what, and that sensitive financial data will remain fully secure at all times.

The UK's Legal sector must contend with some of the most stringent compliance and data protection obligations in the current digital landscape. For many years, this has hindered the progress of digital transformation initiatives within firms, but in recent years, in order to meet the challenges of COVID-19, many firms have seized the opportunity to modernise cumbersome legacy systems and develop cutting-edge IT infrastructure that enables their staff to work more flexibly.

With lockdown restrictions finally easing, and the public looking forward to enjoying the different activities they have been deprived of for the past two years, it's certainly an exciting time for the UK's Hospitality & Leisure sector. But as hotels get ready to open their doors again, it is essential that hospitality professionals do not lose sight of the challenges that will be involved.

In spite of the ongoing evolution of cyber security processes and technology, human error is still responsible for 95% of data breaches¹. Phishing attacks alone represent a particularly insidious risk, with 91% of organisations experiencing a successful attack in 2021 alone_².

In light of recent geopolitical events, and the increased threat to corporate infrastructure, organisations across the UK must assume that they will be forced to contend with a cyber-attack in the near future and prepare accordingly. Indeed, the NCSC has already set out its own guidance to help organisations bolster their defences, which we strongly advise you to read and implement.

For some years now, Cloud adoption has been steadily on the rise across the UK's Finance sector, with organisations including banks, insurers, and investment firms phasing out increasingly cumbersome legacy systems in favour of more scalable, agile, and cost-effective infrastructure. Indeed, more than 48% of UK banking services are now built on Cloud infrastructure.

The digital landscape is evolving at a rate that's never been seen before and is set to continue accelerating in the years ahead. In such a fast-paced environment, the ability to work flexibly, responding to unexpected challenges and optimising the time-to-market for new innovations, is critically important for all organisations - whether they're ambitious start-ups or established global leaders. While IT infrastructure must certainly support this - hence the widespread phasing out of legacy infrastructure in favour of increasingly sophisticated Cloud transformation strategies - any new technology will be of limited effectiveness if processes and methodologies do not evolve in parallel.

After several years of serious global upheaval, it is clear that resilience, agility, and the ability to adapt to the unexpected are critical priorities for all organisations – regardless of size or sector. However, this accelerated pace of change has, in many cases, revealed the limitations of existing IT services. With an increasing emphasis on on-demand services and a highly fluid workforce, legacy services and their systems often struggle to support new propositions and customers' evolving needs, which will – in turn – make maintaining a competitive advantage difficult, if not near impossible.

We're all trying to do more with less, whether that's making our monthly shop go further and reducing our utilities consumption at home or doing more with our organisations' available budgets and resources in our professional lives. But while getting the most out of the resources we have available is certainly admirable and sensible, our most precious resource – one that we cannot replenish once it's been used – is all-too-frequently neglected: our time.

The past few years have been challenging for the global Manufacturing sector, with both Brexit and COVID-19 creating a wide range of operational disruptions whose impact is still being felt. Indeed, as recently as January 2023, we saw UK manufacturing shrinking for the sixth consecutive month¹.