Vawn Himmelsbach

Editor /

Vawn Himmelsbach is the editor of expertIP. She has reported on technology, business and travel for two decades, for media outlets such as the Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail, National Post, CBC.ca, Metro News, ITBusiness, PCworld Canada and Computerworld Canada. She also spent three years covering tech as an Asian correspondent.

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Recent Posts

News / IT Management /

What will the future of work look like?

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 15, 2021

Tags: digital worker, future of work, Gartner

Gartner’s latest digital worker experience survey explores what workers really think about remote work, WFH productivity and virtual collaboration — and how IT and business leaders can adapt and prepare for the future of work in a post-pandemic world.

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hybrid workplace

News / IT Management /

How to create an inclusive hybrid workplace

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 1, 2021

Tags: Cisco Live, future of work, hybrid workplace

As we start to think about life after the pandemic, Cisco execs share tips on how to make the hybrid workplace more engaging, inclusive and collaborative — for employees and their customers — during this week’s virtual Cisco Live conference.

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Hybrid workplace

News / IT Management /

The next normal: Preparing for the hybrid workplace

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / March 18, 2021

Tags: Cisco Webex, hybrid workforce, hybrid workplace, WFH

As organizations get ready to go back to the office, the trends toward flexibility, virtual collaboration and intelligent office spaces all point toward a new hybrid workplace. But what does this mean for the traditional office and how can IT pros better support workers?

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SD-WAN transformation during COVID

News / IT Management /

Transforming the network: SD-WAN and SASE

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / January 14, 2021

Tags: hybrid WAN, SASE, SD-WAN

Four or five years ago, the conversation around software-defined WANs was about saving money and getting a return on your investment. Now that’s at the bottom of the list, according to EMA’s latest research into WAN transformation, SD-WAN and SASE during the pandemic.

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IT security priorities for 2021

News / Security /

Looking ahead: Top IT security priorities for 2021

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / December 10, 2020

Tags: cybersecurity, IT security, security priorities for 2021

Even if you were already shoring up your defences — systems, networks and devices, in the office and remotely — the pandemic pushed this to the top of the IT security agenda with an unprecedented urgency. We look at what organizations can expect in the year ahead.

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digital disruption

News / IT Management /

5G, AI and blockchain drive digital disruption

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / November 26, 2020

Tags: 5G, AI, digital disruption

The pandemic is accelerating digital disruption, from re-engineered networks to public cloud adoption. We sum up the key takeaways from the Canadian Telecom Summit held earlier this month, including key technologies driving this disruption and the challenges ahead.

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IoT cyber attacks on the rise

News / Security /

IoT cyber attacks escalate during pandemic

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 29, 2020

Tags: cyber risk, Cyber-Attacks, cybersecurity, IoT

The number of cyber attacks on IoT devices is soaring, in part due to COVID-19 — and this will only increase as 5G is rolled out. We look at some of today’s biggest malware threats, how COVID-19 plays a role and how to protect employees who are working from home.

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Cyber attacks on the rise during COVID

News / Security /

Cyber attacks on the rise: Mitigating new risks

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 2, 2020

Tags: Cyber-Attacks, cybersecurity, ransomware, WFH

Pandemic-related vulnerabilities, including home-based workforces and mobile WFH devices, have left big gaps in security. And evolving cyber attacks — like blended extortion-ransomware — mean that organizations can’t afford to let their guard down.

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IT budgets rebound fuelling DX projects

News / IT Management /

IT budgets rebound, fuelling new DX projects

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / September 10, 2020

Tags: BPM, digital transformation, DX, IT budgets, IT spending

After IT spending came to a standstill in the spring amid economic uncertainty, digital transformation (DX) projects are starting to move forward—in many cases at an accelerated pace—to navigate new go-to-market strategies and manage remote workforces.

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5G in the enterprise

News / IT Management /

5G back on track to transform the enterprise

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / August 13, 2020

Tags: 5G

COVID-19 may have slowed the adoption of 5G as the world hit pause in mid-March, but spending on worldwide 5G network infrastructure is set to almost double this year, setting the stage for new use cases in verticals like industry, transport and health.

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Cybersecurity in the age of COVID-19

News / Security /

Cybersecurity in the age of COVID-19

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / June 4, 2020

Tags: COVID-19, cyber security, cybersecurity, WFH

Since mid-March, we’ve seen an increase in the volume and scope of cybersecurity attacks as employees working from home and transitioning back to the office present a tempting target for malicious actors. This could change the way your business evaluates risk for years to come.

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Returning to the office during COVID-19

Resources / Business Continuity /

Returning to the office: How to protect your team

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / May 21, 2020

Tags: business continuity, COVID-19, crisis management, returning to the office

From practices to protect employees to new workplace safety regulations and planning for a potential new wave of COVID-19, Allstream talks to the experts in an online roundtable about how to safely make the transition from WFH back to the office.

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network monitoring and management megatrends

News / IT Management /

What’s new in network monitoring tools

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 30, 2020

Tags: EMA, IoT, network monitoring, network monitoring tools, SDN

Network managers still spend a good chunk of their day on reactive troubleshooting. But survey data from IT research firm EMA suggests that enterprises are looking to end network management tool sprawl, while dealing with new demands from IoT and data centre SDN.

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networking communications technology

News / IT Management /

2020 networking trends: SD-WAN, 5G and edge

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 16, 2020

Tags: 5G, edge computing, networking trends, SD-WAN

COVID-19 has disrupted business as usual. Plans for the year ahead have been thrown out the window, both at work and in our personal lives. But networking technologies have become more critical than ever—now, and when we come out the other side of this pandemic.

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remote work during coronavirus pandemic

News / IT Management /

How to successfully manage your remote team

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 2, 2020

Tags: coronavirus, COVID-19, remote team, remote work, remote workers, virtual meetings

Even if your organization has a remote-work strategy in place, you’re probably not prepared for your entire workforce to work from home. Here are a few suggestions to keep your remote team on track—helping them stay productive, but also feel connected and part of a team.

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Setting up a remote workforce

News / Business Continuity /

How to set up a remote workforce for future resiliency

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / March 26, 2020

Tags: business continuity, Gartner, remote work, remote workforce

You might be working around the clock to support new remote workers—dealing with everything from bandwidth to connectivity to security. But CIOs can respond to the crisis with both short- and long-term actions to build resiliency, according to one Gartner analyst.

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Full Speed Ahead for SD-WAN

News / IT Management /

Why SD-WAN is poised to take off in 2020

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / February 13, 2020

Tags: 5G, multi-cloud, SASE, SD-WAN

From 5G network slicing to multi-cloud networking, software-defined WANs are evolving to offer a whole lot more than just branch connectivity. And this is the year industry analysts expect we’ll start to see the vast potential of this foundational technology.

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Enterprise Networking Trends for 2020

News / IT Management /

Enterprise networking trends to watch in 2020

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / January 30, 2020

Tags: 2020 trends, 5G, enterprise networking, IBN, SD-WAN, Wi-Fi 6

AI might get all the attention, but technologies like Wi-Fi 6 and SD-WAN are poised to play a bigger role in enterprise networking this year. With increasing automation, however, the role of network engineer is also starting to change.

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News / Unified Communications /

The UC evolution: Top trends for 2020

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / January 16, 2020

Tags: UC, UC&C, UCaaS, unified communications

While we’ve seen unified communications move from on-prem to the cloud, this year will see further consolidation of collaboration tools with platform plays, more APIs for customization and new tech like AI that will take UC to a whole new level.

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News / IT Management /

AI and IBN: Preparing your network for the future

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 31, 2019

Tags: AI, IBN, SDN

Cisco’s inaugural report on global networking trends shows that today’s IT networks are becoming increasingly unmanageable by traditional means. The solution to modernization could lie in artificial intelligence, automation and intent-based networking.

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News / IT Management /

How to leapfrog common DX hurdles

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 24, 2019

Tags: Agile, digital transformation, DX

Gartner predicts digital innovation will double in both time and costs during the year ahead. To keep DX on track, it comes down to some non-tech strategies. Here’s what to keep in mind:

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