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

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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News / IT Management /

How automation will transform IT networking

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / September 26, 2019

Tags: network automation, SD-WAN, SDN

From enterprise networks to the data centre, automation is set to transform IT networking for the better. But the road to simplicity is paved with complexity.

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News / Customer Service /

Taking CX to the next level in your contact centre

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / August 29, 2019

Tags: AI, contact centre, CX, UC

Gen Z isn’t going to sit on hold for an agent. But emerging technologies and increasing channel diversity are changing the face of traditional contact centres — which has the potential to dramatically improve the customer experience.

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Fun / IT Management /

Where to book your next ‘geeky’ vacation

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / August 15, 2019

While there’s still time to plan a last-minute summer getaway, it’s also a good time to start preparing for your next vacation — after all, winter is coming. Here are five travel destinations to stimulate your brain or get your geek on.

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News / IT Management /

How to get your boss on board with 5G

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / July 18, 2019

Tags: 5G

Like the temperatures outside, 5G is heating up — but higher-ups aren’t necessarily sold on the disruptive potential of this next-gen cellular network technology. Here’s a primer to help you state your case for 5G (when everyone is back from vacation, of course).

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News / IT Management /

Don’t let economic uncertainty slow DX efforts

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / June 13, 2019

Tags: AI, DX, Gartner

We talk to Gartner analyst John-David Lovelock about the latest IT spending forecast, and why the discussion is changing from one about number-crunching to one about digital disruption.

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News / IT Management /

The top 5 benefits of SD-WAN technology

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / May 16, 2019

Tags: SD-WAN

It’s taken some time to catch on, but an increasing number of organizations are getting onboard with software-defined WANs. This is the year SD-WAN is expected to take off — and be a major driver for network modernization and multi-cloud deployments.

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News / IT Management /

Connectivity remains a key challenge for IoT projects

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 18, 2019

Tags: AI, IIoT, IoT

The Internet of Things is moving out of the sandbox and starting to drive real outcomes, according to a new survey of IoT developers. But security, connectivity and interoperability are still major hurdles — though not insurmountable.

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News / Unified Communications /

UCaaS ramps up in contact centres

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 4, 2019

Tags: AI, contact centre, DX

Channels that will transform the contact centre — and the customer experience — include virtual assistants, proactive automation, web chat, instant messaging and mobile applications. Here’s a preview of what’s to come in the next five years.

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News / IT Management /

Network complexity holds back digital transformation

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / March 21, 2019

Tags: digital transformation, DX, SD-WAN

Network professionals are spending too much time troubleshooting today’s multi-vendor, multi-cloud network environments, says a new report. Here’s how next-gen IT networks like SD-WAN could help pave the way for DX.

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News / IT Management /

Why edge computing should be on your radar in 2019

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / February 21, 2019

Tags: AI, edge computing, IoT

Artificial intelligence is moving to the edge of the network alongside the Internet of Things. If you don’t already have an edge computing strategy, this is the year to get on board.

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