INSIGHT Nick Sacke - Comms365
“Application usage as high as 700% has put networking infrastructure under significant strain, both at the
user end and in the cloud.” Nick Sacke, Head of IoT and Products - Comms365
Identifying the right tools
The Covid-19 crisis initiated a dramatic change to the working world almost overnight. With offices closed and
employees advised to work from home, businesses were forced to adapt without warning. In this insight Nick
Sacke, Head of IoT and Products at Comms365, explains how businesses can find the resilience they need
Implementing the correct
communications technology
solutions, business resilience
can be rapidly assured - not
just for now, but also as we
adapt to the ‘new normal’ postlockdown.
Reliable connectivity
Digital business transformation
and remote working has
resulted in increasing volumes
of application trac per user.
Application usage as high as
700% has put networking
infrastructure under signicant
strain, both at the user end and
in the cloud. is has increased
the requirement for network
performance and resilience to
ensure a quality user experience
and business continuity.
However, broadband speeds for
many homes are still painfully
slow, especially if all the family
are competing for internet
resources with remote working
and schooling.
is means that access to
corporate networks and cloud
applications reliably can be a
challenge. is is where 4G
data services can add a reliable
and cost-eective backup
connectivity option, or even
primary access where xed line
access isn’t possible.
Unified communications and
collaboration (UC&C)
With no oce premise open,
SMEs have had to invest in new
laptops, headsets, reliable video
conferencing and collaboration
software, hosted telephony, and
training on how to eectively
utilise the new UC&C tools to
ensure employees can continue
to operate as close to ‘business
as usual’ as possible. With
the speed of the decision to
lockdown, many businesses
struggled to get full UC&C
solutions in place.
As lockdown measures start
to be lifted, businesses will not
immediately shift back to the
working practices of before
–and the future workforce will
expect businesses to embrace
remote working as an integral
part of business operations.
Many businesses will continue
with remote working for the
foreseeable future; some may
implement a combination of
oce and remote working –
research has revealed that74%
of CFOsplan to permanently
shift some of their employees to
remote working post-lockdown.
But even when some
oces reopen, open-plan
seating layouts will have to be
redesigned to keep employees
further apart from one another.
IoT technology including
temperature monitoring
solutions in thermal
cameras, such as those used
atAmazon,can be an ideal
solution to alerting employers
and employees to potential viral
symptoms before coming into
contact with colleagues.
Security
e question of IT security
has become critical during
the Covid-19 restrictions
and will continue to be. It’s
more important than ever for
organisations to invest in the
right security systems and
educate their employees about
the signs for possible threats,
especially as cyber-attacks have
increasedve-foldduring the
crisis.
Some businesses have had
to implement a BYOD (bring
your own device) policy, at
least temporarily, as employees
were not set up with work
devices. But without the same
corporate security protocols,
personal devices can expose
organisations to dangerous
external cyber threats. For
example, many companies have
web-based IPVPNs securing
their corporate trac, but
there are many other routes
hackers can take in these
challenging times, such as via
third party mobile devices that
may introduce threats to the
internal network. Whether your
data is held in the cloud or on
a physical server, businesses
need to take action to ensure
they have secure access to their
stored information.
Business Transformation
e Covid-19 pandemic has
demonstrated how resilient and
capable businesses are to deal
with unique challenges, and
to transform their oerings.
We have seen manufacturers
across varying disciplines such
as motorsport, fashion and
homewares re-tool to produce
much needed medical supplies
such as PPE and ventilators,
large call centres continuing
to take enquiries and deliver
support despite the agents
working from home, and
restaurants stopping table service
but embracing home delivery.
In order to make this shift
successfully, businesses will need
to make the necessary changes to
support this transformation and
maintain continuity. e tactics
employed in the new business
plan include rapid connectivity
deployment, increased internet
quality / throughput, and
the addition of connectivity
infrastructure resilience.
Many companies weren’t
prepared for a shift in business
structures, operational
procedures and modelling,
which may put them at a severe
disadvantage if they don’t get
the right tools in place. With
the economic pressure caused
by Covid-19, without a way to
reliably transform to a new way
of working or to diversify their
oerings could spell the end for
Nick Sacke, Head of IoT and Products at Comms365 many organisations.
40 | Comms Business Magazine | June 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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