Where the first initial lockdown, back in March last year had forced most companies into an abrupt digital setting, the two that have since followed only solidified this. This transformation has now manifested itself so that companies have become significantly, if not completely, reliant on remote, digital solutions to remain functional. As a result, the growing need for robust remote working solutions has surged, causing traditional and antiquated workplace solutions to fall by the wayside.
Embracing digital transformation and unified workplaces
The evolution of digital transformation has fast-tracked the online revolution, meaning elaborate predictions of future working are now not so distant. The boundaries between working from home and in the office are now completely blurred as we find ourselves marching through 2021. The need for physical office space now seems redundant as we can work just as we did before, if not better, from home and exceed productivity and collaboration standards.
A far stronger focus is now on the availability of IT tools as workforces rely on these methods of remote solutions to remain as collaborative with their colleagues as possible. For example, proprietary business communication platforms have completely revolutionised the way we communicate, collaborate and generally work as they dealt with the majority of the population pivoting to remote working. State of the art interactive, virtual meetings via a browser promotes efficient collaboration and strengthens the performance of organizations, while necessary commutes can be reduced or in some cases avoided.
What’s more, the capabilities to provide quality engagement between employer and employees is now of utmost priority. As we navigate a more digitized year than ever before, employees should be equipped with most efficient solutions that IT managers can source within minutes, instead of days or even weeks so that effective communication internally can also benefit.
This ‘future of working’ model can be achieved through introducing personalized digital workspaces accessed through a browser of any device, anywhere in the world. Perfectly suited to the new home and office split, innovative cloud technology enables organizations and their staff to access any of their applications hosted on-premise or in the cloud, as well as internal and external web applications instantly.
Understanding the challenges
The sudden pivot to mass remote working, however, has not been as smooth sailing as initially thought after all. For companies still operating in traditional virtual environments, remote working solutions often lack flexibility to include legacy or GPU intensive applications that are traditionally running on a desktop or on-premise solutions. Though, it is not too late to innovate and take the first step towards cloud-based technologies. It cannot be stressed enough that cloud computing is here to stay and can offer these types of businesses a life line before it’s too late and fall completely behind digital transformations and breakthroughs.
Additionally, let us not forget that the internet is no doubt a dangerous place. A world now mostly operating online, puts the traditional-based IT infused companies, even more at risk. In fact, there are several emerging cyber threats with an impact that have never been seen before. Due to existing Enterprise software protection solutions that are decades old and vulnerable, many businesses are left exposed and ‘easy’ to attack. And now, with the entire UK workforce being told to work from home, where possible, investing in secure and reliable solutions has never been so crucial for the online safety of not only a business, but its workforce.
Companies can look for intelligent cloud-based solutions that combine the benefits of streaming an online workplace effortlessly with complete trust in the solution to resolve exposure to hackers. For example, when using the cloud, client-to-site VPN connections are no longer required as a result of migrating systems to the cloud, meaning there is no point of attack for trojans. Furthermore, no end device within an organization will be able to access an application server as the direct communication between the user and the target system can be completely ruled out with cloud software.
Yet, it is all types and sizes that can be affected. Even multinational companies fall victim to cyber hacks, often involving over 1000 employees due to vulnerabilities in outdated architecture. Investing in state-of-the-art cloud solutions that include cyber insurance will become a new box to add to the IT checklist in 2021 and beyond.
What’s more, new cloud technologies have emerged and seen acceleration in adoption, thanks to the influx of home working such as Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS). This type of solution enables all IT services to be offered in the cloud for workforces as they work remotely. XaaS not only provides remote workers with advanced flexibility but ensures enhanced security due to it encompassing the likes of other solutions such as IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
Implementing an efficient cloud adoption strategy
If the multiple lockdowns have taught us one thing, it is that cloud adoption is no doubt proving to be one of the most efficient ways to secure and sustain the demands of a digital workforce. Now in 2021, we hope to reach some kind of normality as the dust will hopefully settle on the Covid-19 pandemic. Remote working is now here to stay and it will be up to business leaders to make sure they have the correct and most efficient cloud adoption strategy in place, for their employees. Armed with the right cloud solutions, businesses have the potential to simplify their IT ecosystems and procure solutions without committing to large upfront investments.
This article was originally published in ITProPortal.
