Tech Agility: A Must-Have for Crisis Survival

It is a known fact that survival of any species depends on its ability to adapt to change. One major change for businesses in 2020 was the need to switch to the work-from-home model to keep things running during the pandemic. When countries all over the world started imposing lockdown restrictions, companies had no choice but to switch to remote operations if their line of business allowed them to do so. This blog post discusses the key challenges faced by businesses that had failed to adopt the latest technology on time.

Access to Critical Data and Applications

For businesses that didn’t store their key data and applications in the cloud or have secure remote access to network data, this was a huge challenge. How do you ensure each of your employees have access to all the business data, programs and apps they need to operate efficiently? Companies that had already adopted the cloud as their core data storage or implemented secure remote access means they didn’t face this challenge: everything was cloud-accessible from anywhere, using internet enabled devices.

Cybersecurity Concerns

With employees suddenly working from home without proper planning or training, businesses’ fears of cybersecurity incidents were greatly increased. Cybercriminals knew full well all the security gaps that existed in a hurried remote working environment setup and exploited them to the fullest. Industry reports showed that the initial few months of the pandemic saw an increase in cybercrime and related attacks on businesses.

Data Loss

For businesses that didn’t operate in the cloud or have secure remote access established, data loss was another angle to address. How do you ensure data backup and recovery when your staff is using non-networked, or even personal devices for work? How to ensure they are taking all the precautions necessary to keep the data they are storing on their devices, safe?

Hardware Issues

Some businesses provided their employees with work devices for use at home, but that still didn’t solve the backup and recovery or cybersecurity challenges entirely, because the management still lacked ways to maintain control over the devices.

Phones

With employees working from home, it was a challenge for many businesses to manage their phone numbers–especially for client facing employees. Businesses with VoIP phone systems could make this transition easily, whereas those still relying on the traditional phone setup had to resort to cell phones and couldn’t use their business numbers for a while.

Key Lesson: Move with the times, adopt new technologies, adapt to newer ways of working

Managed service providers have a good understanding of solutions: their benefits and failings, and can advise you on choosing the right ones, from hosted applications including communications, to managing your remote systems’ security and backups. Keep your business agile and able to survive the tumult of the day.