“Hold on, my internet’s just gone down”, “Hello? Can you hear me?”, “I’m just going to restart my laptop as it’s being a bit slow” – we’ve all heard at least one of these phrases from our colleagues over the past few weeks since remote working measures have been put into place, and if you haven’t then clearly you must have a team with lightning-fast internet and a highly advanced remote working set up!
Since the UK has been on lockdown, many of us have experienced throttled internet connections. Parents are trying to work, kids are trying to learn, and many of us want to catch up on the latest series on Netflix, all via a local connection. Networks are going to feel the strain and there’s uncertainty on whether the technology will be able to cope. For organisations, especially, there’s an added strain in that as many as a third of UK businesses lack the tech infrastructure for long-term remote working.
So, what needs to be done? And who holds the responsibility?
The Forgotten Key Workers
It is easily overlooked, but those working in telecommunications are classed as key workers. At a time where people are not only relying on their internet connection for work purposes, but also to stay connected with friends and family to help their mental well-being, broadband providers need to be stepping up their customer care and accelerating the development of networks. This means having to deal with peaks they didn’t have before, as well as dispersed connections and how to reallocate resources.
It also means liaising and working with local authorities to ensure every household has a fast and secure connection and making sure to keep customers in the loop about how they’re improving the situation. Just like the weekly emails we receive from supermarkets about how they’re changing processes week-on-week, we should be having similar communication from our internet providers too.
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Added to this are questions around net neutrality. Netflix and YouTube have reduced their video quality to help with the demand, whilst business applications are prioritised to ensure business continuity. And businesses too need to be equipping their employees as best they can and, most importantly, be conscious and understanding of the possible home set-up problems – that video call may cut out and that is something we need to be prepared for.
What Businesses Can Do
There are different dimensions for businesses to consider when it comes to remote working preparations. In the short term, organisations need to provide employees with the tools they need to be able to work from home – whether it’s offering corporate laptops or implementing cloud software that can be accessed remotely.
Also, on a day-to-day level, managers might also want to think about scheduling their team’s day differently. For example, prioritising meetings. A 20-person meeting scheduled at 9 am is now relying on 20 different internet connections at a time when the majority of the UK is connecting to the internet in the morning to start their day. And if that meeting is only half an hour long, and the first 10 mins is wasted on everyone trying to hear everyone, is it even worth it?
Another aspect to think about is security. If employees are using personal devices on an unsecure home connection, it can have bad repercussions on your business. Data breaches and hacks are already at an all-time high, so ensuring you have VPNs in place and regular training on security with your employees will ensure to keep security issues to a minimum.
A Better-Connected Future For Everyone
Covid-19 has certainly been a fast-moving situation for everyone – not only for businesses that are behind on their digital transformation strategies, but also for authorities that control where internet priorities should be.
For the workplace, coronavirus could change how organisations see their workforce. Working from home might be more suited to some employees and so it could be implemented business-wide, post-Covid-19, and organisations and internet providers should prepare for that.
In the long term, it’s about additional investment and what is needed if the situation were to arise again. Whilst no one saw this coming, it certainly sets a precedent for future disruption and the need to accelerate digital transformation.
About The Author
By Colette Wade, Vice President Marketing & Business Development, EMEA at Cornerstone OnDemand
