The Channel’s Pivotal Role in Enabling Hybrid Working

Mike Hallam

The way we work is about to change. Thanks to the vaccine rollout, we will soon shift from a mass work-from-home model toward a hybrid framework.

Employees will be free to split their time between their homes, the office or customer sites, depending on what suits them and their employers best. The Civil Service, PWC and Nationwide are just a few of the many major organisations that have committed to giving their people more power to choose where and how they work.

This could have a major economic impact. Flexible working could drive efficiency gains that will contribute to a £232 billion boost to UK GDP by 2040, according to our study with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

Digital transformation, which has accelerated over the last year as end-customers have invested in cloud applications to survive and stabilise, will enable this transition.

But to support new ways of working, there is a need to consider whether networks are fit for purpose. Some 77% felt their Covid-19 response was hindered by the state of their networking infrastructure, according to our research into 500 senior IT managers at large organisations.

So, there is an opportunity for the connectivity channel to get closer to end-customers and help them as they look to implement hybrid working in a way that empowers organisations and improves productivity.

Making the Case for Connectivity

A global product lead at Bloomberg noted in an April article that “data accessibility is the future of work.”

With more employees collaborating from different locations, the success of an organisation will increasingly depend on the speed at which workers can access information and communicate with their colleagues.

End-customers recognise this and are growing concerned that their connectivity infrastructure isn’t able to withstand such large volumes of data.

Some 38% told us that their networks haven’t provided them with the agility needed to support remote working since the pandemic struck. And exactly the same proportion are looking to their channel supplier to guide them toward more flexible solutions.

This creates an opportunity for channel partners to make the case for advanced connectivity technologies.

One example is National High Capacity Services, point-to-point services that provide superfast speeds at low latency, and can help end-customers meet the demands of an “Operate from Anywhere” model.

The product can move massive amounts of data quickly and securely between sites in national and local settings. Better yet, it’s relatively easy to install and integrate into customers’ existing networks, minimising the possibility of further disruption, something organisations can ill afford after a year of pandemic restrictions.

Another advantage is that it provides businesses with added resilience. As a point-to-point service across a private network, it’s difficult to intercept and is inherently secure.

This is particularly important at a time when UK businesses are facing around 2,000 new cyber-attacks every day, according to Beaming, which is a significant increase from 2020.

With awareness of these technologies relatively low, and end customers wanting strategic consultancy on how best to support flexible working, there is a clear opportunity for the channel to …