Johannesburg, 07 May 2020
Currently, the majority of South African businesses are focusing on keeping the lights on and remaining in business. However, sooner or later they’re going to have to start planning for the new future post COVID-19. And while nobody knows exactly what that’s going to look like, there are certain business priorities that can’t be ignored.
Lee Jenkins, CTO of ETS Group, identifies three main priorities that businesses should be considering for their immediate survival: business continuity, security and connectivity. He says that despite the pressures brought to bear by the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses still need to ensure they continue to provide services to their customers. While they may not be making any big strategic decisions or rolling out new products at the moment, they are having to find a new equilibrium of work practices so that people can work remotely and perform their usual functions from home, allowing the business to continue functioning.
“Going forward, we’re going to see companies start to focus on new and different priorities. One of the largest priorities on all companies’ radar is business continuity and disaster recovery (DR). We’re seeing an upsurge in businesses starting to test their disaster recovery solutions – some for the first time ever. They want to be sure that corporate governance is in place, that backups are being done properly and DR sites are up to date. And all of this is because of this new way of working. Previously, if there was an issue, the relevant parties could sit around a table and plot how to solve the problem at hand. Now it’s just not possible to get everyone in one room, and online meetings with large groups of people can be chaotic and difficult to manage.”
In a room, you can see people’s facial expressions and reactions to comments, as well as who wants to talk, but this is difficult to track when you’re looking at images on a screen. In the absence of face-to-face human interaction, people are having to rely increasingly on procedures to ensure things are happening as they ought to. “It’s no longer acceptable to procrastinate tasks around business continuity. Where, previously, a few days’ delay might have been acceptable, with a remote workforce, no business can risk failure or downtime.”
What this is, however, is a great opportunity to garner new customers by ensuring that your business continuity practices are better than those of your competition. Customers have become very demanding and discerning, says Jenkins, and if they’re getting poor service, they’ll take their business elsewhere, which few businesses can afford in the current economic climate.
“Another huge focus point going forward is security. Businesses that didn’t previously have remote connectivity suddenly needed to implement solutions quickly to ensure their remote workforce could function. It’s key that they plan that implementation properly, keeping their costs low while making sure their connectivity is secure and reliable. They need to deploy VPNs and enable remote access, while bearing in mind that when working from home, people might not use the same caution that they would in the workplace. In an office environment, companies control which applications can be loaded onto devices and Web sites that can be visited. With a remote workforce, that layer of control is lacking.”
Scammers are coming to the fore using all manner of COVID-19 messages to lure people into clicking on links. Incidents of phishing fraud and digital impersonations are skyrocketing. If fraudsters can get into your laptop, they can get into your e-mail; from there they can probably get into your remote access and eventually access higher levels of information. Layers of security are required to protect remote workers and their devices, and ultimately, the company network.
Connectivity is also a key area of focus for companies at the moment. The majority of people who are expected to work from home only have access to 3G at best, and are competing for bandwidth with other people who are working remotely, learners doing home schooling and people trying to keep themselves occupied by watching online content.
“Whereas prior to lockdown, the workforce went to a central location and used the connectivity provided by their employer, they are now relying on their neighbourhood cellphone towers that are saturated with workers, school children and bored people. Connectivity speeds are becoming less efficient, which is impacting productivity. And while data costs are being driven down, telecommunications providers aren’t going to invest in more infrastructure as they know that the situation is temporary and will eventually revert to normal.”
COVID-19 has brought about some positive changes for business, says Jenkins. For instance, previously rigorous office hours are becoming more flexible. People are now only permitted to exercise between 6am and 9am, so the workday has shifted to accommodate that. Not only are people and businesses more open to change, they’re making changes on the fly, instead of planning and strategising for months beforehand. An example of this is the manner in which retailers have been able to implement contactless payment within the space of a month, whereas usually, a project like that would take much longer.
Businesses are realising new opportunities because all of the red tape has been done away with in the urgency to implement solutions that will keep businesses… well… in business. The government has shown how quickly it can implement new laws, make decisions and deploy human and other resources. In the IT context, decisions are being made more rapidly, especially around remote connectivity and security. Companies simply need to get stuff done.
“We’re also seeing companies that dragged their heels about moving to the cloud starting to realise the benefits. Whether the application is hosted on-premises or in the cloud, consumption is the same. Widespread use of online video meeting applications has probably assisted this mindset shift.”
What’s going to happen for the remainder of year is unclear at this stage, but businesses need to stay in business so they can pay their staff and their suppliers. The domino effect of not doing this will be devastating for the economy. This is what companies need to focus on, doing what they need to in order to stay in business while considering the future.
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