At first glance, 2020 was the year organisations in both the public and private sectors wholeheartedly embraced Unified Communications (UC), in direct response to the challenges presented by COVID-19. However, while we certainly saw a surge in uptake of UC solutions as part of the wider move towards remote working, this was more the culmination of ...

A common perception of contact centres is that their callers - be they customers, patients or end users - only contact them if something is wrong. Nonetheless, throughout 2020, we have seen this underrated (but nonetheless essential) part of the overall customer experience enter a new stage in its evolution. But with distributed workplace...

Any organisation delivering professional services of any sort - from architecture and accountancy to engineering or recruitment - relies on its IT infrastructure to maximise employee performance, engage with customers, and deliver exceptional services and solutions. There are a number of challenges here. Compliance requirements, particula...

2020 has proven a challenging time for the global hospitality sector. As with virtually every industry impacted by COVID-19, the sector has been forced to completely re-evaluate the way it delivers its services, in order to comply with government regulations and - most importantly - guarantee the continued safety of both guests and staff.

Technology is omnipresent in young people's lives and is opening up new channels of learning across the education sector, with pupils, students and staff utilising Cloud and video calling platforms both in and out of the classroom. At the same time, cyber security is evolving at a rapid pace to answer ongoing concerns about pupils' safety online an...

No matter how sure you are that your network is secure, you may still be at risk of cyberattacks. It's no exaggeration Cybercriminals are constantly working to stay one step ahead of organisations and security professionals, exploiting any vulnerability they can in even the most sophisticated systems.

It's well-established that security is an essential part of all infrastructure. With data protection more of a concern for customers and end users than ever - particularly in light of regulations like the Cloud Act and GDPR - it's vital that organisations demonstrate a clear commitment to the security of their networks, Cloud applications and physical devices.

The move towards Hybrid Cloud infrastructures - with on-premise solutions systems connected to Public and Private Clouds to maximise the benefits of each solution - has been in progress for a number of years now. Indeed, in 2019 it was reported that 69% of organisations were already utilising some form of Hybrid Cloud solution1. Since then, the move towards a distributed workforce in response to COVID-19 has accelerated this process, with 82% of organisations reporting that they have accelerated their Cloud adoption strategies as a result of the pandemic2.

Virtually every sector has been impacted by COVID-19, but the higher and further education sector has been hit especially hard, with staff, students and administrative staff feeling its effects. Institutes of learning are still exploring the ways technology can open up new channels of learning and engagement for students. This will not only futureproof their establishments, but do so in a cost-effective way that provides them with the agility to swiftly adapt to any future economic changes, including the likes of a COVID-scale crisis.

With research from the IDC estimating that 80% of the data created by 2025 will be unstructured [1], businesses need to ensure they have an affordable storage solution for such high volumes of data. A simple, cost-effective solution that businesses can utilise to this effect is Cloud Object Storage, which stores petabytes of data in the Cloud as 'objects'.

We see over and over again how COVID-19 is transforming the way we work and connect with each other. Employees across virtually every industry are now working effectively from home, even if such an arrangement would have been unthinkable at the start of this year. It's been extremely heartening to see the range of innovations that have been embraced in response to the crisis, but it's important not to forget the foundations of your IT infrastructure as you explore these solutions. For example, consider how you are backing up and storing the lifeblood of your organisation: your data.

The level of performance and resilience organisations demand from their networks has increased several-fold in the wake of COVID-19. The rapid transition to a fully distributed workforce has not only placed considerable demands on networks in terms of raw performance, but also the resilience needed to adapt to the unexpected with minimal disruption to data security, internal processes or the customer and user experience.While we have certainly seen some considerable successes in this area, there is still work to be done if this new way of working is able to provide companies with the agility, security and scalability they need to adapt and thrive going forward.