Hybrid Workplace: How to Help Enterprise Adapt to the New Normal

Never before has two years felt so much like 10. Wind the clock back to March 2020 and we all thought the pandemic would be a short-lived emergency. A month? Maybe two at worst? Today, the world is changed forever – and technology has been at the centre of things. Ironically, despite millions abandoning the office to work from home, business communication has accelerated and is now more sophisticated. Voice, video, messaging, collaboration: all have been turbo-charged via the deployment of clever platforms, apps, and add-ons. And all can now be unified in ways which not only support the new hybrid working model – which mixes work from home with a partial return to the office - but which also delivers game-changing efficiency and productivity improvements. Security, functionality and remote employee well-being are all now front and centre for enterprise IT and HR departments eyeing the future. And, for communication technology providers, carriers and value-added resellers, the future spells opportunity. Pick the right partner, and the next two years may even be as dynamic as the last two. “Day one of the pandemic was a slap in the face for all IT managers and immediate action was taken, at any price,” says Myles Leach, Managing Director at NFON UK - provider of voice-centric business communications from the cloud. “Working from home replaced nearly everything. Overnight, millions of private households had to be turned into quasi offices, often successfully but sometimes not. “The price of that haste has, for some, been security-related. Is the wireless router secured? How is the company network accessed? How is data stored? “The employee sometimes became the unintended gateway to an increased security risk. “Then there was also the lack of company equipment necessary for work. Speed of deployment was understandably the priority but that in itself caused other issues. “Now there are new rules in the new world. A serious and permanent change has occurred. Work is a part of the new home. Well-being, mental health, a secure home office - these are all just pieces of the new puzzle. “If we understand this, we solve many problems before they arise.” NFON has responded to those challenges. It recently introduced its new solution ‘Cloudya Meet & Share with Video Conferencing’ – a video-enabled, unified communications platform which has the power to truly transform. It brings together multiple online functions in a way which provides users with a simplified access to their mission-critical contacts, without the need for multiple suppliers. Meeting links can be shared, and telephone dial-in can also be provided. Video conferencing can be interactive by using functions for raising hands to answer questions or muting individual participants, as well as screen sharing. To further complement its Cloudya Meet & Share solution, NFON offers its innovative, fully app-driven ‘CRM Connect’ solution - enabling organisations looking to simplify data management and support more seamless collaboration to easily integrate the Cloudya cloud telephony desktop app with more than 60 different CRM platforms. Everything can be accessed from any connected device, anytime – supporting remote working like never before. “The remote working model, which in March 2020 still seemed like a transitional state, will stay with us permanently – of that there is no doubt,” adds Leach. “This means that the makeshift approach needs to be strategically redefined. “Even if the home remains a private space, it is also becoming an extension of the company life. It is a place for which employers have become partly responsible. “The pandemic has changed the job ecosystem far beyond our recognition. The future winners in the labor market will be those who quickly learn from past experiences. This is extremely important in a situation where one of the main causes of stress in professional life is the lack of work-life balance. “That means enterprises need to look at HR in a new way. The competition for the best employees is fierce and providing an optimal digital work environment is key to recruitment.” Two years on from the start of the pandemic, it is absolutely the case that everything IS different. Often, change on that kind of epic scale is challenging. But change can also be a catalyst for ambition and positivity. Harness THAT power and transformation naturally follows. To learn more about how NFON can help your AND your customers’ businesses adapt to new ways of working, visit http://www.nfon.com