By KT Ong, Country Manager- Malaysia, Dell Technologies"
Digital transformation is not new. Just 11 years ago, there was a significant transformation when employees started to bring their own devices to work– known as “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD). BYOD initiated major changes in IT processes and policies to address end-users accessing data with devices not owned, secured or managed by the organisation. As the first chapter of the digital workplace, BYOD introduced the notion of productivity regardless of location.
The events of 2020 acted as a catalyst for another wave of transformation, this time necessitated by the need to, seemingly overnight, enable users to work and learn from anywhere. The almost immediate shift to a remote work culture globally meant that many organisations had to accelerate their own digital capabilities to protect their employees, customers and communities. Instead of going to work, restaurants or out shopping, technology enables it to come to us.
At Dell Technologies, we believe this do-from-anywhere world is here to stay and we’ll continue to see people do more from wherever they are. In a study conducted that looks at the readiness of employees for long-term remote work, the Dell Technologies Remote Work Readiness (RWR) Index found that 84% of employees in Malaysia agree that they are prepared for such an arrangement.
Work is no longer defined as a place or time, but instead is focused on outcomes.
Organisations that are prepared to build upon the preparedness of their workforce and digital capabilities are poised to capture the infinite possibilities of the future. It’s time for organisations to reassess their remote work capabilities to create a digital workplace that’s ready for anything and ensures seamless productivity from anywhere, with a secure and agile infrastructure to enable it. The location of work may look different, but the user experience and productivity should remain top-of-mind. Employees all want faster, more secure, easier-to-use devices, collaboration and access to the tools they need to get their job done. IT needs automation and flexibility to deliver these requirements and enable innovation.
Personalised productivity from anywhere
Creating a digital workplace that enables people to work or learn from anywhere with the productivity, security and the personalisation they need is vital. To do so, organisations need personalised user experiences and intelligent collaboration for seamless productivity. One of the biggest challenges to productivity is technology that works against the end-user by being slow and unreliable, resulting in user frustration and downtime. Findings from the RWR Index supports this – the top three technology challenges that Malaysian employees face are the stability of the remote network they’re using (including Internet bandwidth), access to internal company resources, and the security of personal productivity equipment or tools used for work. Today, there is heightened importance placed on the accessibility – and the security of it – to work resources and this is not to limited to just the physical location but devices as well, to promote better productivity. A positive user experience leads to greater efficiency, engagement, motivation and satisfaction.
One approach is by developing personas based on how and where a person gets work done. The idea is to create a set of personas that enable the optimal experience at the lowest cost. This makes sense for organisations of all sizes – from startups with 3-5 employees, SMEs with a workforce of 50, all the way up to the largest of enterprises. With too few personas, organisations risk overprovisioning resources that could exceed the needs of users with the simplest requirements. Too many personas however would make it unmanageable. With the right number of personas, the right type of device, connectivity, apps and data for each can be provisioned, creating the best user experience in the most cost-effective way. For example, personas could include desk-centric users, on-the-go-pros or technical users. The needs of each persona would differ and therefore so should the technology they use.
Secure and agile infrastructure to support remote users
Optimising your infrastructure with reliable and secure access to applications and data – whether running on-premise, in the cloud or both – is necessary to support and protect users who are working remotely.
The threat landscape, which continuously grows and evolves, is taking advantage of the vulnerabilities caused by remote work. For example, the recent proliferation of ransomware attacks is becoming a growing global security and financial concern. One report found that the volume, size and sophistication of ransomware attacks are on the rise – in the first quarter of 2021 alone, ransomware made up 77% of all cyberattacks. In 2020, ransomware attacks increased 485% globally, accounting for nearly one-quarter of all cyber incidents with total global costs estimated at US$20 billion. According to another research by VMware Carbon Black, there has been a 148% spike in ransomware attacks on global organisations amid COVID-19. It goes without saying that it is crucial for organisations to stay ahead of the cybercrime curve.
Today, it is not only the infrastructure that needs to be protected, but the endpoints as well. Advanced endpoint security solutions secure both above and below the Operating System, at the PC BIOS level. Businesses also need to think about protecting their data center. Security that is built into servers, storage, HCI and data protection appliances help protect data wherever it is stored, managed or used. Layers of protection can be tailored to protect data, apps, network and workloads while proactively ensuring compliance solutions are up to date. With so many users accessing the network from varied locations, organisations need to consider the best and most secure approach to guarantee enough networking capacity and bandwidth.
Dell Technologies is here to help businesses enable a digital workplace that’s ready for anything and remove any complexities that come from supporting dispersed people, applications and data. Organisations that deliver a digital workplace to enable “work and learn from anywhere” will be ready for whatever the future holds.
