How Has COVID-19 Permanently Changed the World of Work?

Duane Cameron

Special to the Village News

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered the way we all work, and many companies were forced to pivot their business model to stay afloat. Now that workplaces are beginning to re-open, many employers might be wondering: are any of these changes permanent? How different will the world of work be going forward?

Here are the new workplace technology changes we think are here to stay:

• More hybrid and remote work. According to KPMG, 69% of CEOs plan to embrace a virtual workforce. Some of these companies will embrace some form of hybrid work, with fewer employees in the office on a regular basis, but still maintaining office space as a centralized location for in-person meetings and team building.

• Increased use of digital communication and collaboration tools. To manage this shift to a hybrid workplace, 77% of the KPMG respondents will increase their use of tools like video conferencing, web chat programs and virtual project management.

• More focus on disaster planning. The businesses that were able to successfully shift to a remote workplace and quickly implement coronavirus safety protocols were those that already had robust business continuity plans in case of disaster. The U.S. Small Business Administration provides assistance to business owners in creating a business continuity plan at Ready.gov.

• Increased attention to cybersecurity. With more employees working remotely, that means businesses are more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats if they don’t implement good cybersecurity business practices. A recent BullGuard survey of small- and medium-sized business owners reports that 5% of companies nationwide have suffered from a cyberattack or data breach within the past year. Of those, half said it took 24 hours or longer to recover, and a quarter stated they had to spend $10,000 or more to resolve the attack. Twenty-five percent reported they lost business as a result, and nearly 40% stated they lost crucial data.

Future-proof your business

Now that some of these changes are likely to be permanent, it’s important for small- and medium-sized business owners to think about future-proofing their business with an effective “technology stack.” A technology stack – also called a solutions stack, technology infrastructure or a data ecosystem – refers to all the technology services used to build and run a business.

Some of the solutions that should be part of your company’s technology stack include:

• Voice over Internet Protocol services, which give teams a way to make, answer, and forward calls regardless of location.

• Security in the Cloud and backup solutions, which provide different security levels to keep your information safe, depending on your data, industry, and business requirements.

• Unified communications platforms, which help your workforce collaborate and manage data from anywhere and at any time, instead of cobbling together various remote project management platforms. These desktop-as-a-service offerings allow employees to remotely access their work desktop and files.

Cost-effective remote managed IT services can help you install and properly monitor all these systems, alerting you to any potential issues. They can also help you determine when it’s time to upgrade from residential grade internet to commercial services so that your video call connections are always clear, and you have plenty of bandwidth to run all the programs you need.

As many of us learned during the pandemic, significant change can often bring immense opportunity. Cloud-based technology makes it possible to successfully pivot to an all-virtual or hybrid work environment, protect your business and customer data and thrive in the years to come.

Duane Cameron has more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He is vice president for Cox Business, helping to bring innovative products and services to Southern California businesses.