As nations begin to start emerging from COVID-19 induced lockdowns, businesses are beginning to resume in a new normal; one where remote work and social distancing are the status quo. These new work realities are creating new demands on businesses to adapt. One of the many ways they can, is by adopting new or pre-existing technologies that enable remote work in a secured, business friendly environment.
Nutanix, one of the larger cloud software and hyperconverged solutions providers, has created a solution which allows businesses to quickly adapt to the growing demands of remote work. Their new “FastTrack for VDI” service allows businesses to pivot to remote work realities quickly and reduce the time needed to onboard employees working remotely. VDI – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure – allows employees to access sensitive documents from a remote machine while keeping documents within a secured environment. This opens doors to businesses dealing with sensitive data to enable remote work and put their employees health and safety first.
The new initiative by Nutanix also allows businesses to quickly acquire and provision desktops within five business days. These desktops will come with configurations predefined by Nutanix enabling secure access for remote work employees. The service also gives businesses the flexibility to leverage existing hardware, select predefined Nutanix hardware or leverage managed cloud infrastructure from the company’s partners.
“In 2020, remote working has become our new normal. It is time for businesses to start planning for the long term and leverage technologies for a new business reality. Nutanix is committed to ensuring that Malaysian businesses have quick and easy access to the right solutions and technology to keep their staff engaged, efficient and productive throughout these unprecedented disruptions,”
Avinash Gowda, Malaysia’s Country Manager for Nutanix
With the new service, businesses who were already in the midst of their digitization journey will be able to continue and accelerate their efforts while those yet to begin are provided with a fast track.
Small businesses are some of the most represented in many countries, employing millions of workers and making a huge contribution to the global economy. In fact, they represent around 90% of the business population and more than 50% of employment worldwide. In recognition of the sector, the General Assembly of United Nations declared June 27 a Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day to “raise public awareness of their contribution to sustainable development”. Such initiatives become even more relevant today, when many small companies face challenging times due to the pandemic. With small businesses looking to get going again, now is the time to take on board lessons learned and improvements that can help organizations move forward.
Technology as one of the key factors for survival
To adapt to the new reality, businesses have been strongly advised to adopt and embrace new technologies so they can continue to operating effectively during the COVID-19 lockdown. That meant introducing new digital tools for collaborative working or specific ones for online sales for example, to enable effective remote working while maximizing productivity. Indeed, according to a survey from the Connected Commerce Council, 76% of small enterprises in the US said they rely more on digital tools than before the pandemic and that without their use, a third would have had to close part or all of their business.
However, the attitude towards technology implementation is not uniform: some companies do not feel ready to adopt digital services and are reluctant to accept changes, even when operating under normal circumstances. Any halt to normality, or a crisis, can highlight the value of deploying new technology. I don’t mean dramatic innovations like the implementation of artificial intelligence or the Internet of Things. I’m talking about using technologies that facilitate operations, such as cloud-based or more convenient software.
Expectation of cloud adoption versus reality
Although cloud and SaaS are still buzzwords and their adoption rates considered high, many small businesses of up to 250 employees still use on-premise solutions. According to a survey from Analysys Mason, cloud-based applications are the top priority for these businesses, and 60% of them are planning to increase spending on cloud services. However, the survey also revealed that on-premise solutions still dominate in all types of services – including productivity, procurement, and business management software, among others.
The COVID-19 lockdown revealed the extent to which companies are ready to move the entire office to work remotely. Those that only have on-premises infrastructure may have struggled, as their IT administrators would not have had the tools or knowledge to manage employees’ desktops remotely.
Uncertainty, risks and compliance issues, and a lack of resources are all common reasons to resist making the move to cloud solutions. Lack of resources in particular is cited time and again, with IT managers of small and medium companies often having to maintain their infrastructures on a very limited budget or without any at all. With many businesses currently more focused on meeting immediate demands, it is understandable for strategic visions to be put on hold. But, as soon as the crisis is over, it will be important to bring back priorities and make adjustments to IT operations according to lessons learned.
Resistance to change
Sometimes, even small changes – such as software improvements that are designed to simplify usage – are met with mistrust.
Let me give you an example from our experience at Kaspersky. We regularly update our product features and functionality to enhance the user experience, such as, turning processes from manual to automatic to simplify security management. However, customers get used to manual actions and our support team often receives feedback asking for features to return to the previous way of working.
For example, in older versions of our endpoint security product for Windows, there was an option to manually manage a security application update, run and stop it. In later versions, a seamless upgrade was introduced to reduce the number of manual operations for IT administrators, meaning there was no ‘update’ button any more. The updates rolled out automatically when it was necessary, even when no one was working on a device.
Our product support team received dozens of requests from customers about this update, as they believed the product worked incorrectly. Most of the requests included questions like where to find the manual function, how to use it in the new version, why it has disappeared, and how to bring it back. As well as a reluctance to change, this reaction also highlights a key lesson for us as a vendor: all improvements should be explained to customers very carefully so they understand and buy into the benefits.
Change is scary but inevitable
COVID-19 has brought huge challenges for many small businesses. But if there is one positive to take from the situation is has to be the readiness for changes. All of the examples highlighted above are not only about taking a conscious decision to move to the cloud or a new way of working. It is about making a change to your overall mindset. Businesses should be open to new ways of doing things, especially if it simplifies their work. Changes don’t need to be wholesale, but small ones that make daily routines that little bit easier. During challenging times – like the one we are experiencing – when businesses have to transform on the fly in order to survive, this mindset will serve them well. I personally hope that the current crisis will never be repeated, but it’s always better to be prepared for anything that might come your way.
Digital transformation is no longer a thing of the future. In this increasingly digital marketplace, data is the key strategic asset for businesses to remain agile and effective.
To do so, more and more organisations are launching various digital transformation initiatives such as data analytics, machine learning, robotics, and artificial intelligence to boost their business’ returns and efficiency. Such efforts are already seeing measurable returns, according to 58% of C-Level executives in Malaysia in a study by Workday in partnership with IDC Asia Pacific[1].
Investing in the right technologies is crucial, and one area that businesses should look into is co-location and hybrid cloud computing.
The Competitive Edge of Hybrid Cloud Computing
With all the buzz surrounding cloud computing today, public cloud services have become a popular option among organisations. More businesses are migrating their services and application development to the cloud to take advantage of its cost efficiency, flexibility, scalability, and collaboration efficiency.
However, some local organisations may still be reluctant to migrate to the cloud. Among the key challenges that hinder them from adopting cloud in their day-to-day business operations include lack of awareness of the cost benefits and the cloud migration process as well as cyber security issues.
Cyber security is also an issue if the organisation’s applications use highly confidential data that can’t be stored off-premise. Public cloud services also have their fair share of concerns, such as performance, control, regulatory, compliance, and security threats. The existence of legacy monolith apps or systems may also prevent an organisation from making the migration.
To address these challenges, many organisations are adopting hybrid cloud computing. In essence, a hybrid cloud is a computing environment that combines both public and private cloud. Part of the organisation’s IT capabilities and data are moved to the cloud (public) while certain elements remain hosted in a single-tenant environment (private).
Migrating to a full cloud environment without proper planning has its risks and pitfalls. A hybrid cloud model allows an organisation to streamline its day-to-day functionality without interrupting its core services. Hybrid cloud computing also offers a degree of flexibility and scalability since businesses can take advantage of the computing power of a public cloud when necessary while keeping essential business functions securely separated.
Furthermore, the computing workload of an organisation’s day-to-day operations will usually fluctuate depending on demand, making massive capital expenditures to handle short-term resource spikes costly and ineffective. Hybrid cloud computing with a direct connection to a global cloud service providers (CSP) would allow organisations to offload to a public cloud when required, so organisations only have to pay for the additional storage and compute resources they have ‘rented’ temporarily.
Selecting the Right Hybrid Cloud Deployment
The adoption of hybrid cloud technology has become increasingly important, however choosing the right data centre is also vital for any business strategy. Organisations need data centres that provide comprehensive global points of presence and connectivity. AIMS Data Centre, a leading cloud infrastructure services provider in Malaysia, offers direct access to multiple global CSPs. Instead of multiple connections, a single connection is all that is required to connect to global CSPs, simplifying IT infrastructure management. The connection also bypasses the public Internet, which enables better latency and enhanced security & consistency when accessing cloud services.
By co-locating with AIMS, businesses can be linked to its dynamic ecosystem for faster, more optimised performance. As one of the most interconnected data centres in the region, AIMS Data Centre can help to accelerate your company’s digital transformation and deliver greater value to customers and stakeholders.
Improving Business Efficiency Through Interconnected Data Centres
In the past, businesses had to allocate resources to maintain a server room with its own specialist team to manage and maintain individual servers. Today, businesses can greatly reduce their operational expenditures by co-locating in dedicated interconnected data centres, which are instrumental in connecting, supporting, and safeguarding an international business network thanks to their larger bandwidth and capability to connect to multiple transit providers.
As the point of connection for local and international Internet Service Providers as well as content providers, a business co-locating at AIMS Data Centre will enjoy direct peering privileges, which means optimised traffic and services at a lower cost.
Data centres like AIMS also offer a host of benefits that organisations may not have the time and resources to set up, such as specialised cooling containment technology, customisable rack solutions, uninterruptible power supply systems, and 24/7 round-the-clock security, monitoring, and support. This means an organisation’s IT team can focus on their core business and maximise its potential, while AIMS takes care of the rest.
