A recent global survey illustrates the critical need for reliable, modern communications technologies to support remote business operations during the ongoing pandemic. Nearly three-quarters of businesses surveyed by the Savanta research firm say the shift to remote work exposed shortcomings in their systems.

Organizations didn’t have much time to prepare when the pandemic forced a sudden shift to a work-from-home (WFH) model. Many employees and even IT managers had no choice but to figure it out on the fly. Given the circumstances, businesses were remarkably successful at navigating such a significant change to continue functioning.

Many IT teams are struggling to resolve the technology issues 
associated with remote work. Managed services can help.

The shift to remote work has largely been successful, enabling organizations to remain operational amid pandemic-related shutdowns and social distancing requirements.

Unified communications solutions from one strategic 
partner deliver business value in unexpected ways.

Business communication and collaboration tools have enabled organizations to continue operations as employees have shifted to remote work. Online chat, instant messaging, video conferencing and file-sharing have supplemented email to facilitate decision-making and business processes.

If the COVID-19 pandemic hit 15 years ago, think about how many more thousands of small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) would have been forced to shut down.

Technology has made it possible for many SMBs to survive the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Wireless networks have evolved from a “nice-to-have” feature to a mission-critical component of the IT infrastructure. Organizations that depend on mobile devices are equally dependent on Wi-Fi — sometimes more than they are the wired network.

But even organizations that rely primarily on wireless still require a high-performance, back-end wired network.

There has been a lot of focus on the security threats associated with remote workers — and rightfully so. In the Acronis Cyberthreats Report 2020, 31 percent of organizations reported daily cyberattacks, primarily targeting remote workers. The rapid shift to remote work greatly expanded the attack surface, with employees’ devices connecting to corporate resources from outside the network perimeter.

Without proper planning, rushed migration processes can bring increased risk, cost and complexity.

Pandemic-triggered workforce changes led businesses worldwide to accelerate their cloud migration plans by an average of six years, according to a recent Lawless Research study.

Data loss prevention solutions prevent sensitive 
data from seeping through cracks in security.

IT security systems are designed to prevent malicious outside forces from invading the network. However, these systems generally do little to keep data inside the network.

When millions of Americans were forced to work from home this year, it created an enormous strain on home Wi-Fi networks. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi activity increased by 82 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels with record numbers of devices connecting and moving an unprecedented amount of data.