Why waiting for someone else to define hybrid working could be catastrophic for IT

Tim Mercer, CEO of disruptive cloud technology specialist at Vapour, discusses the future of hybrid working post-Covid.

With the Government’s ‘Plan B’ restrictions reaching an end and compulsory self-isolation rules also due to be lifted imminently, Covid is in the process of being recategorized as an endemic that we lived alongside. However, hybrid working patterns are not going anywhere. The mass approval for this new employment landscape will perhaps remain indefinitely, with employers and employees alike acknowledging the multiple benefits of this flexible approach.

Almost two years on from the first lockdown, this long-term continuation of a hybrid model is unlikely to worry many businesses, particularly from a tech point of view. The rapid shift to remote working was admittedly an initial struggle, but fast forward to 2022 and most colleagues now have the tech they need to operate, collaborate and thrive.

Well, in theory, yes. Most employees can now get online, via a device, whether they’re working from home or in the office. They can send emails, conduct video calls, and, in most cases, access company documentation.

But how many UK businesses implemented little more than a temporary fix approach, when they were forced to close their doors and send staff home? Is the equipment that was bought overnight to keep everyone online, truly fit for purpose? How many colleagues are still using their own personal devices, contrary to the guidance of their employer’s BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy?

How fragmented have companies’ tech stacks become, thanks to the sudden implementation of video calling and other collaboration platforms? Where has this left traditional calls? Are employees using their own devices for voice communication too? Do organizations have a data gap as a result? And how much are these fragmented technologies costing businesses?

Then there’s network access. Are remote workers still connecting to corporate environments via their home broadband, using a domestic router with the same password it had when it was installed years ago? What does this mean for their bandwidth? Scarier still, what does this mean for companies’ network security?

When it comes to the IT implications of hybrid working, all of this is just the tip of the iceberg. The list of questions goes on and on. This has been and continues to be, a complex situation that organizations and their tech teams have dealt with as best they can. Often in the face of unmanageable time pressures, budget constraints, varying degrees of digital literacy among the workforce, cultural resistance, mental wellbeing challenges, and of course stretched resources.

However, if ever there was a time for the much-referenced phrase ‘new normal’ to mean something, it’s now. If we’re to believe what we’re told about Covid-19 restrictions being eased completely, then we can plan confidently, strategically, and with an eye on the longer-term horizon once again.

HR departments are doing it. They’re defining and refining flexible working policies that represent how they intend the workplace to look and operate, from now on and way into the future. They’re communicating it in everything from employee handbooks to new recruitment ads. Line managers are talking to their teams about it too.

However, IT leaders need to at least have a seat at the table when such discussions are taking place. Not because the hybrid working model isn’t a good one. Not because they disagree with its validity within modern organizations, but because the ongoing resilience of both the corporate network and users’ endpoints, will remain in jeopardy, if some core IT considerations are not at the heart of decisions made, moving forward.

So many businesses have opted for technologies they thought they needed, under pressure, or technologies they felt they had to adopt because it was all that was available at the time. Now is the time for companies to review their estate, and IT should drive this conversation. 

Read More:

• The need to improve partnerships between technology companies and the government
• Tech sector employment expands at a record pace
• 2022, the year networks thrive in the digital age
• Backing up data is a workforce-wide responsibility

Elsewhere, some major technology projects have been stalled due largely to organizations’ budgets having been deployed on other unexpected tech investments. But does this render the current infrastructure unfit for purpose, whether from a capacity, sustainability, security, disaster recovery, or agility point of view?

It is perhaps only when something goes wrong – from a major outage to a cyberattack or significant data loss – that eyes will then fall on IT to ask, why didn’t we act sooner? So, if we’re to prepare ourselves for a world that is no longer dominated by fear of Covid-19, let’s ensure our businesses and the IT within them, can also remain healthy when this disease is nothing but a distant memory.

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