DIGITAL SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS CONTINUITY DURING AND POST COVID-19

As we slowly transition back to the office, it will be important to take a hard look at your tech stack and come up with a plan to optimize and prepare for a more tailored, flexible approach to cloud connectivity.

All of the below connectivity features are offered in the market today and many internet service providers (ISP’s) will tailor a solution using some of these elements to help your business through this period of adjustment. This will require some connectivity augments in your office building, but it’s never too late to fix the problem.

So whether you are putting plans in place for your return to the office, or deciding that working from home for the time being is the safest and most effective way to continue working, we’ve collated technical solutions to help ensure your business can continue working now, and post COVID-19.

CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS TO ENABLE BUSINESS CONTINUITY

1DARK FIBER

Dark fiber can be leased from some internet service providers to connect directly to a remote data center on the fastest possible route, enabling those low latency and ultra secure applications but without the need to store them on premises. This is a preferred alternative to relying on onsite storage or the slow physical routes between the office and the data center.

This becomes especially appealing for businesses that need more control over their network. For that reason, this is typically a top choice for financial institutions and the healthcare industry who transmit sensitive data. Find out more about Dark fiber here.

4THE PROBLEM CAUSED BY SECURITY

A major issue that businesses are currently grappling with is security. Connecting to corporate networks and technology can pose a massive cyber risk for organizations. Most of our home internet connections aren’t very secure and a cyber criminal can wreak havoc on an organization if they can back-door into the network.

To combat this on an organizational level, most businesses must deploy a VPN, virtual private network. A VPN gives you online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a publicinternet connection and encrypting the traffic. The challenge is that no one designed their VPN network to be accessed by all employees, all at once.

“VPN rationing” has been a term coined in the COVID-19 world of computing. IT Departments don’t have enough VPN licenses, and more importantly, don’t have enough bandwidth on the VPN network for all the users to access at the same time. VPN connections are one of the few applications that require higher upload speeds than download, as all of the remote users are downloading the data over the network, the VPN server must be set up with a very high upload speed.

As a result, VPN connections can be choppy, slow, and typically have to reestablish a connection. If you have a slow or choppy home internet connection, VPN software may actually think that someone is trying to hack your network and will kick you off your connection

To ensure you secure your personal home network read our guide on protecting your home network from cyber attacks.

2CLOUD OUTPOSTS

If there is a problem with your network setup, chances are Amazon is offering something to fix it. AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing network, is the largest cloud services provider in the world.

AWS Outposts are designed for businesses who rely on a Hybrid Cloud and Edge Computing approach and need real time analytics or require low latency access to on-premises systems. Essentially, AWS infrastructure is installed in your office to give you the scale and flexibility of the AWS public cloud, with enhanced control and local access.

It’s important to note that the two other large cloud providers, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure both have recently started offering similar features, compared here.

3CLOUD DIRECT CONNECTIONS

Think of this like an express lane for the specific tools that you use most. These services are often offered directly through an ISP and give the ability to connect your onsite network directly to the AWS or Microsoft Azure network. If you’ve ever had issues connecting to a specific application like Salesforce, it’s because you are accessing it over the public internet.

Cloud direct connections will enable you to have a direct route over the AWS network to access those applications like Salesforce. Without this, you are competing for access over the public internet and are contested with every other company using the platform.

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5BANDWIDTH ON DEMAND

As mentioned, VPN connections are one of the few applications that require higher upload speeds than download, so it’s important to have the flexibility to change your network speeds in real time, as needed.

Bandwidth on demand, or burstable bandwidth, is a service that enables an enterprise to ramp up their speed when needed. This gives you an elasticity without paying for a premium speed that you may not need all the time.

6SD-WAN

Similar to VPNs but built with much more control and agility. Software defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) is a newer networking concept that can provide the enterprise with a seamless transition between the office and work from home environments.

The premise is that the whole of the corporate network, regardless of how many locations you have can be controlled, scaled, and redistributed as needed. This can be especially useful when businesses need to redistribute workforces to different offices, which we are already seeing happen to avoid COVID-19 clusters.

Rather than leaving an internet connection up and running in an empty office in NYC, you can redistribute that bandwidth to a satellite location in New Jersey with no additional cost. SD-WAN utilizes both dedicated and consumer-grade internet services to extend the Intranet to remote devices.