As the world battles to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic, businesses are adjusting the way they operate.
In many countries, most employees have been asked, to stay home and in other regions, companies are considering remote work, as a way, to keep their businesses running, while their offices are shut down.
Some firms are not enthusiastic about remote working. They fear that, they will be unable, to track employee productivity, guarantee the security of work files and applications, or, get their teams, to collaborate as, effectively, as they would, if they were all in one place.
Businesses can address these concerns, by adopting cloud computing solutions to enable them secure flexible remote working.
With the right cloud-based solutions, they can plug the monitoring, collaboration and performance gaps that, they are most concerned about and ensure that, their team stays just, as effective, on their job, as they can be, in an office setting.
How Cloud Computing Can Help Enterprises, Through the Coronavirus Disruption
IT-driven organizations in Nigeria, are beginning to weigh their remote working options, as the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic grows, in the country.
If your business is, also, mulling this, you could find this article useful.
Here are five ways, cloud computing can help your company, or, agency function, optimally, in these times.
Data Storage
You can keep your files, on cloud storage platforms and allow access, to them, for members of your team, who might need to use them.
Cloud storage works, by holding your files, on remote cloud-based servers. In reality, this means that, your data is held, on hardware, in a remote data center that is maintained, by a cloud service provider, such as Layer3.
The service provider ensures that, the server, on which your data is held, functions, as it should and because, they are experts, at their job, you would, usually, not have to worry about losing your material, along the line.
In a nutshell, the data is stashed, in a remote location and you can access it, from wherever you are.
Compare this, to holding your data on stationary computers, or, hard drives, at your office and you will see why it is a better way, to keep your files, if you want employees, to carry on working, in times like these.
Collaborative Work
With cloud computing, several people can access a set of files, at the same time, from different physical locations.
They can, also, edit those files and see changes made, by other team members.
This opens several functional possibilities, for your team. If they are using the same cloud platform, they can collaborate, on projects in real-time, regardless of how far they are, from each other.
It, also, makes tracking much easier; admins will see the progress that is being made, on work, without having to contact the employees concerned.
With this increased visibility, your team is, likely, to be more productive and work, should be carried on, as usual.
Business Continuity
Perhaps, you have a plan of action, in place, for when your business experiences network disruptions, due to power outages, or, server downtimes; but how does your plan work, when your team, has to do their job, from multiple locations?
A managed IT service provider can help you, with a backup system that takes care of this need.
For instance, Layer3 provides Remote Backup, as a Service, (BaaS), which backs up its client business’ data on the cloud.
This means that, they can call up the stored data, if a copy gets lost, during a disruption.
Layer3, also, offers Disaster Recovery, as a Service, (DRaaS). This involves, creating virtual versions, of a company’s data and applications, which replace existing copies, when outages, or, downtimes happen.
This ensures that, employees can carry on with tasks, without losing ongoing work, to disruptions.
Scalability
Businesses on the cloud can, quickly, scale up their cloud-based resources, to meet with increased demand.
If you want more work done, in a cloud environment, you can expand space, to take in extra staff.
Your company will not have to purchase new hardware, for additional staff; all that’s required is that, they get granted access, to the virtual workspace and they can begin collaborating, on projects, with other team members, from wherever they are.
This saves you, the cost of buying extra equipment and allows your enterprise to, only, expend its resources, when it needs to.
Security
This is, probably, the biggest problem that, businesses face, as they consider going remote.
How do they protect their data, from being accessed, or, stolen, by hostile actors?
At first glance, it is not clear, how they will safeguard sensitive files, when employees are working on them, from locations outside their office.
Thankfully, you can eliminate many of these problems, by encrypting your cloud storage and granting access, only, to team members that, need it.
You should implement multi-factor authentication, to make it difficult, for hackers to break in.
Your cloud service provider could arm you, with managed VPNs, firewalls and technologies that, predict the risk of a security breach.
These tools will enable you and your teams, to minimize security threats, while working remotely.
Final Words
Sometimes, organisations, should adjust their work models, to stay functional.
Whether it is the coronavirus, or, an extended holiday, certain situations, will warrant you to try out, more flexible approaches to work.
Layer3 allows you, to make the switch, to a, predominantly, remote working model, without putting your company’s productivity and cybersecurity at risk.
Also check out Tech Trends Interview with Oyaje Idoko, CEO, Layer3
If you want cloud-based solutions that will keep your business running, in these times, we can provide them for you.
For over 14 years, Layer3 has served both private and public sector organizations, supplying them with the IT infrastructure and support that, they require, to perform optimally.
We leverage this experience to deliver the high-grade virtual servers, data backup and recovery services and managed security services, you will need to maintain full-scale productivity.
Contact us today to learn more and see how the cloud can help sustain your operations.
About the Author
Victoria Shokunbi, Business Development Executive at Layer3
