Designing a resilient business with IT infrastructure beyond COVID-19
WE ARE about seven weeks into a complete shift to a new way of life in Jamaica. ‘Homeschool’, ‘Work from home’ and ‘online shopping’ are no longer niche activities reserved for special market segments here on the ‘Rock’. They are fast becoming commonplace for all sectors. To top it off, people can’t even recess to their usual haunts, whether for vice or virtue, because bars and churches are closed; not even our cultural dichotomies are spared the wrath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Collin Burgess, IT infrastructure manager, MC Systems, stated that the good news is that IT infrastructure is the solution which is keeping everything going, such as business, school and government, parties, and even gym sessions. “We may not readily see Microsoft Teams, Zoom, delivery apps or even Google Classroom as ‘IT Infrastructure’, but they are,” he pointed out. The schools and other businesses will use these cloud services for classrooms and video conferences. Other entities, such as banks, will use more complex solutions, both on premises and in the cloud, to ensure that all of their systems are available, while maintaining confidentiality and the integrity of customer’s information. The bank’s IT infrastructure will also allow people to do online payments, use an ATM or a point-of-sale machine in a store, and access Internet banking platforms. The use of those solutions are also an indication that, no matter the size or the nature of business, every company can use some IT infrastructure solutions in its operations. Having the kind of infrastructure which keeps the business running in a time of crisis (enter COVID-19) is about business continuity planning. US-based business continuity consulting firm MHA Consulting tells us that “business continuity is the advance planning and preparation undertaken to ensure that an organisation will have the capability to operate its critical business functions during emergencies”. Most businesses are usually prepared for common threats, such as natural disasters, hardware/software failure, malware attack, data breaches, ransomware, unplanned IT and telecoms outages, supply chain disruption, availability of key skills, and cyberattacks. However, since the COVID19 outbreak, some businesses and institutions are forced to quickly leverage new policies and technologies, and empower their employees to work from home. ‘Mobile work’ the new normal Many business continuity experts and others are suggesting that life as we know it has changed forever, because of the impact of ‘physical distancing’, which has regulated, and legislated, the remote-work policy that organisations have implemented, Mr Burgess stated. “Remote work also involves ‘mobile work’, which is likely to be the new normal for work after COVID,” Burgess posited. “Therefore, an organisation which may have had desktop computers for their staff will want to consider getting laptops instead; this way, it will be easier for employees to work at the office or from home, without skipping a beat,” he added. “Naturally, in this ‘mobile operation’ dispensation, secure access would have to be well designed. A virtual private network (VPN) is one such security measure a company could implement. A VPN, which has encryption as a common feature, allows connection to the corporate network in a private tunnel by going safely over a public network. It has been a popular solution for many organisations, for years, to allow remote users and branch networks to access the networks at their head office. VPNs allow applications running on end devices, such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones, to benefit from the functionality, security and management of the private network,” he informed. “The most important thing is to ensure that there is security protection at every stage of the infrastructure, end-to-end. Therefore, the server and relevant applications, hardware, software, operating systems, databases, through to the remote access points, must all have a discrete layer of security to ensure that the entire structure is protected,” Burgess cautioned. “Of course, the ideal infrastructure is complete with the fit-for-purpose, back-up and recovery solutions, which safeguard the business being better able to manage its data; and get things up and running quickly in the event of a disruption,” he pointed out, noting that “the future of work will see these technologies being implemented in every type and size business; further enabling work at any time and from anywhere.” BURGESS OFFERS A WAY FORWARD “What is key for business leaders now is to start documenting what is happening, so that they can make well-informed plans about the IT infrastructure which they will need to run their business in the post-COVID-19 new world of work. “As they document, they should watch for patterns that give them insights to respond to the questions below: How is IT impacting the most critical functions of the business? Does the organisation need a complete cloud, on-premise hybrid solution for optimal performance in the new ways of working? What kind of vulnerabilities/security risks do they need to plan for – data, network, application, and storage? What kind of skills will teams need to operate in this new way? Would a ‘bring-your-own-device’ (BYOD) policy work better for the business going forward? What tools and tech can be used to monitor staff attendance and keep productivity up in the new dispensation? Are there any variables emerging for which new policies should be written? Along with this assessment, a company should also think about getting outside help. Contracting the services of an IT outfit to provide the technical assistance would prove useful in this time. Such an entity could, for example, offer an IT audit, which would be invaluable to the decision-making process and the infrastructure in which the company will make an investment.”