Clash between COVID-19 and Cloud. Threat or opportunity?

The coronavirus outbreak has turned the world upside down. Not only is there a growing awareness of our vulnerability, it also has major consequences for the way we work. Recently Mark Rutte announced more stringent measures. We were just starting to get used to the office again, now working from home is once again the norm. That has quite an impact on the burden on our networks. Does that mean that there are only technological threats, or are there also new opportunities to be discovered?

Peaks in bandwidth demand

Because we work massively from home, the capacity required of our networks is enormous. Especially the many video conferences and the explosive increase in the use of online collaboration services such as Microsoft Teams are causing enormous peaks in the demand for bandwidth, both from the cloud and from internal company networks and VPN connections. Many companies already offered employees the opportunity to work from home, but the scale on which this is happening now, of course, did not foresee anyone. A malfunctioning internet connection is therefore a common problem and a standard part of the many homeworking bingo's that have been created. On top of that, of course, people also use the internet much more outside working hours. Streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and Videoland saw the number of subscriptions grow like never before.

Little trust

Research shows that as many as 61 percent of global IT leaders responsible for the positive digital experience of their customers have little confidence that they will succeed. It also found that 54 percent of them experienced initial IT failures or outages of their existing software, productivity or collaboration tools as a result of the shift to remote working in the first half of 2020. These are just a few figures from the survey, but the trend is clear.

COVID-19 accelerates cloud acceptance

But there's also good news. The coronavirus outbreak has accelerated the migration to and acceptance of the cloud. Nearly three quarters of the respondents to the above survey expect that within five years virtually all their workload will be in the cloud, be it public, private or hybrid environments. As a result, the workload of on-site IT teams will decrease from 35 percent pre-COVID-19 to 22 percent by 2025.

Time to shine

All these developments also offer opportunities to companies that have their business well done. If you look closely at the companies that are also doing well in this crisis, these are often the companies that are moving, innovating, and doing things differently than they did before. Innovation and movement ensures progress. By providing good people, standardized and optimized processes and a future-proof IT infrastructure, you can handle that movement. Then you can face a crisis, according to Gartner research. Win the trust of your customers - and your employees - by showing time and again that you can handle the peaks. Do stress tests and share the results publicly with your users, and show that you're on top of it, that you're ready for what's to come. Do you have your affairs in order, emergency plans and protocols on the shelf and a forward-looking outlook? Then this is a good time to shine and make a difference.

Curious?

The right links between systems lead to process optimization, profit, efficiency and quality. That helps you to move with the changes that are going on, and to take your chances as they pass by. Do you need an optimised and automated process of document creation and management? Please feel free to contact us. We are happy to think along with you.