V12 selects Highlight to support reliable and secure connectivity for hybrid working
V12’s UK Business Leaders survey, conducted by Larato in January 2021, reported on how businesses were expecting remote and hybrid working to evolve post-pandemic. At this stage, organisations were expecting over 25% of their workforce to remain remote from the corporate office. Recent research from 1McKinsey has uncovered a disparity between employer and employee expectations of hybrid working that could have a significant impact on the workplace. More than 75% of C-level executives expect workers to be back in the office for three or more days a week. In contrast, 75% of employees want to be in the office for only one or two days a week. Compounding these differences in expectations is that 250% of the workforce is prepared to change jobs to secure a more flexible working arrangement.
While this challenging situation evolves, it is essential for organisations to be able to provide employees, wherever they are based, with reliable and secure access to the corporate networks.
Many businesses have found the perfect solution to this hybrid working problem from V12 Telecom supported by Highlight’s service assurance platform.
V12 has specialised in providing managed voice, data, and mobile services to customers and partners on a global basis for over 20 years. From the outset, its MD and founder, Charles Rickett, wanted to differentiate V12 by providing and sustaining the best customer experience. Highlight supports V12’s continued delivery of a great customer experience by supplying a platform that independently monitors circuits, irrespective of the network involved, and allows end users to interrogate their usage statistics to give them oversight on productivity and performance.
The challenge of delivering the right connectivity to hybrid workers
According to Charles: “I have maintained throughout this crisis that the longer-term balance between working remotely or in the office will evolve and that no-one really knows the answer yet. This means that organisations need to secure the right connectivity that is secured and backed by business-grade service level agreements. Without secure access to the corporate network, users are at risk of falling foul of cybercriminals or even not being able to work at all. What was once seen as a commodity is now valued as a highly strategic part of the corporate infrastructure.
“The use of collaborative working, including video, continues to put a considerable strain on inadequate systems. Users still suffer from faults by having to use the wrong technology or having to share a home network. Domestic routers in particular pose a major security concern.”
The challenge with homeworking is that every location is different and that it inevitably involves a combination of domestic grade technologies that rarely come with adequate customer support. For a home office, the user needs a reliable and secure connection to the company network which may include all manner of technologies from virtual private networks, broadband, encrypted mobile connections and other options.
Whatever connectivity solution is used, it needs to be always available, high quality and secure.
Accessing the best possible services when working remotely
V12 has developed a business grade connectivity package for the homeworker consisting of a state-of-the-art SoGEA Fibre broadband circuit, a business grade Draytek firewall and 24/7 circuit monitoring powered by Highlight.
V12 is familiar with challenging telecoms requirements as they have a wide range of clients, some of whom are in remote locations such as deserts and ocean swept oil rigs. Whilst homeworkers rarely present such tricky conditions, V12’s strategy of deploying and working with the best providers and IT partners ensures that the underlying infrastructure is resilient.
As an example, the CEO of a large company was sharing his domestic broadband with three family members. Video calls were poor quality and would often freeze during important discussions. Adopting V12’s homeworking solution enabled him to boost his productivity and increase his security, whilst continuing to work remotely.
“We have been using Highlight for a number of years to monitor our Ethernet circuits and it seemed only logical that we should approach them to provide a similar service for our home workers. Not only does the service allow us a 24/7 overview of performance, but it also enables the users themselves to access usage statistics to maximise performance and productivity. Highlight’s service is carrier agnostic and so it allows us to mix and match the providers and connectivity for each customer, whilst being able to monitor them all through one single interface.”
Businesses need to have simple and effective solutions for both their office and remote users. The best route to success is always expert advice and recommendation from a trusted supplier.
1 McKinsey – its-time-for-leaders-to-get-real-about-hybrid-working
2 EY – Work re-imagined employee survey 2021