The model that many once predicted would eventually become the “future of work” has been fast-forwarded over the past year to emerge as the new reality: the hybrid workplace.
The global coronavirus pandemic has finally put to rest the traditional 9-to-5-everybody’s in the office meme for many businesses, including Microsoft, Twitter and others. Now, some employees work entirely remotely. Some employees must work onsite full time, masked-up and social distancing as much as possible. Some employees work a combination from an office, a home or other locations.
Here are some observations about the #hybridworkplace to keep in mind
- Collaboration in the digital workplace. Video conferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom, instant messaging, project management software, file sharing and other programs all require more bandwidth.
- Data and workloads move from the corporate network to the cloud. Companies are deploying public and private cloud, hybrid and multicloud models. To take full advantage of the cloud environment, where data and programs that are stored, managed and accessed over the internet, high-speed, reliable and flexible fiber broadband is required.
- IoT devices connect to the network from various locations, at various time periods. BYOD – bring your own device – means that employees access the corporate network from their own phones, tablets, laptops and other devices. Networks have to evolve and not just look at the capacity, but how to automate and virtualize as much as possible as well.
- Urban/rural and bridging the digital divide. At Great Plains Communications, we recently received funding under the Remote Access Rural Broadband Grant program to extend broadband services to more rural areas in Nebraska. Because of this funding, more employees will be able to join the hybrid workforce and work from home.
Network capacity & flexibility are must-haves
To accommodate the changes, we’re seeing in our new work model, both companies and employees must be able to access on-demand bandwidth that scales accordingly. More fiber capabilities and bandwidth will be needed in both metro and rural areas.
Internet needs can vary widely according to industry, type of business and number of employees. Many factors can go into selecting the best internet speed and the Great Plains Communications Choosing the Right Internet Speed offers helpful guidance. For more guidance, contact us today and our experts will customize a plan tailored to your business model.
The Great Plains Communications Managed Wi-Fi for businesses is an offering that’s custom-designed to meet the unique connection needs of small businesses to large enterprises, through industry-leading access points and switches with fully scalable speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps. To learn more, Download the GPC Managed Wi-Fi datasheet, contact our Enterprise Sales Team at 888.343.8014 or email us at [email protected].
The #hybridworkplace is here to stay for the foreseeable future and the broadband network will play an important part in shaping its success.
Interested in the latest intel on how COVID is driving digital disruption in telecom? Curious what emerging trends are reshaping networks? Interested in leveraging trends like cloud, IoT and 5G to better serve your customers? Watch the informative Think Tank: Digital Disruption & What It Means for Carriers available for a limited time via the following link.