Technology continues to evolve apace. Choosing the right technology partner is vital to business success in an increasingly interconnected world.
There can be no doubt that technology is evolving rapidly and that companies today need to partner with the right organisation if they want to ride the wave of technology development. A good example of this evolution is the manner in which the cloud has led to the shift from hosting most infrastructure on-premises to keeping everything in the cloud.
This shift has led to new providers arising and bringing new cloud services to the table, suggests Wayne D’Sa, CEO of CipherWave Business Solutions. He notes that the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the value of the cloud, as it enabled organisations to switch to remote working, while those working on a cure were able to use the cloud to process vast amounts of data rapidly.
“The cloud makes it much easier to process large data subsets, as you are not hindered by the obvious limitations of on-premises processing capacity, and this in turn means results can be delivered quickly in order to enable rapid business decisions to be taken,” he says.
“Of course, while the major public cloud players have massive infrastructure and a global footprint, organisations that do not have the relevant expertise or understanding of the cloud to achieve their goals cannot simply call an Amazon or Microsoft directly. This has opened up a space for niche cloud providers to step in and fill this gap for customers – either on the back of the public cloud, or by using their own private cloud to deliver the flexibility the customer needs.”
He adds that the cloud itself is composed essentially of data, and in a digitising world, such data is increasing exponentially. Therefore, he says, security is equally critical and needs to be designed to suit the cloud environment. D’Sa suggests that, just as a person withdrawing money from a bank would need to verify who they were by showing identification, the same occurs with the cloud.
“It is vital to validate the individual seeking access to the data to ensure they are who they say they are. We always recommend utilising a zero trust framework, which only allows a user access to the minimum data their position requires them to see. In this way, it becomes possible to re-engineer your security processes to achieve a better outcome with regard to protecting your data.”
Another example, he points out, where technology has advanced significantly in recent years, is in how fast the fibre landscape has grown. As the country has shaken off the telco monopoly of the past, so a host of new providers have been investing in fibre roll-out, he says, creating new and better connectivity options for customers.
“We understand the need to part of this quantum growth, which is why we have ensured our organisation is connected to every fibre provider, enabling us to service our customers, regardless of whether the provider delivers fibre to the business (FTTB) or fibre to the home (FTTH),” states D’Sa.
“In much the same way, we are now witnessing the rise of 5G, which will be especially effective in providing a better on-the-go experience. This is of enormous benefit to the gig economy, which is driven mostly by mobile connectivity. The right partner here will be one that works closely with the mobile providers to offer fixed-line access to these services for their remote workforce.”
This ties in nicely with the concept of unified communications (UC), he adds, explaining that UC is a result of how interconnected these various technologies are becoming. “UC offers a rounded experience that takes telephony, traditional text and e-mail communications, bundles these together and uses best-of-breed solutions to deliver this all in a single offering that provides a seamless experience.”
Most businesses simply cannot find the time to learn about and understand the new technologies that are coming to the fore, which means they don’t always realise the true benefits. Organisations need to be open to testing new technologies, which means creating an environment that can enable this.
“It is for this reason we say that they need to ensure that their technology provider of choice is aligned to their planned journey and the goals they seek to achieve. So when choosing your provider, it is necessary to clearly understand exactly what technologies they are experts in, and how integrated they are into other vendors and providers. Such integration is critical if you are to achieve a truly seamless experience.”
“Ultimately, it’s about evolving your business in a way that allows you to better service your end customers. Your technology partner will play a crucial role in ensuring you have the ability to utilise all the technologies mentioned above to improve your business efficiency and deliver exceptional customer service,” he concludes.
Courtesy of ITWeb
By Rodney Weidemann for CipherWave
Johannesburg, 11 Apr 2022