Digital transformation in today’s business environment has resulted in companies that need to be more agile and interconnected. Businesses are no longer limited by their location and operation schedules are no longer held to an 8-hour window. To take advantage of the growth opportunities offered in this fast and exciting environment, businesses need to incorporate new technology and tailored services that has a holistic long-term digital perspective.
Discussing the latest IT trends and updates at the recent industry-based forum called “Cutting Edge” held in Manila and Bridgetowne, Eastern Communications in partnership with tech experts Trend Micro Philippines, Cisco Philippines, and Rhipe Philipines identified the four critical ingredients of an Intelligent Office and shared how companies can transform their workplace into an Intelligent one.
Robust and Resilient Connectivity Solutions – Connectivity is key to an intelligent office. For businesses that have a lot of bandwidth needs, companies can adopt Managed Software-Defined Networking in a Wide Area Network or SD-WAN or Managed WiFi Mesh.
Managed SD-WAN enables enterprises to dynamically route traffic across a hybrid WAN. Perfect for multi-site and multi-branch businesses, Hybrid WANs allow for improved routing of bandwidth and the optimization of network transport services. It also results in better network visibility and control, security, and improved network planning and operations as companies can control the entire network through a single interface.
Managed WiFi Mesh, on the other hand, is a technology that works by spreading a network connection among several or wireless mesh ‘nodes’ that share the network connection across a large area. It basically eliminates dead spots, sending every corner of a particular space a network connection. Without the hassle of cabling and setting it up, WiFi Mesh provides rich interconnection beyond concrete walls and multi-stories and maximum signal power with Mesh Technology.
Redundant systems and infrastructure – Having redundant systems and infrastructure helps ensure business continuity. Companies with multiple branches and offices can definitely benefit from this, such as banking and finance, manufacturing, transport and distribution, ICT and business process outsourcing companies. Through a data center solution, large companies can store, manage, or disseminate confidential and crucial data which they can recover in times of disasters such as earthquakes.
Business-grade Productivity and Collaboration Software – Cloud computing can help companies attain work agility as it can provide their workforce with freedom to access their office IT anytime, anywhere, and any device with minimal maintenance cost.
Among the cloud services companies can look at are Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines, one of the most well-known on-demand scalable cloud computing services, and Microsoft 365. Azure is a comprehensive set of cloud services that developers and IT professionals use to build, deploy, and manage applications through Microsoft’s global network of datacenters. Azure offers the ability to instantly provision computing resources on demand. Compared to the task of planning and building an on-site data center, along with the requisite hardware upgrades, maintenance costs, server cooling requirements, electricity costs, and use of floorspace-particularly for offices with associated real estate costs- using Azure can lead to significant savings for a company.
Meanwhile, Office 365 is a subscription plan that include access to Office applications plus other cloud-based productivity services, making work accessible anywhere at any time.
Reliable data protection tools – As connectivity solutions constantly upgrade, so does the threat landscape. An intelligent office should be able to protect its confidential data.
One threat companies should watch out for are Distributed Denial of Service or DDos Attacks, which targets servers with very large numbers of requests, causing it to crash or get blocked. Businesses can look into Anti-DDoS Solutions to help maintain website and application performance while deflecting even the largest DDoS attacks.
For widescale cyber-attacks, companies can utilize Smart Protection Suites, created by multinational cybersecurity company Trend Micro. Smart Protection Suites offers a unique blend of cross-generational threat defense techniques and market-leading global threat intelligence that protect more effectively across the broad range of threats. This service adapts to protect against future attacks and evolve to find new threats by sharing threat intelligence amongst the security layers. The solution minimizes impact by keeping users running smoothly and reducing management time with centralized visibility across endpoints, email, web, and SaaS services.
As business environments continue to evolve, Eastern Communications, one of the country’s premier telco companies, has also continued to innovate in order to help companies transform their workplace into an Intelligent Office.
Aside from Voice, Data and Internet Services, Eastern Communications is now providing Managed Services, Cloud, Data Centers, and Cybersecurity Solutions to provide strong connection, creating better business productivity. The company has also added EIPL (Ethernet International Private Line) and Global MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) to its data portfolio for faster and safer data transmission across the country or abroad.
Also part of their new portfolio are secure cloud services, Microsoft Azure and Office 365 and Cyberdefense Services such as Anti-DDoS Solution and Smart Protection Suites, can protect companies from potential threats and malwares for more secure and smoother business operations.
For more information about Eastern Communications products and services, visit www.eastern.com.ph.
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