Hybrid working: the future is here
Silver Cloud CEO, Tony Quinn, looks at the future of homeworking and how employers can deal with the challenges that this will present.
A very important part of my job as CEO – also one of my favourite parts – is keeping in close communication with our customers. I need to always have a clear picture of their situation, their challenges and their goals, so that we can figure out how to help them.
I’ve been pretty sure for a while that homeworking would continue in some form in at least some sectors. It’s now becoming clear that I was right, and to an even greater extent than I imagined. For the foreseeable future, hybrid working is going to be a fact of life for many organisations. This obviously has considerable upsides – for the environment, for employee satisfaction and loyalty, and so on. But, as always, there are challenges that must be overcome in order to access those benefits.
I see two in particular: connectivity and security.
With extensive home working no longer a temporary measure but now a permanent state of affairs, employers are starting to recognise that slow internet connection speeds at home are a serious limiter to productivity and efficiency. People will no longer be able to shrug off the problem as ‘Just the way things are.’ Particularly as modern collaboration tools make greater demands on connectivity than basic personal internet use like email and simple web-browsing.
Scotland is relatively fortunate in that the infrastructure is there. Obviously any network can always be improved and expanded, but the vast majority of the population have access to internet speeds that are perfectly adequate to work and collaborate effectively from home. All that’s required is the investment to purchase faster connectivity packages. That might mean upgrading existing ones, or adding fast ‘work connections’ so that slower ones can be reserved for other people in the household.
Security is a more complex issue but, again, the basics of the solution are clear. A key part of it will be for employers to provide the hardware that people use while working at home. While there are advantages to allowing people to use their own laptops and phones for work purposes (Bring Your Own Device or BYOD), it is a nightmare from a security perspective. The risk of several big problems increases. Sensitive information being shared where it shouldn’t. Devices being hacked over wi-fi. Users installing software which is vulnerable to malware. And I could go on.
Since the start of the pandemic we’ve all been wondering which of the many changes to our lives would be temporary and which would be permanent. We’re now starting to find out. While doing a daily Joe Wicks workout is a thing of the past for most people, hybrid working is here to stay, and in a big way.
As always, Silver Cloud will work with our customers to give them the independent, expert advice they need to navigate the new environment successfully.
Tony Quinn, CEO, Silver Cloud