As we continue to reflect on the year that was 2020, the word “unprecedented” rings out, loud and clear – from the raging bushfires on a scale hitherto unknown, to the social, political, and economical ravages of the pandemic. If lessons from the bushfires and COVID-19 have taught us anything in the business world, it’s the need for preparedness for the unprecedented and the flexibility to adapt.

In our digital world, businesses have become wholly reliant on digital technology and modern telecommunications infrastructure as essential components of competitive advantage. Not surprisingly, with companies tapping into an ever-expanding portfolio of complex applications and mobile technologies, IT-related spending has snowballed. This includes significant increases in IT staff-related costs.

The rapid growth of mobility in the workplace has brought with it a whole new raft of challenges for IT teams. In most organisations, mobile security practices and regulatory compliance top this list, though there’s still some way to go before meeting best practices.

For modern businesses in the throes of migrating critical business applications to the cloud and needing more bandwidth for high-speed communications to remote offices and workforces, solving traditional WAN bandwidth limitations is now critical. In this world, the traditional way of building WANs has become something of a misfit.

In the wake of the pandemic, with so many workers continuing to work-from-home – either permanently or in a flexible work arrangement ­– mobile devices are now being used as a primary communication channel. With home-workers utilising mobile devices and communications platforms such as Microsoft Teams, businesses need to capture conversations from mobile devices across wireless and IP connections.