After 18 months of office workers largely working remotely, and as restrictions across Europe begin to ease, business leaders are now at a crossroads of planning for some level of return to the workplace.

We’re exploring how to best strike the balance between a safe return to the office, and how we can continue to afford some of the flexibility teams have become accustomed to. It’s no secret that the pandemic has significantly accelerated the demand for more agile business environments and adopting technologies to make this happen. In turn, attention is turning to cloud based technologies to play a key role in shaping the near future of work.

One key learning from the last 18 months is that the mass move to virtual working has sparked a fast uptick in interest, demand and transition to the cloud. A trend that is not at all surprising, given the whole raft of benefits around agility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness that cloud technology can afford businesses of all types. In fact, according to Gartner - by 2024, more than 45% of IT spending on system infrastructure will shift to the cloud.

At a time when we are seeing the steady rollout of vaccine programmes across Europe, business and IT leaders are still facing an unpredictable year ahead with no way of knowing how the pandemic will continue to shape everyday life. Continuing to keep businesses functioning in these circumstances is a key priority, and to do so will mean leaders will have to invest and be able to rely on their IT infrastructure.

This will involve implementing IT infrastructure that is capable of supporting a continued pattern of distributed working – a tricky task especially for those with limited IT budget and personnel. Cloud solutions, like D-Link’s Nuclias for example, not only help to keep everyone online and up and running, though also offer increased visibility of the network as well as flexible remote network management functions. This allows managers to iron out issues quickly and easily, whilst also fulfilling safety and security needs.

As more businesses adopt a hybrid approach and continue to navigate the changes and challenges brought on by Covid-19, there are several important factors to evaluate when looking at different network management options.

1. Speed and flexibility to respond to market changes
The last year and a half has proved that the world can be an unpredictable place, and as a result, businesses are increasingly having to make snap decisions that could have considerable impact. In an atmosphere like this, leaders require IT systems that can adapt accordingly, depending on the circumstances.

Cloud solutions can be rapidly deployed with zero-touch provisioning and can be scaled up or down to match business needs and changes of circumstance. In addition, those that allow management software and hardware to be accessed from any laptop or mobile, offer added flexibility.

2. Effortless management and built-in security
In a fast-paced business, keeping on top of network needs can be a chore, but with the right technology in place, network management can become effortless. With many cloud-enabled network management products to choose from it’s worth considering those that provide benefits such as allowing instant overview of live location usage, and enable delegation of access as well as the creation of guest networks, updating devices, and keeping your network secure.

When it comes to network management, many believe that achieving flexibility comes as a trade-off with security – this no longer has to be the case. When choosing the right product for your business consider those that allow role and privilege-based access control, allowing managers to review who has access to the network. In addition, it is worth looking out for those that come with built-in encryption certifications such as WPA, WPA2, and WPA3 as well as products that enable MAC address filtering and wireless LAN segmentation.

3. Scalability and cost savings
Although all businesses have to have a certain tolerance for Wi-Fi dropouts and Internet connectivity issues, the truth is persistent interruptions can greatly impact your employee productivity and efficiency. With limited IT budgets, making the most out of network infrastructure investments and resources is vital, especially when employees are geographically distributed.

Consider network management systems that offer pay-as-you-grow subscription model. With a low initial investment cost and pay-as-you-grow format, businesses can expand wireless and wired connectivity if and when needed. By reducing the complexity of deploying and managing the networks, it allows managers to focus on what’s important to their business.

Technology will continue to shape how we respond to the challenges that arise in the year ahead. The role of cloud within this is significant – from enabling the fluid adaptation to hybrid working and bridging the gaps between different locations, to facilitating network management as a whole. All this whilst also being cost-effective and highly flexible, which is why businesses are increasingly relying on it.