It’s safe to say 2020 hasn’t been the year we all would have imagined and that’s it been a hugely challenging period for us all.
In late January we saw the first cases of COVID-19 in Europe and since then nothing has really been the same – we have seen lockdowns, social distancing and the closure of schools and businesses. We also saw the heroism of healthcare and other key workers, the coming together of our communities and ingenuity like never before as we all looked to adapt.
Now fast forward seven and a half months and here we are in the ‘new normal’ (is anyone else wishing they never have to hear that phrase again?!) trying to figure out what’s next and how we best operate, as individuals, families and organisations, in this new environment.
Whether you’ve been working from home like me with young children desperate to join every Webex call (and scribble all over your notes) or you’ve been working out how to safely reopen your offices or figuring out how you need to adapt to stay ahead in your specific verticals there are still a lot of uncertainties ahead but we do have options especially with regards to how technology can provide platforms which can help with known and critical use cases.
According to the June 2020 PwC CFO Pulse Survey:
- 54% of CFO’s will make remote work a permanent option for relevant roles
- 81% of organisations agree safety measures are a top focus
- 56% of CFO’s agree technology investments now will position them better for the long term
Given this backdrop we have spent a lot of time thinking about this and how we can deliver solutions which can help customers reimagine their businesses – whatever that means for them.
One way we are doing this is by capturing critical use cases for key verticals and more common use cases which will be shared by most organisations that Cisco Enterprise Networking technology can help solve. You can find those showcased on our new Open for Business web pages where we have twenty-five use cases for business resiliency and business continuity across six key areas, from options for enabling a Secure Remote Workforce, to providing a Trusted Workplace and more.
An example of one of these use cases is the ability to track assets which is common to many industries but has taken on a renewed importance in healthcare. With the sudden influx of patients and the critical need for urgent care the capacity to be able to know where critical equipment such as beds, respirators and personal protective equipment is in real time is crucial.
A great example of this is Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust where through working with Cisco and Stanley Healthcare they were to able to deploy this solution in as little as seven days.
In the words of their Director of Digital Transformation & Innovation:
“The asset tracking allows us to get the clinicians the right equipment, in the right place, at the right time and the frontline staff to have more time to care for patients”
If you find yourself thinking about some of these topics and are wanting to learn more we are hosting a Webinar on September 23rd at 10.30am CET which will also be available on demand afterwards, where you will hear from our own Cisco IT team on how we reacted to the pandemic and enabled our entire workforce to remain secure and productive as well as how we are thinking about the Return to the Office alongside some of the ways we can help you do the same leveraging solutions from Cisco and our ecosystem partners.
In the meantime – stay safe and please reach out to your local Cisco team to see how we can help support you.
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