Digital age hybrid solutions

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is always gearing up for growth in the next normal, says Sandrine El Khodry, Vice President - MEA

As a market leader in the cloud communications space, how has business communication evolved this year, as compared to last year?

The global crisis has changed the way businesses around the globe operate today. The need to work remotely has increased considerably in the last few months, creating an exponential demand for secure remote access in the cloud.

As a leader in the cloud communications space, we were already well equipped with the necessary tools to support remote working. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise end-to-end connectivity and communications solutions helped enable our customers and partners to maintain business continuity.

For organisations who are on their cloud transformation journeys, do you see a common challenge faced by them during this transition?

Cloud transformation is a long-term project that requires a number of phases including:

A clear vision of where the company is headed 

The ability to adapt to the new normal

Having a cloud-ready infrastructure 

A solid security solution to maintain and preserve data confidentiality while being accessed from everywhere.

For organisations embarking on this journey, it is recommended that they work together with digital transformation experts, to ensure they avoid any unnecessary pitfalls and get the advice they need to achieve their goals.

Productivity is the most important criteria that leaders try and ensure while managing a distributed or remote team, how can they ensure it stays up? 

A solid end-to-end remote working solution, as well as a secure cloud communications solution can deliver enhanced productivity.

These solutions enable team leaders to interact, in real-time, with team members to maintain communications, and to ensure that all business tasks are completed on time.

From your experience, how vital is it for businesses to be agile and reactive in order to keep pace with the changing technology and consumer world? 

The health crisis imposed a sudden, drastic change in how businesses operate globally. Organisations were required to be agile and able to move quickly to maintain business continuity in this new era.

Some companies were ready for the change as they had already started their digital transformation several years before.

Others were not as fortunate and weren't able to adapt rapidly, resulting in a negative impact on their business. It's probably reasonable to conclude that some of those businesses may have suffered bankruptcy during the crisis.

To secure and maintain business, companies need to be agile, reactive, and innovative. They need to be ready to respond to any unforeseen circumstances to ensure the organisation's financial health. 

Do you feel technologies like Wi-Fi 6, 5G, etc. can bring a positive impact on the employee experience, their productivity, and performance in a remote working or hybrid working landscape?

Yes. Wi-Fi 6 and 5G are the latest technologies enabling wider coverage across multiple channels, compared to previous generations of wireless technology.

Wi-Fi 6 is faster and more efficient with higher-density coverage. It enables remote workers to easily and securely access the company infrastructure in real-time, enabling workers to maintain communications and connectivity with their colleagues, customers, and partners. These technologies allow up to five times faster download speeds.

What are some of the noticeable achievements of your company when it comes to building or scaling remote or distributed teams?

We have supported our customers and partners with end-to-end connectivity, communications and cloud solutions since the onset of the crisis. We have provided them with real-time, reliable, and efficient remote working solutions to enable a 'business continuity programme'. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is proud to announce that despite the difficulties and challenges, the company succeeded in securing new customers.

Which sector according to you went through a rapid transformation, especially from a tech adoption standpoint, post-pandemic?

The education sector has gone through an incredibly rapid transformation.

Online schooling has become the new normal. Enabling teaching continuity with efficient, secure remote communications and IT infrastructure has been a challenge. However, digital transformation in the sector is making swift progress to meet the ever-growing demands of students, faculty, and staff, to create a learning environment where everything connects. 

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, as a leader in the education sector, is helping educational institutions around the globe, to meet the expectations of 21st-century teaching and learning, by providing the foundation for digital transformation with high-performance networking, Wi-Fi and communications technologies.

 

• Business and Technology Review