Small medium business and the move to hybrid working: now is the time

Some of my best decisions were made when things were most challenging. And for many small and medium sized businesses, now is that time.

It could be the fortunate challenge of having more business than you can manage. It could be the opposite, with your standard business model under threat. Certainly, the pandemic will have made you ask, “How can my business and our people operate safely and at their best, from home, or from anywhere for that matter?”.

In every instance the answer begins with, “Your network…”, and then includes the words:

Simple

Cost-effective

Fast to deploy

Secure

Whatever scenario you and your business are facing, your network is the enabler, not only for today but for your long-term success. Cisco, as one of the world’s leading networking companies, and enabler of thousands of Australian companies, has the solutions and support to fit your needs. Now is the time to go with trusted, tested, proven expertise.

Steps to securing your future business success

Step 1:

The network is your first consideration. It must be easy to set up, easy to monitor, maintain, and secure from the myriad of sophisticated online threats. Cisco Meraki ticks all these boxes. From simple to complex business requirements, this is an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution for easy and fast deployment. Able to be managed from a single online dashboard, and with baked-in security, Cisco Designed has packaged this solution specifically for small and medium businesses.

One Australian business innovating in these time with Cisco Meraki is Harvest Hotels. While the business owners, Chris and Fraser, are Sydney-based, they use the cloud-based dashboard to manage their portfolio of rural pubs from home, a café or on-the-road. As non-IT people, the simplicity and security of the system has been a boon to their ability to control and grow the business safely.

Step 2:

Keeping in contact in a simple, engaging way with your staff and partners is critical. Cisco Webex is the one app for everything when it comes to collaboration. Face-to-face video meetings and messaging from any device, anywhere is just the beginning. Cloud calling, white-boarding, polling, events and great new features including noise cancelling, AI-powered emojis with add-ons such as real-time language translation.

Australian business, MEGT, found Webex, particularly in the current context, to be a major business enabler. With offices across several states and several hundred employees, Webex became their ‘go to’ collaboration platform. Importantly, it also became their means of maintaining a face-to-face relationship with the many apprentices they employ and support across Australia.

Step 3:

Staying digitally secure, especially with more of your operations being cloud-based, is critical. Tools such as Duo for two-factor authentication and Cisco Umbrella for locking down your cloud operations will provide much needed peace-of mind. Add to that Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox to protect your team and network from phishing and malware, and the gate is firmly bolted.

One of Australia’s largest independent property valuation and advisory firms began with refreshing their network, but took the opportunity to use Cisco’s security products to protect their business operations. The Cisco Secure Email Cloud Mailbox has provided their critical email platform with a much needed layer of security.

Bringing it all together into one cost-effective solution

Cisco recently made the global decision to transition to a fully hybrid workplace for all our people worldwide. That’s 75,000 people. So, we are walking-the-walk and using the challenges of our time to redefine how we do business. That’s why we know what it takes and how best to help you and your business do the same. You’re unlikely to have the time or the expertise to sort through the best solution for your business which is why we’ve done the work for you.

Cisco Designed Secure Remote Work is a package of tools that includes everything you need to make remote and hybrid working for you and your team seamless, safe and productive. And, for a price likely to be less than you’re weekly coffee run.

To find out more about the solution, get in touch with our sales team.

To quote one of the most quoted figures in history, Einstein, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”. It’s time to be bold.