This past year has come as a revelation to most of us. We’ve become so used to science and technology being a reliable source of solutions to all of our problems that when something completely new and unpredictable comes along it turns out we’re as defenceless as newborn babes. Most of us have been forced to cope because there was simply no choice. We found that our networks of friends and family were easier to reach than ever before thanks to social media, video conferencing and instant messaging, and we found that many of our jobs could be done from home, even if the distraction of being at home and not “at work” was baffling, frustrating and frankly annoying!
It seems like networking has never been so important, from our connections with friends and family, to our local communities, to work and colleagues, and to sources of news and current affairs, being able to gather and absorb information quickly, in a way that’s easy to achieve has become part of our everyday lives.
Even for people who are naturally technology resistant, the last year has meant that they have embraced that which they would normally ignore. Necessity has driven that for some: if they can’t shop online & they’re considered to be vulnerable it can be difficult to get shopping done, especially if they don’t have young, fit, active people in their Bubble.
Networking Makes Home Schooling A Reality
Then there are the parents who have used the time that they are spending teaching their kids at home to learn new things themselves. It’s a truism that if you want to learn how to do something you have to teach it, and many parents are finding that they are finally getting to grips with maths, science, art and many of the other subjects they felt weren’t for them thanks to poor the teaching methods they were subject to when they were at school.
Thirdly there are those people who have travelled away from traditional localised support networks for work, for a new life and opportunities who have had to fall into the arms of social networking and communications technology otherwise they would have no social life at all. People are still dating online, but if the person you’re enjoying an evening with suggests meeting in real life it’s apparent they’re a wrong’un! Zoom meetings with friends and acquaintances at the weekend are a fun way to get the feeling of going to the pub without having to actually leave the house, then there are all the venues, event organisers, teachers and political activists who put on shows to be enjoyed live, quizzes, lectures, lessons and meetings where you can just sit and watch, or participate depending on your bent.
What Will A “New Normal” Look Like For Employers & Their Employees?
It’s been ten months since Britain went into its first lockdown and, vaccine notwithstanding, it seems that it could be somewhere between several and many months before we can get back to ‘normal’, no matter what the new ‘normal’ will look like once we’ve become used to where we find ourselves now.
Working from home has shown many businesses that their model of cramming all their staff into the same building at 9am and keeping them there until 5pm is unnecessary. While many people like to go to work to avoid the distractions of home, many can still work perfectly adequately from their spare room. This means that it’s entirely possible for a business to downsize its operating expenditure by cutting back on office space, travelling expenditure, and other overheads such as insurance which comes from housing people and infrastructure in one company owned or leased building.
Having said that, it’s also become obvious that people working from home need a strong, reliable, consistent source of internet, whether wifi or wired, in order to keep up with the demands that are being put upon them. I’m sure we’ve all had parties, meetings & Zooms where one person has had to relocate from one room to another because they can’t get reception or if they can get a good signal it’s only in the room where the rest of the family are watching TV, doing their homework or trying to have social contact of their own. So what is going to be needed to maintain operations in a post Covid recovery is people being able to work from home uninterrupted by faults, or by family. Professionalism must be maintained after all. It’s very cute to see people’s interviews being invaded by children or hear a subtle purring coming from someone and interrupting the meeting so we can all see their cat, but it’s not realistic to see that becoming the new business paradigm post 2020.
Furnishing The Need For New Networking, Ultrafast Broadband Data & Connectivity
Consequently what is needed is for any home worker to have access to ultrafast broadband data wherever they are in the house. The problem with that is so many of us in Britain, particularly on the south coast, live in Georgian or Victorian buildings which have thick brick walls. And once you get out of the towns and cities villages are widely dispersed among the hills of the South Downs. Ideal for a bucolic lifestyle of fresh sea air and country walks, disastrous for data infrastructure!
But help is at hand! Briant Communications are specialist data networking installation engineers who recently took up the challenge of becoming a small, local business with a base in Worthing which provides ultrafast broadband along the coast and inland.
We’ve found that not only do people need to improve their wireless data network indoors, they are choosing to extend it into their gardens too. This could be to convert a shed or other outbuilding into a home office, or it could be to support a wireless Smart Home security system. Whatever the reasons for getting internet outdoors, Briant Communications have the solution.
If you’re one of those businesses which does decide to downsize but find that smaller office spaces don’t have the capacity for the kind of data supporting an entire staff of remote workers requires, we have experience there too. Whether you want to migrate over to fibreoptic digital networking, keep using metal cables, or go completely wireless, there are a number of solutions which we can provide which will suit all business needs and all budgets.
To speak to our staff and book a free, no obligation consultation and cost estimate call Briant Communications on 01273 465377 or email us on enquiries@briantcomms.com