Hi everyone,
Trust you are all well and staying safe.
It has been quite a while since my last Blog, however like most of us I have been absorbed by the challenges in my business life, my family life and in myself which I have faced over the past 18 months or so.
The COVID pandemic has certainly shaken the foundations of the modern world.
Like many of you out there, I have been struggling with how to best deal with these challenges.
Much has been said about the pandemic and how our personal lives, and our business lives have been impacted. The world we live in, the social protocols and basically the way we go about life has been turned upside down.
Consequently, the ways we conduct our business have irrevocably changed.
Like most people recently I spent a lot of mental energy and sleepless nights contemplating and hypothesizing on how to tackle these challenges both personally and in business.
Digital transformation was already in play around the globe before the pandemic hit, however COVID has sped the rate of transformation to “WARP” speed.
The conundrum is not just how to survive these challenges but to how does one thrive under the new world order.
This quest gave birth to the concept I am calling “Focused Agility”.
So what is Focused Agility, well it is just that …..
Firstly, it is about your focus. Are you focused on what is relevant today or clinging to yesterday’s agenda?
For me personally, a perfect example was that during the more constrained days of the pandemic, my focus was to lose weight and exercise.
The focus was relevant and positive during this time. I am proud to say I achieved this goal.
Secondly, I realised that in order to remain sane, I needed to be agile which meant being prepared to act in a nimble, innovative and creative manner. I need to adapt and remain flexible.
The example of weight loss required me to be prepared to adapt and be flexible in terms of exercising, some days it was the exercise bike in the lounge room, other days it was walking the dog or on rare occasions during lock-down hitting the gym when permitted. At all times retaining a focus on my goal.
It is in my business life with Aria Technologies that the theory of Focused Agility really struck me.
Let me explain why
It was clear to me that we needed to focus on those components of our product and solution offering, that were clearly mission critical under pandemic conditions.
Interestingly, I soon realised whether the organisation is enjoying a pandemic boom or pandemic crash the core needs are the same.
- Communication, a fully dynamic telephony solution which is scalable and can be enabled anywhere and everywhere.
- Business grade collaboration tools.
- Complete business continuity and security.
- Preferably delivered in an OPEX model.
This led me to identify three key solution sets which I believe are unquestionably relevant.
1. Voice is the Killer Application
We need to support our channels and our partners’ customers on the transformation journey to cloud telephony. Cloud telephony, on premise solutions and hybrid solutions all have positive attributes. The opportunity is to provide customers with choice and select the best technology for their particular business requirements. Our Ericsson-LG iPECS range of solutions can provide that choice for customers.
2. Collaboration Tools
Simple video conferencing and communication is not sufficient for effective collaboration. A fully integrated and interoperable solution is required to deliver the optimal collaboration experience. The recent integration with Teams and Ericsson-LG on premise solutions and the release of Teams integration with Ericsson-LG Cloud telephony solutions is a great example.
Another example is our StarLeaf video collaboration solution, which includes a feature rich platform at a very competitive cost. A true business grade solution.
3. Business Continuity
In today’s environment the need for true business continuity and security is absolutely mission critical. To be able to provide connectivity to enable the customer to work from home, the office or remotely is essential for all businesses. Once again, Aria Technologies provides our partners access to market leading solutions with Telstra, LANCOM Systems and Check Point for all potential connectivity and security requirements.
In short, in these rapidly changing and unpredictable times I believe the key is to ensure your business is focused on what is truly relevant to your customers, not engage in what you hope your customers are seeking or what your customers’ requirements were before digital transformation.
Unfortunately, for some organisation the scenario has changed so much, the business will close.
What is relevant is Communication from anywhere and everywhere on any device, business grade Collaboration tools, Robust data Connectivity and reliable business Continuity solutions particularly focused on cyber security solutions.
Click Here to view the Aria TV component on ‘Focused Agility’