Author: Jayne Davies, managing director, customer sales and enablement, Jisc
Digital transformation has become much of a buzzword, but what do we mean by this? The pandemic has fast-tracked the adoption of new technology across the world. However, digital transformation is not just about technology. People are just as important, and changes to their digital skills and ways of working can transform an organisation.
Making a change
Not everyone likes to change, and in usual circumstances, people are part of that journey. However, the pandemic didn’t allow that to happen; it sprung us into a fast-paced universal transformation. As a result, Jisc rapidly needed to support organisations safely moving their workforce home to ensure remote workers’ secure and efficient environment. Introducing Office 365 and cloud storage was an essential part of this process along with adopting multi-factor authentication for security.
You can’t forget people during this process. Making sure your workforce can access their work with no barriers is essential. Working from home has been challenging for many. Giving people the support they need, mentally and technically, is crucial for transforming as a collective.
Putting security first
There have been increases in cyber attacks and security breaches during the pandemic, with four in 10 businesses reporting on them in the last 12 months. When the world has been working from home and out of offices, opportunistic attacks have occurred. Phishing and ransomware attacks have been prominent, and at Jisc, we work with our members with training to prevent and mechanisms to intercept.
Seeing it through
COVID-19 has been a learning curve for everyone, and although we are getting back to normality, it’s clear that some changes are here to stay. Jisc’s Janet Network alone has seen an average of 23 attacks each week within the past year.
We are now so accustomed to working from home, hybrid working is becoming the new normal. There are positives to this, spending time at home and in the office could be a perfect balance for staff wellbeing. The acceleration of digital transformation caused by this new working model is a fortuitous silver lining. It has encouraged many organisations to take steps they should have taken years ago.
Jayne is talking about the tools that can help bring your digital transformation to life at the Socitm ‘Share National’ – Covid Recovery event, 23 September 11.15am.
To learn more about how Jisc can support your organisation’s digital transformation, visit jisc.ac.uk/customers