Whilst many world leaders at the start of 2020 spoke as if they had 20/20 vision, something no one saw coming on the horizon was a global pandemic that would stretch businesses, public services and people across the world to their very limits. But what insights have we gained during this time and what is the best way forward now for your business?

Working from home has been fine for some but difficult for others. The challenges come in many guises: family interruptions; a lack of space for focused work; not having the right business tools at your disposal; or simply craving the camaraderie and interaction of a thriving workplace.

It soon became clear that video conferencing would provide the best gateway to working remotely effectively - but only if the right solution was in place. 

Some video apps were initially seen as attractive propositions due to their low-cost and the ease of set-up. But by the same token, this also made it easy for hackers to access and disrupt meetings. “Zoom-bombing" became part of the national language. Information security professionals warned of the significant risks with these types of services and highlighted the critical importance of any video platform used for business adhering to the necessary security protocols to protect business meetings. End-to-end encryption, meeting ID numbers and passwords should be standard, GDPR (EU Regulation) compliance, ISO 27001 and FIPS are just some of the core wrap-around certifications which business leaders should be demanding for their cloud video solution.

Huge discrepancies in call quality were highlighted, again with many of the consumer-led video apps. It is reasonable today for users to expect high quality HD videoconferencing, not just in the meeting room but from the desktop and tablet too. However, the reality for many has proven otherwise with issues ranging from jittery, pixelated, even frozen video, to the audio and video being out of sync. Enterprise-grade solutions overcome all of these issues and CIOs need to be checking that their organisation’s cloud video solution is being delivered via infrastructure which consists of multiple, fully redundant Points of Presence situated strategically across the globe and all linked together by a next generation high-speed network.

Many solutions require an app to be downloaded permanently on to a work computer, tablet or other device, which can be an immediate show-stopper for many organisations. Some can also get extremely pricey once you start to scale up. But the biggest hurdle has been getting good service support. Who do you call when you need technical help? Does your cloud video service include direct access to a Helpdesk with fully-trained industry professionals? If not, perhaps now you should be asking the question, why not?