• Home
  • Business
  • Embracing a remote, video-driven business environment
Image

Embracing a remote, video-driven business environment

The disruption companies across Africa have experienced due to the pandemic has been significant. On the one hand, employee safety had to be prioritised by enabling them to work from home. And on the other, business operations had to continue as effectively as possible despite the challenging circumstances. It is in this environment where video conferencing has proven its worth as a key organisational tool.
This meant IT teams had to rapidly adapt network infrastructure to securely cater for an influx of remote connections as employees started accessing the corporate back-end using any number of personal devices. Even so, remote working is hardly a new concept. Globally, companies have been experimenting with this for the past 20 years as the technology (and connectivity) to enable it started maturing. However, COVID-19 has highlighted its importance if an organisation is to empower its employees to work from anywhere, using any device, at any time of day.
“Research shows that 74% of organisations plan to permanently shift to more remote work once COVID-19 has subsided. Not only is this safer from a hygienic perspective, but it also presents significant cost-savings at a time when budgetary pressure will be immense with companies struggling to recover from the effects of the coronavirus. Video conferencing has emerged as one of the best options to effectively facilitate remote working,” says Saartjie Wait, Marketing and Digital Experience Director at Westcon-Comstor Sub-Saharan Africa.

Video done right
One of the most significant challenges when it comes to video conferencing has been the lack of reliable, high-speed connectivity. This has become even more evident with information workers trying to manage conference calls with clients using the limited bandwidth of their home networks.
“A solution like Cisco’s Webex has proven to be invaluable in this regard. Featuring innovative technology that has a tolerance for packet loss (such as those experienced in home environments), its highly resilient codec implementation delivers fluid video and crystal-clear audio even in extreme conditions. Another powerful feature is its video super-scaling. This is ideal when remote workers do not have a way of reliably sending high definition video. Instead, Webex automatically upscales the video on the client side,” adds Saartjie
Region of interest encoding takes this even further. By focusing on the most important areas within a video frame, for example the person’s face, Webex can still deliver an HD-quality experience by reducing the quality of the background image. Additionally, its adaptive frame rate functionality sees Webex skipping frames that would have otherwise been imperceptible to the human eye. This better deals with packet loss or jitter.
“Cisco is a key vendor in our recently announced Inspire Africa programme that sees us leveraging the best-in-class experience of our partners to deliver the channel across the continent with more digital-friendly solutions. These are designed to enable a more secure and effective work from home environment for their customers. The challenges of the past several months can now be used as a springboard for innovative solutions that provide all stakeholders with the peace of mind that their operations can continue with as little disruption as possible,” concludes Saartjie

Source:BiztechAfrica

Related Posts

Maersk expands West Africa footprint with Senegal facility

In a bold move to strengthen its logistics footprint across West Africa, global shipping and logistics giant Maersk…

Kenya:Britam profit jumps 53.5% for fourth straight year

Britam Holdings posted a 53.5 percent jump in net profit to a record Sh5.03 billion ( over $38.9…

IHS reports $236m Q4 profit despite annual loss

IHS Holding Ltd. (IHS) has announced a pre-tax profit of $236.35 million for the fourth quarter of 2024,…

Mastercard Teams Up with Paymentology to Expand Financial Access in South Africa

Mastercard is deepening its collaboration with Paymentology, a next-generation global issuer processor, to facilitate card issuance for fintech…

James Mworia, Group CEO & Managing Director of Centum Investment Company Plc, Emerges as InstinctBusiness CEO of the Week

Dr. James Mworia, Group CEO and Managing Director of Centum Investment Company Plc, has been honored as InstinctBusiness…

Seplat Energy CEO acquires 50,000 shares, increases his stake

Seplat Energy Plc has announced that its Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Mr. Roger Brown, has acquired…

Puma Energy Welcomes Mark Russell as New CEO

Puma Energy today announced the appointment of Mark Russell as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Puma…

MTN and Ghana Join Forces to Enhance AI, Coding, and Digital Skills Training

MTN Group and Ghana have signed a landmark agreement to work together to support the government’s flagship ‘One…

Leading with Vision: Ruth Zaipuna, CEO of NMB Bank, Recognized as InstinctBusiness CEO of the Week

Ruth Zaipuna stands as a beacon of leadership in the Tanzanian financial landscape, embodying excellence and innovation as…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *