Hybrid working: What does it mean for IT?

It’s almost impossible to escape the phrase "hybrid working" at present. The pandemic has brought about changes to the office environment and the way we work that few would have predicted a few years ago. In fact, remote and hybrid working models now look to be a permanent fixture, given the success that many businesses have seen in recent months.

Debate over the pros and cons of this change has dominated the media landscape, and there are undoubtedly challenges that come with this kind of transition. Offices that used to home hundreds of employees every day now lay either empty or with just a skeleton staff, creating a drain on resources and prompting plans to downsize office space.

But one element that has often escaped the debate is the future of IT infrastructure. Any move to downsize office space requires a re-evaluation of any infrastructure hosted in-house if businesses wish to avoid incurring unnecessary expense. There are several options open to organizations looking to make this change, and some important considerations to bear in mind to ensure IT infrastructure evolves in-line with the adoption of hybrid working.

Public cloud: the answer for everyone?

If a business is looking to scale back on their in-house IT infrastructure, the most tempting solution is to turn to public cloud, and it’s easy to see why. Migrating to such a solution can be seen as an instant money saver, and its scalability is enticing to businesses looking ahead and anticipating future growth. It’s this flexibility which draws most towards public cloud, especially in the current climate where even the best laid plans can go awry.

While this will certainly be the right solution for many businesses, it would be wrong to see public cloud as a universal answer for all. It’s a common misconception that cloud rules the roost when it comes to agility, and colocation can offer similar flexibility when planning for the future. The cost of the cloud can quickly escalate whenever there is a significant expansion in the amount of data being hosted, which can undermine what makes public cloud attractive in the first instance. In comparison, data centers operate at a fixed cost, offering a reliable constant no matter what changes a business might experience.

Despite this, many businesses are warned off migrating to a data center due to fears around the cost of relocation. The physical movement and re-racking of equipment is sometimes seen as not being worth the hassle despite the long-term benefits. However, many providers have recognized this potential obstacle, and are increasingly including the cost of relocation as part of the contract, often making the process free of charge. This removal of an up-front cost helps make migration to a data center a more attractive proposition for businesses.

Staying secure

Another factor in which colocation excels is security. Hybrid working has blurred the line between the professional and the personal, and this has affected security behaviors and created gaps in defenses which hadn’t previously existed. Colocation does a great deal to alleviate this threat, with operators using vulnerability scans and penetration testing to keep on top of security. This isn’t to say that cloud is an insecure option, but if the migration process is not conducted meticulously, it can result in a lapse in security. Providers of these services are, naturally, often less responsive to crises when a problem does occur, given the scale of their operations. For businesses for whom data security is paramount, colocation can offer greater assurances about their servers and provide peace of mind that regular monitoring will be undertaken to deter any malicious threats.

Complying with regulation

The transition to hybrid working doesn’t just raise challenges around flexibility and security. Changes to how we work has brought about parallel changes to regulation on the issue, and the UK Financial Conduct Authority has set out its expectations regarding hybrid working. The recommendations heavily emphasize the importance of IT infrastructure in maintaining security, employee wellbeing and the general health of a business.

Complying with such conditions requires a degree of resilience, and this is something data centers excel in. Good providers will ensure close to 100 percent uptime, benefiting from constant connectivity and power supply as well as optimal cooling for servers. This all contributes towards greater reliability which can help with regulatory compliance.

Business continuity in the hybrid future

Many of our work practices are currently in flux, and this uncertainty poses a risk to business continuity. As hybrid working moves from being a temporary solution to something more permanent, the logic of keeping IT infrastructure in-house doesn’t add up. Businesses need consistency in this area, and whilst migration to public cloud will be a suitable option for some, for others the reliability and security offered by data centers can be a ballast amidst disruption and uncertainty elsewhere.

Photo Credit: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

Adam Bradshaw is the Commercial Director at datacentre provider ServerChoice, where he helps to maintain the company’s mission of continuing to provide 100 percent uptime to all of its clients.