2020 year in review: Best of expertIP

I think I speak for most of us when I say I’m not going to miss 2020.

The most-used phrase of the year sums it up perfectly: “You’re on mute.” This was the year when WFH became an acronym understood around the world, when our lives — personal and professional — centred on a computer screen in our home office (or the kitchen table).

Despite the many, many challenges of 2020, it was also a rather exceptional year for technology. The global pandemic forced businesses to rapidly move to cloud-based technologies and unified communication and collaboration tools, and even accelerated digital transformation efforts.

As the year comes to a close, we look back at some of our favourite articles on expertIP over the past year. And from our entire team, we wish you happiness and health in 2021.

What’s next for WFH: Tackling techie burnout

There are growing indicators that tech employees face a higher risk of work-from-home burnout. So how do we apply what we’ve learned over the past six months to make WFH work better, for both staff and bosses? Here are some recommendations for the months ahead.

How to set up a remote workforce for future resiliency

You might be working around the clock to support new remote workers — dealing with everything from bandwidth to connectivity to security. But CIOs can respond to the crisis with both short- and long-term actions to build resiliency, according to one Gartner analyst.

Returning to the office: How to protect your team

From practices to protect employees to new workplace safety regulations and planning for a potential new wave of COVID-19, Allstream talks to the experts in an online roundtable about how to safely make the transition from WFH back to the office.

Why SD-WAN could be the antidote for WFH woes

The initial rush to enable work-from-home during a global pandemic had businesses flocking to cloud-based UCaaS—which has limitations when deployed over traditional WANs. A better long-term solution could be SD-WAN, which optimizes available residential bandwidth.

Cyber attacks on the rise: Mitigating new risks

Pandemic-related vulnerabilities, including home-based workforces and mobile WFH devices, have left big gaps in security. And evolving cyber attacks — like blended extortion-ransomware — mean that organizations can’t afford to let their guard down.

How UC&C can help you operate in the ‘new normal’

This year’s Enterprise Connect conference — a gathering of the unified communications and collaboration industry — was well positioned to shift gears and go completely virtual. We sum up some of the key messages from industry experts, from WFH to cloudshifting.

How Allstream went virtual with sales training

COVID-19 has put an end to live trainings for the foreseeable future, so Teresa Nelson, Allstream’s Sales Training Manager, set up a web-based training program to virtually onboard new sales employees. Here’s how she made the sudden switch to virtual onboarding.

WFH tips and takeaways from the Allstream team

As we shelter in place during COVID-19, we’re learning a few things about working from home. expertIP talked to members of the Allstream team about what they’ve learned so far and what they’ll bring back to the office when we get to the other side of this global pandemic.

A day in the life of a network tech during COVID-19

The last few months have required huge adjustments for our network techs in the field. From new elevator etiquette to replacing the receptionist candy dish with hand sanitizer, here’s how COVID-19 is changing our daily routines on the front lines as we keep customers connected.

5 ways cloud can improve your customer experience

Cloud communications can provide customers with options beyond just a phone call. Whether it’s SMS or webchat, a phone call or an online conference, cloud communications give your customers the options they demand for the connection they want.

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