How to make business resilient in a pandemic

The pandemic has definitely impacted the way people work and the ways businesses operate. It’s now quite uncommon for employees to go to offices and interact with people physically on a daily basis. This new normal has compelled many companies to accelerate their digital transformation and deploy new technology.

The current landscape of work – where everything is mounted online – made the need to have a strong internet connection and secure network all the more valuable. Having this in mind, PLDT Enterprise has buffed its services to ensure utmost reliability to support businesses’ non-stop operations and help them be truly resilient.

“We at PLDT Enterprise believe that the future of business is in fiber. This means having a strong, reliable, and resilient wired connection, one that is no longer copper-based. This is exactly why we have been heavily investing in our fiber infrastructure since 2020. Now spanning over 400,000 km nationwide, PLDT has the longest data infrastructure in the Philippines and we are still expanding as fast as we can to cater to the growing demand for reliable bandwidth,” says Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups, during the first TechTalk On-Air for 2021. 

The corporate business unit of the PLDT Group has a wide range of fiber network infrastructure and solutions that pave the way for the next normal. Whether it’s for the banking, financial services, and insurance sector (BFSI), retail and quick service restaurant (QSR) industry, or business process outsourcing units, PLDT Enterprise offers the best possible solution that can help businesses stay afloat and thrive today and in the future.

For BSFIs: Accelerate digital transformation with PLDT SD-WAN

In today’s business climate, traditional networks just won’t cut it anymore. Among PLDT Enterprise’s banking partners, a rise to move towards SD-WAN (software-defined Wide Area Networking) has been seen to keep up with the accelerated transformation towards digital and surge in online banking customers.

PLDT Enterprise’s SD-WAN Solution enables banks and other businesses to interconnect their network of branches and users through a highly intelligent, software-driven platform, allowing them to simplify network management, optimize data traffic flow, and enable highly resilient, always-on connections. 

“By making use of configuration templates, headquarters, branches, ATMs, cloud-based applications, and data center networks spread over wide geographical locations can now be provisioned and controlled with just a few clicks from a centralized dashboard,” says Gary Ignacio, Vice-President and head of Fixed Core Business Solutions at PLDT Enterprise.

SD-WAN also has the flexibility to leverage businesses’ existing network resources such as MPLS, fiber broadband, LTE, and 5G – while keeping data secure.

“Today, PLDT is also pioneering SASE (secure access service edge architecture) to make sure that stringent policies are enforced across all branches, users, and devices.  The PLDT Group has established a very strong foundation for this out of our internal cybersecurity capabilities and best practices, and this will be further enriched by our strategic partnerships from the incumbent and emerging leaders in the field,”  Ignacio adds.

For retail and QSRs: Support digital operations with PLDT Branch-in-a-Box

Online shopping and food delivery have become the norm since the pandemic hit the country. A rise in digital transactions among the retail industry and QSRs has emerged. In an effort to support businesses’ cost-effective operations, PLDT Enterprise recommends its Branch-in-a-Box solution, a platform built for businesses that need to connect, protect, and manage multiple locations through easy to deploy and easy to manage ICT solutions that already come seamlessly stacked.

“We have made it extremely simple to spin up, scale, and connect additional sites into corporate networks,” Ignacio says. Branch-in-a-Box allows business partners to have a dashboard where they can monitor their equipment telemetry, configuration settings, auto-updates, and troubleshooting tools in one place. The service mobilizes IT infrastructure quickly in the simplest way possible.

Businesses in the retail and QSR industries are encouraged to pair the Branch-in-a-Box service with business-grade internet. To get the best result possible, PLDT Enterprise’s BEYOND FIBER, which has a 90-90 service promise, is recommended. The 90-90 service promise means that businesses can get the most out of their internet connectivity because BEYOND FIBER can provide a minimum of 90% of the subscribed speed at 90% service reliability.

For BPOs: Ensure an optimized network with the right mix of PLDT Enterprise solutions

One of the top challenges of BPOs in the shift to work-from-home arrangement is creating an ideal corporate office environment at home. PLDT Enterprise comes in with its fiber connectivity, anchored on BEYOND FIBER.

Because of its reliable connection, BPOs can expect unhampered VoIP calls, optimal video and chat experience, streamlined data transactions, as well as robust distributed workforce operations, even amid a work-from-home setup. These help increase productivity among employees and improve customer satisfaction.

To get the best work-from-home solutions stack, BPOs are also called on to subscribe to PLDT’s SD-WAN. PLDT Enterprise business partners that are enrolled in this mix of solutions now enjoy the deployment of teleworker gateways that IT managers can remotely oversee, as well as the implementation of the crucial managed service desk capabilities that promote proactive monitoring and restoration services.

Whichever industry your business is in, there’s an ideal PLDT Enterprise solution for your specific needs. Find out more about these PLDT Enterprise offers at www.pldtenterprise.com. – Rappler.com