Nick Matthews – Technical Director at Pure Coud Solutions shares his thoughts on the impact Covid-19 has had on cloud adoption, particularly within GP practices, and what this means for the future of the cloud. Check out his blog below and let us know if your opinion and experience of cloud technology has changed because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed the way we work and live and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Indeed, this has already had a massive effect on organisations all over the country, not only financially, but also operationally.
Businesses have had to adopt new, smarter working strategies to ensure they can continue to operate as close to normal as possible. This also had to be done quickly, in most cases, as a knee-jerk reaction.
For some businesses, making this transition was seamless, but for others, it was a logistical nightmare and we’ve seen many businesses limited by old technology, slow connectivity, and old desktop PC’s.”
“EVERYTHING WORKS FINE” MENTALITY
“I think it’s true that up until this point, businesses became complacent, assuming they could coast along on old technology and put off a cloud transition because “everything worked fine”.
And despite banging the drum about adopting cloud-based solutions as a way of ensuring business continuity and scalability, we were met with resistance. Because people hate change. Then Covid-19 happened, and change was thrust upon us all, whether we liked it or not.
Suddenly, the cloud was top of everyone’s agendas. In fact, as soon as the government announced its measures to control the virus, along with strict social distancing, businesses didn’t have much time to react and we were bombarded with cloud requests.”
NEW WAY OF WORKING FOR GP PRACTICES?
“One sector we never expected to embrace the cloud in the way they have during this pandemic is GP practices. Within 24 hours of the lockdown announcement, practices were required to do everything differently, and most were anxious about how this would affect their patients.
Yet these fears were almost instantly eradicated once they started using cloud telephony and our UCA solution to manage triage communications and distribution both internally and with clients. They also took to using video-conferencing as a way of continuing face to face consultations where possible.”
“This combination has seen the NHS and GP practices we serve, able to offer a better service while under immense pressure and with skeletal staff. The impact on patients and staff has been minimal, delivering a flexibility they never expected. And it’s been refreshing to see so many practices enjoying the benefits the cloud has offered during such a stressful time.
I believe it’s this, combined with how quickly it can be implemented during an emergency, that is going to drive GP practices to review the way they work after Covid-19 passes. NHS services have realised that they don’t have to do everything face to face anymore. A lot can be done over the phone or by using cloud technology.
And in doing this, they can relieve some of the pressure on healthcare professionals and save money on building operation costs, all while delivering a better service with reduced waiting times. It’s a no-brainer. And conversations are already taking place with those we support.”
WHY CLOUD adoption?
“By adopting the cloud, you gain business continuity that can prove crucial during unusual circumstances like we’ve all experienced with Covid-19.
It means that no matter where you or your staff are, you can maintain business as usual.
While some businesses were unprepared for lockdown and the measures that came with it, our cloud-first model meant we could implement our DR plan immediately, so it had no effect on our day to day operations.
Our staff have been working remotely ever since, yet they still have access to everything they need to provide the same great levels of customer service to all our clients. Now that’s impressive.”
The Future of cloud adoption
“COVID-19 has been a game changer. Since lockdown, we’ve not had much choice other than to embrace cloud technology and the services it offers like, Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and more.
If nothing else, this pandemic has proved that cloud-based technology works. And it works well. It’s up to us all to let go of the past and embrace the “new normal”.
Covid-19 has presented us with an opportunity. It should be the catalyst for driving cloud adoption in all businesses that can, so they too, can adopt new, smarter working strategies.
There really is no excuse to ignore the cloud anymore.”
INnovators of cloud solutions
We are big advocates of the cloud here are Pure Cloud Solutions and believe that this will be the key to business operations in the future. And we’re already seeing it happen. To discuss how we can support you with a move to the cloud or to understand how easy cloud adoption can be, call us on 0333 150 6780, email or fill out the contact form below and a member of the team will be in touch.
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