The global health crisis did not just disrupt the market; it also exposed the underlying cracks that have long existed in how businesses operate and the deficiencies in how they meet consumer demands.
Due to many processes being prone to inefficiencies and human error, the need for digitalisation has always preceded the pandemic. Now, the challenges have only intensified.
With social distancing measures being encouraged by most major economies, many businesses now rely on segregated teams. This means companies must adapt to remote work environments that allow for seamless and efficient operations, which require secure yet accessible data systems management.
This is consistent with the region’s current trends and key growth areas, as well as the Singapore government’s push for technology-driven innovation , ultimately accelerating the growth of a Smart Nation with an emphasis on digital and automated solutions.
Many transactions, services and government processes are becoming increasingly digital; businesses must keep up with this trend by streamlining their operations. To achieve this, they need to shift to a digital environment and explore developing IoT (Internet of Things) strategies.
As such, the need for a resilient and secure infrastructure, has never been more urgent.
Challenges of digitalisation and automation
Running a business is not easy and with the demands for digital transformation come even more challenges. Whether you are dealing with cash flow management, data transfers, internal operations, or upgrading to provide your customers with easy access to products and services, digitalisation can be tricky.
The three overarching concerns businesses have with digitalisation and automation plans are ensuring maximum uptime, optimum performance, flexible network scalability and security.
With more services moving online, businesses are rightly concerned about network reliability because disruptions would interfere more severely with day-to-day work. There is also a rising fear that increased digitalisation means a greater vulnerability to cyber attacks, exposing your organisation to higher risks of cyber threats that can compromise operations or data.
Moving towards IoT also begs the question of how deployment can be done quickly and cost efficiently to reap the benefits of automation and reduce manpower costs. There is also a valid concern about IoT device performance, especially for applications that require real-time responsiveness such as video analytics for surveillance purposes.
Because of these reasons an effective digitalisation and automation strategy depends on partnering with a secured, ultra-low latency and resilient network that can address these issues head-on.
A smart solution to overcome these challenges
Ensuring maximum uptime
A truly robust network should have high availability and in-built redundancy to enable smooth and consistent connectivity. That is why SPTel offers an alternative fibre network that is highly resilient and physically separated from other providers. Their unique fibre pathways combine leased SP Group infrastructure and owned fibre pipes, laid alongside the power network cables. In this way, SPTel’s network is not affected by disruptions caused by outages on shared network infrastructure.
“Delivering reliable services is key in an increasingly connected world. That is why our fibre runs through our secured infrastructure assets to minimise the risk of tampering from third-party entities. With exchange diversity for buildings connected by our fibre network enabled with SDN capability, traffic can automatically re-route to the next available link to maintain maximum uptime,” said Susan Loh, VP of Sales, Marketing & Business Development.
Optimising performance
SPTel utilises a 2-tier network structure to reduce the number of hops required for data to travel from point to point. This enables them to deliver ultra-low latency island-wide, creating what is essentially a superhighway for data and improving the responsiveness of connected devices.
Their Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) offers a hybrid solution that captures the best features of both on-premise and cloud systems, replicating the flexibility, scalability and “as-a-Service” model of a public cloud, paired with improved latency performance that comes close to the speed of an on-premise solution. By leveraging on this edge computing power, multiple locations within proximity can also tap on the same resource for cost and deployment efficiency.
This enables businesses to enjoy improved responsiveness and performance for their IoT devices without heavy investment and the added assurance of a resilient network backbone.
Strengthening defenses
What makes SPTel’s network particularly robust are its security capabilities. DDoS Attack Detection is provided as a default for SPTel’s Enterprise Internet plans so that customers are alerted when an attack is taking place, allowing for proactive mitigation.
“There are also additional cybersecurity features that can be provisioned virtually for faster order processing via our software-defined network and network functions virtualisation, supported by the fact that our network is monitored by a Security Operations Centre (SOC) managed by ST Engineering,” added Susan Loh.
ST Engineering is a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions with extensive experience in designing and building Security Operations Centres for customers around the world and across different sectors.
A catalyst for effective digitalisation and automation
SPTel is a joint venture company of ST Engineering and SP Group. Their mission is to improve the way people, places, and things connect with each other by providing advanced network infrastructure, enabling technologies, and building smart ecosystems to enhance business productivity and lifestyles through better connectivity in Singapore. They achieve this by helping organisations accelerate digitalisation as a digital service provider, offering reliable services with an edge.
SPTel recently won the Singapore Business Review Technology Excellence Awards 2020 for launching Singapore’s first end-to-end software-defined network with network functions virtualisation. This enables them to respond with greater agility to changing customer needs as they embark on their digitalisation journey.
For more information on SPTel, you may visit their official website here or sign up for their upcoming virtual event here.
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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by SPTel.
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