Our new normal

As the true impact of COVID-19 hit us like a Joe Parker right hand here in Aotearoa, it’s clear to me that the ways in which we've ALWAYS worked will be disrupted - not only now but FOREVER... (but that’s not an entirely bad thing).

Beyond day to day business, for me the lockdown has me refocussing energy on what really matters in life, a reflection on life and roles as members of a whanau (both home and at work), local community, New Zealand and as global society as opposed to the lemmings we occasionally conform to being.

I'd like to think its a time for us all to reframe, re-think and challenge what our society really needs right now, and what Aotearoa might look like post-COVID-19.

As well as what needs to change and where we should focus thinking and investment. I have read a couple of epic examples of this thought leadership from the likes of Rod Drury, Robett Hollis alongside a diverse range of NZ's business and research minds, those prepared to 'open source' their perspectives and thoughts to the world.

It's going to absolutely take a village as per my earlier scribbles we need to make sure the right (qualified) ideas are waiting in the wings for execution for when the time is right.

In a work context, many of us will also be thinking “why do I even need to be tied to an office? or a "workday?”

It's my fundamental belief that our post-COVID reality will be more mobile and will absolutely be built on OUR terms and on a much more human and purpose-led level.

I think employers and businesses who truly understand this will get the pick of the good humans and top talent who are currently either stood down as a result of the economic change or even those simply sitting in our home office bubbles considering our lives with a newfound sense of what's important as a result of their own unique lockdown reflection.

I am not ignoring the obvious chaos and disruption to individual livelihoods and the impact on the economy however I am choosing to believe that COVID is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to genuinely change Aotearoa and the world for the better, as we create our new normal after lockdown.

The spotlight is already firmly on NZ following our covid response so lets leverage this as an opportunity to shine the light on our wider capability and ability to execute and lead beyond an "allstar pick" PM's reaction with the view that we can rapidly re-establish export paths in the first instance through tech exports!

Throughout this lockdown, it's incredible to see and feel how Kiwis have adapted and embraced the change.

Imagine if I told you on Waitangi day, on the back of a record-setting period for the NZD and NZX, that in just a few weeks you would be forced to work from home, in the midst of a global pandemic and economic turmoil with businesses closing and job losses across the board?

For me personally over the past 21 days, I’ve experienced a roller coaster of emotions with an overarching sense of happiness but the changes through this time have resulted in a much simpler life:

• ZERO travel time = Zero lost productivity
• I'm exercising more than I have in a decade, although a happy hour is also getting closer to lunchtime on a Friday
• We are exploring our own beautiful backyard and community here in the mighty Waikato with walks and bike rides
• I feel more connected to my tribe and strangely enough my own neighbours
• 100% home-cooked meals sourced locally
• Real clarity on my own purpose and that of The Instillery
• Conversations with my colleagues, partners and clients feel more purposeful - even with a couple of unplanned appearances from my 3-year-old Sasha while on a video call (I’m now a big believer in the Robett Hollis “SAUNA theory” of human connection…) 

At The Instillery, we’ve always believed that our role is to amplify the impact of others on the world; helping you to not only survive but 'dominate' in your respective markets by fuelling you with leading global tech & digital firepower to deliver #velocitywithconfidence.

In these crazy times, beyond care for our own whanau at The Instillery, our #1 priority is ensuring that we can continue to provide guidance and business confidence in a time of massive uncertainty. This means making sure you have a rock-solid foundation, the ability to quickly pivot or reduce cost and a robust digital plan of attack that includes tangible transformation and innovative in preparation for the economic “bounce.”

With our teams’ real-world efforts and experiences in response to COVID-19, our diverse client base and a combined 30+ years in business (through our M&A activity with my business partners; Jason and his team from Vo2 and Mike's at Origin), we believe that we’re in a unique position to ensure that your business continues to operate as seamlessly as possible during this time; taking the COVID lockdown as an opportunity to reframe your business reality and commit to re-designing and operating in a manner that will enable you to best capitalise on the inevitable economic upturn as the COVID-19 cloud clears rather than make short term decisions which may inhibit growth later.

In the past month, I’ve been proud of my Instillery whanau during this extremely difficult situation. As we continue to evolve, improve and learn; from delivering small, measurable wins at a consistent cadence through to assisting customers to change their entire operational models in order to adapt to new working environments in their own unique responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

I’ve been reflecting on the herculean effort of The Instillery (and our customers) frontline, putting in significant shifts with a materially positive impact for our clients and I wanted to breakdown and share a handful of the evolving capabilities that have been exceptionally useful for businesses in response to the unprecedented challenges we face now and as we realise the full impact of COVID-19 in the hope that it may help your business.

(1) Challenge & Desired Outcome: Preparing for MASSIVE change + unknown impact

(A) Strategy & Dynamic Consulting - Reframe, Plan + Respond

The crisis that is upon us right now raises many questions, challenges and risks for kiwi businesses. Is the FY21 Digital strategy that they just submitted to the board now redundant? What are capital programs that can be accelerated and prioritised to deliver immediate cost out within the current financial year? What activity is required now as a digital team to empower the business they need to inform a revised strategy.

What this requires in our eyes is a fresh lens and “out of the bubble” thinking. It's time to reframe your view of the market you're addressing and the operating model that will not only enable you to survive today but thrive when the bounce comes.

What we’re doing to support businesses: We’re offering immediate access to our experienced team of experts to help them plan and respond.

Starting with a remote consultation from one of our senior consultants, you can table your priority business challenges in your own business language.

We then work with you to understand your existing investment strategy and current state, exploring how cloud, modern workplace and security technologies can be enabled to help them progress.

Post the immediate remote consultation, we then provide them with actionable recommendations (with no hooks) and a prioritised roadmap.

(2) Challenge & Desired Outcome: Enabling teams for maximum productivity

(2a) TIG Services: Rapid & Secure Remote Connectivity (Work anywhere on any device)

The NZ Government enforced self-isolation and remote working requirements are putting a strain on traditional business continuity systems, people and operational processes.

However, it is our belief that our experience over the last 4 weeks of remote work will become part of the new normal that kiwi organisations and their respective ecosystems need to be prepared for, for the long term.

Many of the clients we’ve been working with have been wrestling with legacy and horrible VPN access technologies, nightmare latency and endless ‘laggy’ video conferences.

We believe it’s time to kick users off the corporate network and finally “kill” the pain in the ass VPN technology. WHY? Remote access VPNs worked well in the network-centric world, but in the age of cloud and mobility, where there are virtual perimeters around the user, device and application, they lack relevance.

We also don’t have to sacrifice our team's security for productivity. We can give users the experience they want AND get the security they need.

What we’re doing to support businesses: The Instillery can immediately help you design and build a secure, scalable, Virtual desktop platform in the cloud. That is if you’ve just invested in a pile of Citrix licenses or committed to the current remote access tech stack, we can help alleviate the strain on existing VPN solutions by deploying a cloud service (without breaking the bank on Citrix licenses) that can scale with demand, ensuring that your employees can connect with teams and critical business systems.

Or (and our recommendation) let’s talk about enabling a true zero-trust approach and a VPN alternative using the Zscaler security cloud to deliver scalable remote and local access to enterprise apps (regardless if they are in a local DC or in the cloud) while never placing users on the network. In this approach, Zscaler uses micro-encrypted TLS tunnels and cloud-enforced business policies to create a secure segment of one between an authorised user and a specific named application. This service-initiated architecture where App Connector connects outbound to the Zscaler broker makes both the network and applications invisible to the internet, creating an isolated environment around each application rather than the network. This eliminates lateral movement and opportunity for ransomware spreads.

The latter may seem like a significant program to “bite off” in this time, however, in the past 2 weeks alone we have enabled Zscaler for over 20,000 end users here at home in NZ across a handful of government agencies, utilities and private sector businesses. 

Leveraging our vast experience these types of born in the cloud technologies CAN be delivered in days, NOT months.

A great reminder of this was through my own amazing 1st hand experience and the ability of our local fibre provider Ultrafast Fibre & local RSP Lightwire to have my own home office connected within 4 hours of my email request being submitted to aid in our response to support the essential workers.

(2b) TIG Services: Remote Cloud Education + Enablement

Prior to and in response to the lockdown, all kiwi business and government departments including our essential services have asked their employees to work from home.

For those that have made the brave decision NOT to pursue significant layoffs and instead find innovative ways to drive productivity in other ways whereby their team members may not have a full week's work to execute on - it's our belief that this is a unique opportunity to focus on personal development and investing TODAY to build your workforce for tomorrow. 

In addition, staff shortages and hiring freezes as a result of COVID means that regardless teams need to upskill or even cross-train to be prepared to support future cloud initiatives.

How TIG can help YOU right now: 

The Instillery has assisted 200+ kiwi businesses to prepare and execute their own journeys to the cloud. Through this experience we have crafted our own “any cloud” cloud adoption framework and recommended; cloud enablement, education and certification program that can help your employees to rapidly upskill, enhance and cross-train their skills, ensuring that they have the learning content and approach to continue their personal development whilst working from home. 

(3) Challenge & Desired Outcome: “Dig In” & Maintain Quality of Service

(3a) TIG Services: 24x7 Extended Operational Support + Proactive Monitoring

Ensuring service continuity and availability of your business-critical applications is critical.

How TIG can help YOU right now: 

Within 48 hours of the contract signed, The Instillery can have agents implemented across your environment and immediately provide operational support and proactive availability monitoring at scale with an experienced 24/7 remote engineering team to deliver immediate expertise in the Cloud with security at the forefront of everything we do. 

(3b) TIG Services: Additional Firepower on demand through Virtual Squads

IT & Digital teams organisations across Aotearoa are being affected by understaffing due to a range of job losses, illness, the requirement to take time off to support their own whanaus, and of course travel restrictions.

This shortage of firepower is further compounded by an inability for you to bring on new headcount to support your digital priorities in a full-time capacity.

How TIG can help YOU right now: 

Without the ability to sit side-by-side with our customers, and engage as we usually would, we are using the following delivery methods to deliver under Alert Level 3 & 4 conditions still leveraging our unique co-pilot approach:

• Priority support for Essential Services
• Dedicated Virtual Squads focused on secure remote working*
• Collaborative consultation & team engagements

*Important note: our virtual squads have not been dreamed up in response to the covid crisis... they are an established framework and model of delivery that The Instillery have been supporting clients with for 6+ years

From facilitated workshops conducted via Microsoft Teams to high-velocity and data driven consulting and engineering services all backed by The Instillery team you know and trust.

Through our Virtual Squads, we’re continuing to deliver existing projects as well as enabling new customer technologies. This includes:

• Zscaler secure remote working deployments
• Office 365 implementations
• Cloud Migrations
• Laptop & device refreshes for essential businesses
• Cloud Connectivity solutions such as SD-WAN & fibre

    (3c) TIG Services: Accelerate Agile Cloud Migration

We have seen 1st hand that the surge in remote access is resulting in unprecedented demand on your business-critical apps and its underlying infrastructure and you need to scale ASAP to meet the demand.

A great example of this are our retailers, for years many have pushed their “front of house apps to the cloud for infinite scale but now their back-office is no longer “good enough on-prem” so they have no other option but to migrate their full-stack!

How TIG can help YOU right now: The Instillery can deliver a rapid assessment of your unique environment and migration challenge including a projected view of the cloud costs compared to your incumbent annualised IaaS/PaaS costs.

Or, if ‘common’ application and logical move groups exist, we can provide a cost-effective T&M cloud migration price for those business applications and the underlying logical dependency infrastructure that are under pressure right now and struggling with the demands of enhanced remote connections and or sheer demand on front and back end applications.

Moving to the cloud does not have to be slow nor expensive. The Instillery have demonstrated an ability to migrate up to 50 Virtual Machines and associated tiered storage of underlying infrastructure in a single ONE week. We have migration, land zone templates and pipelines ready built which enable us to simply pull off the shelf and tailor the final 10% to your requirements which means we don't need to build from scratch.

    (3d) TIG Services: Cloud Disaster Recovery & Data Portability

Disaster recovery is a critical part of any business continuity plan and will be tested during this covid crisis.

You need to be sure that your critical data assets are protected, recoverable, secure, and available to power your business even in the midst of a global crisis.

In addition to immediate resiliency, your executive are demanding your “ready” to securely move and manage data from your on-premises or cloud to “any other cloud”, and back again if required.

How TIG can help YOU right now: The Instillery can work alongside you to understand your current DR, Resiliency & Copy data strategy and 10,000 foot business continuity requirements (along with associated impacts of downtime) with a view to reviewing and providing executable recommendations to ensure rapid progress to a "better outcome." [Understanding that platinum plated just isn't an option for many at a time like this].

Beyond consulting we can rapidly design and implement an interim Cloud-based DR solution to immediately mitigate the risks facing your business as a result of Zero DR/Backup or production environments experiencing challenges and provide a roadmap for transitioning to a more permanent production copy data solution that allows for data portability, native resiliency, test data management and of course back up.

(4) Challenge & Desired Outcome: Cost Optimisation & Realised Savings

    (4a) TIG Services: Maximising your Cloud Investment

After 6 years dedicated to Enterprise cloud success from business case creation to migration and lifecycle operation, we have a proven track record and cross-platform expertise in helping kiwi businesses leverage Cloud computing in a simple and cost-effective manner.

How TIG can help YOU right now: With secure read-only access to your current cloud accounts. The Instillery can help you to quickly analyse and understand your current cloud spend (across Azure, AWS and GCP), and provide & implement cost optimisation measures through savings plans, reservations and variations to CSP and enterprise agreements. 

We can provide the technical resources necessary to not only consult but execute on the findings and recommendations further reducing the burden on your already lean teams.

In recent engagements, The Instillery has been able to demonstrate savings north of 30% savings on environments migrated to the public cloud within the past 12 months.

(5) Challenge & Desired Outcome: Increasing threat vectors introduced through remote work - Security + Protecting your Teams Critical Business Data

     (5a) TIG Services: Intelligent Security

Reactive, Tactical and short term decision making, pressure from your executive combined with mass remote working and chaotic decision making can all lead to new risks to your security posture regardless if you're on-premise, local IaaS, hybrid or in the Cloud.

How TIG can help YOU right now: We can help you to prioritise and make the right security decisions for your business irrespective of where you are on your cloud journey.

The Instillery will provide seasoned but pragmatic expert advice - connecting the theory to practical steps to help you navigate the controls, policies and governance necessary in order to protect your business while also providing a framework and enabling your team to continue to make decisions for yourself moving forward. 

We have a cloud native and SaaS toolchain that alongside our resident expertise can quickly engage to evaluate your current security posture, and surface up the key decisions that are required to be made, supporting you with design expertise, implementation assistance and training for your own team.

OR if time is of the essence we can activate our security intelligence managed service including SoC/Siem & Soar evolutions to provide an immediate impact while we train your team to a prior agreed level (when we have collective confidence you're ready to fly solo) - following which we will ‘throw you back the keys.’