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IP Solutions, one of the UK’s leading independent communications services providers, is urging London organisations to plan now in order to avoid severe disruption to their business and the loss of valuable revenue during the Olympics.

With transport to experience considerable overcrowding, remote working is likely to increase sharply as businesses look to avoid commercial loss from downtime.

“London-based businesses are going to face major communications challenges with the advent of the Olympics in July, and there is a clear case for having an infrastructure in place to address issues that will arise,” said Paul Richards, Director, IP Solutions. “In research conducted by BT after the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, one in four organisations said they suffered capacity issues with employees and/or customer demand, and with hindsight one third of companies said that they wished they had increased capacity in advance of the Games.”

Organisations must therefore start preparing now if their network and communications capabilities are to cope with the added demand during the July-September period. Key steps include the following:

• Increase network capacity

The Olympics will add substantial pressure to existing networks. Not only will employees be accessing resources remotely, but an increase in streaming as people watch events will result in a considerable demand on bandwidth. The additional need for video and web conferences during the Olympic period will further add to the drain. Implementing these increases can take time, so it is crucial that businesses begin the process immediately.

• Upgrade to Cloud Computing

Enable remote access for all your staff to their email, desktop and shared files but utilising cloud based technology such as hosted exchange, hosted desktop and virtual servers. This will enable your employers to benefit from secure remote access, giving them the ability to work anywhere - an ideal solution for those who are implementing a home working policy during the Games.

• Implement clear policies on streaming and downloads

With the Games in our time zone and events taking place throughout the day, companies should have an explicit policy in place regarding viewing during office hours. Regulating this will help ensure that bandwidth demands are spaced out as much as possible, and that there are no issues caused by spikes from streaming popular events from multiple machines.

Ensure your in-bound call management system is prepared 

Just because your employees are working remotely doesn’t mean your customers have to know it. Maintaining a seamless system for managing in-bound call traffic is key to keeping customer service levels at their normal high level.