Virgin Media Business Wholesale has released the findings of a survey that indicate legacy networks have been one of the problems faced by customers when dealing with the coronavirus, and more flexibility will be needed as they start to recover from the pandemic.
The Virgin Media Business Wholesale survey revealed that one-third of senior IT managers viewed their channel partner relationships as purely transactional.
A similar number said they felt their channel supplier lacked the knowledge and expertise to guide them through their networking challenges and 27 per cent said their partner did not have the right technological solutions to meet their current demands.
The research found that almost half of the CIOs quizzed were finding it difficult to support remote working with their existing infrastructure, and the same volume were struggling to meet customer demand. There was a reluctance to upgrade networks, with less than a quarter viewing it as a priority.
The Virgin Media Business Wholesale study did find some areas where there was more willing to invest, with more than half of respondents indicating that they were looking at how they could use internet of things (IoT) tech over the next couple of years to boost supply chain management and customer service.
Just under half were also keen to understand how they could integrate 5G into the business. But the accompanying warning is that those advantages will not be realised if existing equipment is not refreshed.
Virgin Media Business Wholesale sales director Dale Parkinson said. “Inadequate infrastructure is preventing businesses from meeting challenges around remote working and omnichannel customer demand, and holding them back from embracing newer, more innovative technologies.”
