Digitalising and securing our future workplace

1. Enabling our people to work securely, no matter where they are

Remote working was introduced when we launched flexSpace in 2010, which allows our people the option to work outside the office when the situation calls for it. They now use their endpoints (laptops and smart devices) in a home network. Our adoption of cloud solutions for endpoint management, and security tools to secure these endpoints, such as anti-virus, encryption, and data loss prevention (DLP), allows our people to work productively from home while ensuring enterprise data remains secure. Today, we have the capacity for our people to connect back to the PwC network with on multiple devices at the same time, no matter where they are.

2. Adopting an “Internet first” architecture 

We continued to improve our network infrastructure to ensure that we have a resilient remote access infrastructure to support our people working from home. These initiatives have allowed us to minimise the need to maintain an on-premise network infrastructure in our data centres, especially during times of stricter movement restrictions, to access office premises.

3. Accelerating the adoption of cloud based technologies.

We host our applications and data in the cloud where possible. The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the value of a cloud-first approach, which minimises the risk of disruption to locally-hosted infrastructure, while having the resiliency and scalability of cloud-hosted environments. 

In line with this approach, we have started the journey to decommission on-premise applications and databases, building their replacements in the cloud and using new applications that are mobile friendly.  

We also have more self-service capabilities including ServiceNow for raising requests and issues, Workspace ONE to onboard our smart devices, and a self-service toolkit for PC management.

Looking ahead to the future

1. The digital workplace journey

In support of the ‘future of work’, we plan to upgrade designated meeting rooms to easily support hybrid meetings, facilitate more self-service capabilities and enhance our network monitoring tools to ensure continued infrastructure resiliency.  

2. Digital transformation

Bringing our data, technology and people together gives us an advantage and helps us manage disruption. Our Data Platform initiative will connect our people to our data so they can build new solutions that help us decrease cost and improve our margins.

3. ‘Sustainability’ to the core

Incorporating sustainability into every digital initiative, we will continue our technology rationalisation efforts to reduce on-site footprint e.g. printers, telecommunications, backup solutions.