Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 45 | Page 26

EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

HOW CAN IT TEAMS ENSURE SUCCESS WITH WI-FI DEPLOYMENTS IN THEIR ORGANISATIONS ?

Rapid growth in data use is also placing strain on existing Wi-Fi networks . High-bandwidth applications , such as 4K UHDTV , Augmented Reality and virtual reality are becoming widely used in education , enterprise and healthcare sector . Industry experts share insights with Intelligent CIO Africa on how CIOs and IT teams can ensure
Wi-Fi deployments success .

It has taken less than two decades for

Wi-Fi to become a ubiquitous aspect of modern enterprise organisations , with customers and employees alike expecting easy access to fast and reliable networks . So , when the Wi-Fi network fails them , not only is this embarrassing for the network provider , but it also leads to lost productivity and sales .
As enterprise organisations accelerate their Digital Transformation initiatives in Africa , the pressure to invest in latest-generation wireless network technology is growing – not only to meet today ’ s expectations , but to ensure that wireless networks can also flex and evolve to meet emerging requirements .
Ali Benhaddou , Network Solutions Architect , Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise , said Wi-Fi is no longer a nice-to-have , but a business necessity and expectations of what it can deliver and how easy it should be to use for mobility , are being continuously redefined .
“ The deployment complexity comes from the multiple aspects involved in building a reliable Wi-Fi solution . The first challenge is related to addressing the individual needs of the business and implementing a scalable design providing high speed connectivity with optimal radio coverage built on the latest technologies , insuring the right performance and high availability ,” he said .
Benhaddou added that with the Internet of Things ( IoT ) proliferation trend that the market is currently seeing , it has become necessary for the WLAN networks to be ‘ IoT ready ’ providing mechanisms for the IoTs identification and secure containment on the network .
Wi-Fi standards
As rapid growth in data use and high bandwidth applications are placing strain on existing enterprise networks , it is vital for organisations to deploy Wi-Fi technologies / standards that enhance performance avoid user frustrations . Benhaddou observed that obviously the 802.11x standard , commonly known as Wi-Fi 6 , benefits both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands as it has been developed specifically to solve the main wireless connectivity challenges .
“ Wi-Fi 6 is designed for the lower-latency and bandwidth hungry applications , offering network services for real-time audio and video . In addition , it supports user experience in the denser environment thus maintaining network connectivity for the users in highly populated areas and support for the IoT proliferation providing secure and prioritised connectivity for the IoTs ,” he said .
Benhaddou said providing an easy , secure and fast Wi-Fi for visitors has clearly a direct impact on the customer satisfaction and the business processes optimisation . He said in addition to providing connectivity for web browsing and social media access , it also enables holistic digital engagement with customers , specifically for those companies embracing Digital Transformation on the continent .
“ Visitors Wi-Fi has become a critical tool for any businesses with sometimes direct impact on their revenues . In the hospitality and healthcare sectors for example , a highspeed wireless Internet access is even a key differentiator ,” he said . “ Customer data collected while onboarding the guest Wi-Fi and implementing location based services ( LBS ) on top of the WLAN infrastructure helps in connecting better with visitors , understand their behaviour , enhancing the proposed services and optimising the processes . This data could also be leveraged in marketing campaigns to create new revenue streams .”
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