Security: There is a focus on IT security that is inherent to the insurance industry: “Security and data privacy must be guaranteed at all times. On the one hand, we work with sensitive private data, so we are bound by a set of measures and requirements imposed on us by the National Bank of Belgium. On the other hand, customers in sectors such as insurance or banking expect us to prioritize security – it’s up to us to live up to that expectation”, says Steven Jansen (IT Director, Optimco). His colleague Hans Dubois (ICT Manager) says that “one thing is certain: in the context of security for homeworking, we will continue to place our trust in Awingu in the future to keep up to date with the strictest security measures.”

Simplicity: “With Awingu, Optimco employees can securely access all their applications and files on any device via any browser, without having to install anything,” says Johan Vervloet (Account Manager, Accel). “After we gave a demonstration of the solution, we initiated a test phase for about ten employees. One of the great things about Awingu is the speed with which it can be deployed: after one day we had the environment live, and Optimco could get to work.”

Quick adaption to the lockdown: When the lockdown in Belgium was announced, companies had to react quickly in order to guarantee the continuity of their activities. This was often done in rather questionable ways, but Optimco already had the appropriate homeworking solution in its pocket: Awingu’s digital workplace. Everything was pretty much in place, but a company-wide rollout was still needed to allow everyone to telework without any problems. “That turned out to be no problem at all,” says Steven. “I remember it well: when we got wind of the lockdown, we contacted Accel to purchase the required number of licenses, and a few hours later – on a Saturday, in fact – everything was in place for everyone to be able to work from home safely on any device or network starting Monday. Once again, we were amazed at how quickly we were helped, and were glad we didn’t have to start thinking of new solutions in a hurry”. Johan laughs: “I can vividly imagine that at many companies, the weekend looked completely different!