Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1253597
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 31 MAY 2020 10 COMMERICIAL How MITA coped with COVID-19 How has the current emphasis on remote working changed your day-to-day opera- tions? Has your work changed? This situation has obviously presented certain new challenges. The impact on the Network Services team was a substantial one because all the members of the team have had to start working from home. We are a large team of 18 network engineers, and whereas before we could have a meet- ing at the office and communicate easily with everyone, now everyone is at their homes, so communication had to be given the necessary importance. It was also crucial for the team to get used to working with certain new processes and practices so that we would be able to sup- port the operations of the public sector in the shortest amount of time possible. So first we needed to establish our own pro- cesses and ensure that we would have all the necessary services available to us, so that then we would be able to assist our cli- ents quickly and efficiently. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. We had to innovate certain methods to configure network equipment that would, in normal circumstances, be brought into our offices, for instance. Now- adays, such equipment is remaining at the client's place of work, so we have had to find a way to connect remotely so that we can implement the necessary configuration changes without needing to have the equip- ment on-site. What measures did MITA take to safeguard the health of its own employees while you are working to ensure that the country keeps on running smoothly? Even before the pandemic hit, MITA was among the first entities that began to car- ry out simulations to ensure that various teams, especially those in operations, could start working from home if needed. This degree of foresight ensured that we would be in a good position to start assisting the public sector should the need arise, as has in fact happened. Gradually we moved to a phase where all the members of the Net- work Services team, as well as other teams within MITA, started working from home, only coming to the office in exceptional cir- cumstances, when no other option is avail- able. Communication is fundamental in all this. We meet regularly every day because we are a large team and there are so many initia- tives taking place that it is important that everyone keeps abreast of what the team is working on so as to provide the best service possible to the public sector. We ensured that work continues in as normal a manner as possible, but with safe- ty in mind. Meetings with clients, for in- stance, are still taking place, but are being done online rather than in person. This is a new reality and we give a lot of importance to clients since they obviously need to con- tinue their work from home. Large sections of the public sector are now working from home. What did you do to help make this possible and to avoid prob- lems? Even before the health authorities put out the directive for employees to start making use of teleworking where possible, MITA and the Network Services team had already carried out a significant number of changes to be prepared for this eventuality. The number of teleworking users is nor- mally quite low, but now it's increased tenfold in a very short period of time. This obviously brings with it certain challenges, because in a period of two or three weeks we were flooded with requests from peo- ple in the public sector who wanted to start working from home; everyone started sending in different requests for access to some governmental system or other. The easiest thing would have been to simply open access for everyone, but for us security remained paramount and fun- damental in all this. We ensured that users connect to MITA's infrastructure in a se- cure way by making use of VPNs (Virtual Private Network). Through this infrastruc- ture we are enabling public sector workers to connect to tax systems, education sys- tems, social security… we even have call centres of certain ministries who are now operating from home by connecting to the telephone system of the Ministry. Crucially, none of this would have been possible if there wasn't continuous invest- ment in our infrastructure over the years. MITA undertakes regular audits and re- views to identify any gaps, and address any problems, so that when we come to situa- tions like this we are able to tackle them in the best possible manner. You mentioned the aspect of security. How problematic was it to have everyone working from home, especially when sen- sitive date is being handled? Security is a crucial aspect. The data is not transmitted in clear text over the internet but is encrypted through the use of certain technology. During these times, the most important thing is that we increase over- sight and surveillance of security operations - there is more focus on critical national infrastructure, more analysis of logs, and we talk to clients even more than usual. On the other hand it is also important for security to be taken into consideration when certain initiatives and projects are im- plemented across the years. When we im- plement new infrastructure, we design with security in mind. MITA always follows best industry practices when it comes to securi- ty. We are ISO 27001 certified which means that we conform to important standards of information security. What impact did the increase in telecon- ferencing have on bandwidth and net- work usage? What did you do to prevent issues in this regard? There was a substantial increase in bandwidth consumption be- cause nowadays there are many new bandwidth-intensive ap- plications in use. To this end, we have an ongoing initiative whereby we have a number of network changes in the pipeline to ensure that we can keep up with the demand, should the need arise. During the past few weeks, we upgraded our bandwidth to eight times what it used to be to make sure that there would be no disruption to clients' services. Additionally, we carry out continual, 24-hour monitor- ing of bandwidth usage from our Network Operations Centre, where certain critical links are constantly under observation. In this way, we can take action before any bandwidth bottlenecks are experienced. This is very important for us since it allows us to anticipate any problems we might have before the users actually experience these problems. What were the biggest problems that you have faced because of this pandemic? Any particular issues? One of the biggest challenges was the sudden increase in requests that we had to tackle when the health authorities issued their guidelines for people to start tele- working. Apart from this, we also had many requests from the health sector. There were many initiatives in this sector, and we had to allocate dedicated people in the team to focus on this aspect. Amongst other projects, we provided the necessary infrastructure for wired and wireless connectivity at the screening cen- tres of Luqa and Pembroke, together with connectivity to the Malta Government Network (MAGNET). Normally, the provisioning of connectivi- ty tends to be a lengthy process due to a sig- nificant amount of logistical and engineer- ing works involved, however the Network Services team managed to come up with an innovative method through which we were able to provide secure connectivity to both these centres in a few hours. We also assisted the authorities at Mater Dei Hospital in the opening of various new wards, where we provided the required connectivity to the necessary health appli- cations. Additionally, we assisted the health authorities in Gozo since they carried out a number of logistical changes in their in- frastructure that required our involvement with regards to additional network config- uration. It has been a very challenging and busy period, especially where the health sector is concerned, since we had to prioritise their needs while at the same time keeping an oversight on other requests from the public sector. Many days were stressful because there were instances where we kept working throughout the eve- nings and at times even week- ends. Having said this, there is a sense of satisfaction and pride among all the team members that we contributed to the critical services being carried out by the health au- thorities to the benefit of the general public. MITA has had certain initiatives in place that were already looking ahead, like that of the modern workplace for example. How helpful was it in this situation that MI- TA was already looking ahead? The modern workplace initiative is one that MITA has been promoting in the last few years, both within MITA as well as within the public sector. This has helped tremendously in this situation, especially for those workers in the public sector. While they cannot attend the office for meetings for instance, public sector employees have collaborative tools at their disposal, includ- ing video conferencing tools, and through them it is possible for meetings to keep tak- ing place online. There are even facilities for online sharing of documents, as well as storage facilities that allow the user to ac- cess data remotely. Additionally, MITA has also worked on having teams specialised on the modern workplace initiative. Even the call cen- tre has received training in this regard, so that they will able to assist users who come across problems related to this subject. One last question: do you think, after all this is over, that things will revert to what they used to be, and if they change, will you, as MITA and as the Network Services team, be ready for this change? Million dollar question! I think the norm that we were used to will change and change drastically. This was certainly a trigger for us to speed up certain planned changes that had perhaps been a long time coming. Our ability, both as the Networks Servic- es team and as MITA as a whole, to adapt to the demands of this new situation while keeping all our services running smoothly demonstrated the level of professionalism and flexibility of MITA's employees. Having emerged from this stressful and busy period as well as we have, I am certain that, whatever challenges may be found in the future, we will be able to tackle them successfully in the same way. Ramon Mangion MaltaToday asked Ramon Mangion how MITA reacted to the COVID-19 mandatory measures