Ringside: Interview with Martin Jones

Share this Post on:

martin jones

In the Ringside series, we began by talking to our own leaders to get insights into the challenges and solutions of the telecommunications industry. It’s time to expand that approach to include more voices. Over the next few episodes, we’re drawing on the wit and wisdom of our partners to show a broader perspective of the business communications industry.

This post features Martin Jones, Managing Director of LAN3, an award winning IT network integrator. Martin has been in the glamorous world of IT since 1996, when he worked for a company that fixed and cleaned Exabyte tape drives. As Martin describes this pinnacle, “It was only going to go downhill after that!”

Beyond the world of work, Martin is a big Welsh rugby and Liverpool FC fan, and is the happy father of two teenage girls. Balancing the mind of a teenager with the body of a pensioner, Martin is keen on playing sport, but can barely walk for a week after 20 mins weeding in his garden. Something of a silver lining, lockdown is allowing him to get plenty of training in.

Martin, what are the challenges and opportunities of your role at LAN3?

The challenges and opportunities facing networking, security and communications have all changed because of the world health crisis. Whilst I believe employees will look forward to returning to the office, to catch up with their colleagues (face to face), I think that business leaders will reflect on the costs of ‘real estate’ and decide that money spent on building leases could be better spent on wages or presented in the bottom line! LAN3 has reacted to these changes, delivering solutions for secure and efficient remote working, as well as the office(s). The challenges of ‘life after lockdown’ will be coping with depleted or delayed budgets. LAN3 has planned for this uncertainty, with our new partnership with RingCentral being symptomatic of our wider approach.

Call to action banner
Get up and running in 48 hours with RingCentral Office Rapid Deployment. Find out more

When considering today’s trends, where do you think the workforce, and business communications, will be this time next year?

I have read a lot of opinions on this subject throughout lockdown. It is my assumption that larger companies, located in the big cities, will be looking at how they have coped with lockdown and decide that paying millions a month for a prime office location is no longer good practise. I hear of ‘webinar-fatigue’, but when the alternatives involve burning fossil fuels and sitting in traffic or cramped public transport, I think web-conferencing is here for good…probably principally at the behest of the Finance Directors!

What’s the best piece of advice you can give to a business wishing to improve its communication?

If, as expected, the world continues to embrace working from home after lockdown, then efficient and secure communication is imperative. We often learn from our peers when working closely together, and we can’t afford to lose that development, just because we are not physically sat in close proximity. It is also imperative that the communication channels are secure as cyber-criminals are looking to exploit the new working landscape.

With that, it’s time for Martin to resume his stewardship of LAN3 as the company supports businesses preparing for an uncertain return to normality. Thank you to Martin for his honest and insightful contribution – we look forward to seeing what opportunities the second half of 2020 brings.

Remember, there’s lots of advice and information to support your business remote working if you need help on anything from infrastructure to self-management. In the meantime, look out for more episodes in this series of Ringside.

Get more information on RingCentral Office Rapid Deployment.Find out more

Originally published May 22, 2020, updated Jan 16, 2023

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *