Daily Times

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), a leading innovator in enterprise software, on Tuesday announced that United Bank Limited (UBL), one of the largest private banks in Pakistan, has tapped its solutions to bolster the Bank’s work-from-home strategy for its critical global workforce, during the peak of the pandemic.

The solution, which was initially designed to plug the gaps in the organization’s business continuity plans during a lockdown, has demonstrated its resilience in a post-pandemic operating environment as it continues to empower its ‘Anywhere Workforce’ with better experiences and broader, more effective security.

The pandemic has changed the way they live, work and interact with each other. When the Pakistani Government first announced the lockdown of major provinces to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus in March 2020, many organizations in Pakistan had to suddenly pivot and adapt to a remote environment. UBL was faced with the dilemma of shutting down its physical presence, over 1,300 branches across Pakistan, and losing out on connecting with not only consumers, but also employees physically.

With Pakistan’s internet user base increasing 21 percent to 11 million between 2020 and 2021, it was clear that forward-looking organizations such as UBL would need to strengthen their digital infrastructure to enable collaborations between employees and to continue delivering customer-led innovations and experiences that are seamless, personalized and more secure.

“As Pakistan moves faster to a digital future, it has become essential for financial services firms to respond quickly to needs and better serve our consumers in Pakistan as well as the region, without disruption. This is why we are placing our employees and consumers at the heart of our holistic digital strategy,” said Faisal Anwar, Chief Information Officer, UBL.

“By working with VMware, we believe that we can equip our workforce with the right tools and resources, delivering seamless and more secure access to mission-critical applications while enhancing productivity. This will allow us to not only sustain our modus operandi in the post-pandemic environment, but also unlock more opportunities for accelerated business innovation, agility and resilience in the new era of digital banking.”

Leveraging on VMware’s NSX and Workspace ONE solutions, UBL was able to modernize and build a developer-ready, scalable and reliable infrastructure which could provide its global, remote employee workforce with seamless and more secure access to its corporate network from their personal apps, clouds and devices at anytime and anywhere.

The agility afforded by these solutions allowed the Bank to adapt and accelerate to the digital-first environment, supporting its business-as-usual activities online and innovation drive to create meaningful digital interactions with its existing and new base of consumers. Amid a new hyper-distributed business environment, where 91 percent of global security professionals surveyed in VMware’s Global Threat Report reported an increase in overall cyber-attacks as a result of employees working from home, an intrinsic security approach has been key for the organization.

VMware’s NSX Technologies have also enabled UBL to extend their security footprint all across the network and employees’ personal workloads through a single touchpoint – to deliver granular protection for the organization and defend it against lateral threats.

“With the rise of an anywhere workforce in Pakistan, it has become imperative for businesses to reimagine where and how teams collaborate and innovate in a future norm of distributed work. From cultivating a digital-first mindset to delivering seamless and secure access to organizations apps and services, tapping on a robust digital foundation is key to help organizations accelerate their business innovation and agility,” said Nitin Ahuja, General Manager and Country Leader, Asia Emerging Markets, VMware.

“VMware is excited to be able to work with UBL to accelerate its vision as a digitally-enabled bank to life. We remain committed as a trusted partner to help Pakistani businesses like UBL support and build a resilient Anywhere Workplace in the new world of work.”

VMware software powers the world’s complex digital infrastructure. The company’s cloud, app modernization, networking, security, and digital workspace offerings help customers deliver any application on any cloud across any device. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, VMware is committed to being a force for good, from its breakthrough technology innovations to its global impact.