For many in corporate IT management, there’s a long-standing philosophy that to invest in the future of your business, you first need to invest in workplace modernization. When your people have newer and more powerful technology, it drives greater productivity at work as well as generally higher levels of employee happiness. Simply put, people love having the latest and best devices.
It’s interesting, though, to look at how that philosophy is evolving right now. It might be worthwhile for companies to take a second look at their approach today, in light of the rise of remote and hybrid work.
The trend toward a more distributed workforce is still ongoing. Employees all over the world are discovering that working remotely brings a host of benefits, including increased flexibility and productivity. But the fact remains: People still need to feel “connected” when they work, regardless of when or where they do it. They need a connection to their data, their applications, the projects they work on, and the people they work with. And they need all of this with a user experience that’s simple and seamless, from any device.
Not only that, but: It’s also important for corporate IT to prioritize security. You need people to have access to their crucial work resources, yes, but you need to make sure only they have that access, no one else, and unwanted intruders are kept out.
It’s not easy to build a workplace culture that perfectly balances productivity with security – especially these days, given all the complications of remote work. But the following five strategies should prove helpful.
Being away from traditional office settings exposes people to new threats in new ways. Employees and their IT management alike need to educate themselves on the unique security threats facing a distributed workforce and take steps to protect themselves accordingly.
Organizations need to be sure that only the right people are accessing their email and cloud data. This means they need to verify that every single user is who they say they are. Implementing new technologies like multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a great first step toward making this happen.
The key is to make sure every employee, no matter where they are, has secure access to their work. Using tools like VPNs can help with this. If you build “tunnels” between users and applications that are reliable and secure, it will help your entire team stay productive.
The rise of remote work means a wide range of new endpoints at which your business might be vulnerable. This includes email accounts, cloud platforms, and users’ personal devices in addition to their work ones. For any business, it’s imperative to have a plan for defending every access point your business has. It only takes one weak link, after all.
If you only solve today’s security problems, ignoring all else, you’re almost certainly going to create new issues for tomorrow. It’s important to invest in the long-term security of your business by finding IT tools that evolve as your business does, protecting both your current infrastructure and the technology that may power your organization down the road.
For all of this and more, Cisco and Zones are proud to be IT security partners you can trust. Cisco works every day to empower remote workers by giving them simple, effective and integrated security solutions – and at Zones, we’re proud to be a Cisco Gold Certified Partner. That means we’re better equipped than anyone to equip your business with the Cisco solutions you need to be successful.
Connect with us today if you’d like to explore this opportunity further.