The world has changed, seemingly overnight, causing significant disruptions to business and personal life. Protective measures are being taken to slow the spread of the virus—including social distancing from other people and avoiding venues with large crowds. Companies are forced to quickly make decisions and purchases to acquire secure remote work solutions and foster collaboration.
With recommendations from health authorities to self-isolate as much as possible, businesses have now been left with the significant challenge of a rapid transition to a largely remote workforce—without a secure remote collaboration solution. And not everyone has been fully prepared for this scenario. Working from a remote location has become the primary form of doing business. However, for many mid-sized companies, this continues to be a huge adjustment.
A quick, unplanned change from on-site to remote workforce in an uphill battle and presents a multitude of issues. Two major issues facing companies are continuing to ensure collaboration and communication between employees and securing a remote workforce. Unprotected remote employees put the entire business at risk for a significant cyberattack. And hackers are just waiting to take advantage of just this type of situation.
The Impact of Remote Work on Team Collaboration and Productivity
Many of your end users thrive on going into the office and seeing their coworkers and teams, ready to tackle client challenges.
As many project managers and others know, scheduling is optimum when you’re in the office because everyone is present at the same location at the appropriate time. Communication can be much simpler and effective as a result of the group all being in the same space, and there’s no need for multiple emails back and forth when a simple two-minute conversation can resolve any residual confusion. Additionally, many managers believe performance is stronger in the office because everyone must accomplish their goals before leaving work.
But—with the right secure remote work solution—teams can collaborate just as well as if they sat in the same space.
Protecting Your Network and End Users
Not surprisingly, cybercriminals have been quick to take advantage of the recent crisis and are rolling out phishing scams in an attempt to profit off this unprecedented event. Hackers are circulating phishing scams spoofing emails from health organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and other health organizations offering advice on how to stay safe during the pandemic.
Companies have had to set up employees to work from remote locations fairly quickly, and many are not properly protected by the cybersecurity measures needed. This scenario is perfect for cyberhackers, who are just waiting to pounce on unprotected individuals. Without a secure remote work solution in place, your end users (and your proprietary data) are at risk.
Cybercriminals are using fake emails of case maps, and even emails that target workplace email accounts using workplace policy messages. All of these scams are an attempt to get unsuspecting individuals to click on a malicious link and download malware or steal your company’s information. Your end users must stay vigilant and be suspicious of COVID-19 related emails asking for login information, those containing spelling or grammatical mistakes, or urgent and unexpected request to act quickly. This problem has become so rampant that the FBI has stepped in and issued warnings about COVID-19 related scams using government stimulus checks or the CDC as bait.
Finding the Right Secure Remote Work Solution
As a leader in the cybersecurity industry, Cisco’s solutions stand out. Built on a zero-trust foundation, Cisco enables you to:
- Experience predictable SLA on all critical enterprise applications; create application-aware policies with real-time enforcement around network problems; and isolate and protect critical assets with cloud, partner networks, and more via its SD-WAN solution.
- Collaborate via quality video conferencing, calling, and file-sharing and end‑to‑end encrypts keeps messages, documents, and other content from one device to another with its Webex remote work solution.
… and much more.
As a leading Cisco partner, ADAPTURE has the expertise to quickly deploy and manage a secure remote work solution for your company. Don’t leave your data and your end users unprotected. During this crisis, Cisco and ADAPTURE have come together to deliver free licenses for Cisco’s groundbreaking security solutions: Umbrella, Duo, and Anyconnect.
Contact an ADAPTURE Solutions Architect today to get started.
