Why Should Your Company Secure Your Personal Device?
After two years of the pandemic, companies are still figuring out what a productive and connected workplace looks like. Most companies offer flexible hybrid work arrangements, perhaps influenced by studies showing employees are happier when they can work from home. However, top businesses recently have introduced their return to work (RTO) plans that state unequivocally to be present at the office “X days” a week. The hybrid workplace, where employees alternate between the office and remote sites and use office and personal devices, gives workers more freedom but poses serious security risks. This article by Galen Gruman at Computerworld speaks about how IT must adapt to a hybrid workplace that can handle security risks posed by your personal device.
Employees Using Their Personal Devices
Companies may charge employees to provide all office equipment for their home setup, including approved computers, routers, phones, and peripherals. Many businesses will be more accommodating than that, formally or informally, for example, by providing laptops to workers while allowing them to use their own computers, peripherals, and potentially even their own desktops. However, regulations will be required to specify what tools employees must have and what they are free to add.
Regardless of who owns the hardware, this will primarily provide the remote worker’s computing environment through secured cloud services. Every IT department must ensure it understands the ramifications of a potential mix of business and personal devices for software licensing and expenses.
Steps to Build Security Inclusive of Your Personal Device
Restructure corporate system access schedules – IT must consider supporting the reality that many employees must divide their time between work and personal hours because they interweave official and personal matters throughout the day. Therefore, IT should offer anytime access to business systems, where admission is currently unduly constrained by the time of day, and extend tech assistance hours.
Forrester’s analyst Hewitt observes that some managers lack sufficient experience and are accustomed to top-down directive management. In contrast, supportive management makes an effort to help achieve the desired outcome. In situations where burnout is an issue, IT may employ activity tracking tools to find people working too much to alert management and HR to potential danger zones. Fortunately, according to Gartner’s Adnams, after the initial crisis brought on by the lockdowns subsided, many employees began to work more sane hours, utilizing strategies like time blocking to prevent burnout.
The author also speaks about strengthening security and transitioning to cloud and security solutions that take care of personal devices too and undergoing digital transformation.
To read the original article, click on https://www.computerworld.com/article/3600279/how-it-must-adapt-to-the-emerging-hybrid-workplace.html?page=2
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