Remote working – New reality. Risks and Rewards.

Remote working – New reality. Risks and Rewards.

The time of the lockdown seems to be a new norm and knowing what we know, we might need to see remote working as a more permanent solution for the coming months not only weeks.

In order for business to strive and gain from these unfortunate times, it is important to have the right remote-working set-up.

If the business takes the right kind of steps to be prepared it will benefit long term. In the office scenario, the team, has all the IT network designed and prepared, so it provides security and efficiency.

In order to create the same working conditions for the team to work remotely, one of the key things is to have remote desktop software, which will provide the flexibility to keep business processes as fluid and productive as possible. This kind of solution, brings however possible risks of security breaches and data hacks, which if addressed with the right solution and at the right time, it will ensure that the environment for the remote worker is as safe as possible and can provide additional benefits for the business and it’s team.

Benefits of remote desktop access and home working environment.

When providing all the necessary software and tools to set up remote access to your company network, using the documents and working remotely, will be seamless and as secure as being in the office. Those measures can provide additional tangible benefits:

• Saving money on office space
• Team members can save on travel costs
• Better connection and collaboration between offices
• Makes organization more agile
• Saving money on office IT infrastructure

Apart from the obvious saving on costs and space, remote working solutions will empower your business by:

• Creating more stable business processes – any issue can be solved without the team members physically being present in the office
• Giving opportunity for better work-life balance – employees saving money and time on travel to the office, will be happier, more motivated and productive, having less stress, when avoiding the traffic, being late, and having more time for the family or hobbies
• Making business more agile – creating an overseas branch, faster response to urgent queries, without necessity of getting to office, no waiting time due to no need of connecting from the office.

The risks of remote working with remote access software

Any work environment, whether it is in the office or working from home, have risks. Cyberattacks on the company network, whether small or large, are always a threat and raise concerns for leaders in any work sector. The priority for any business is the safety of their own and their client’s data. The risks of cyberattacks when accessing company network can be minimised, implementing specific security procedures and protocols to block unauthorised access, securing the data storage and being prepared for “disasters”.

Choosing the right software, is critical, and there are some of the features that you should know about, such as:

• Screen capture and viewing
• File management
• Instant message
• Access to sleeping/powered off computers
• Initiate remote access from mobile
• Monitoring and alerts
• Limit access to specific IP Addresses

Some advanced or specialty features include:

• Annotations on the end user’s screen
• Cross-platform access
• Access from mobile devices
• Reboot and power control
• Screen mirroring or sharing

Some software examples would be:

• Zoho Assist
• ConnectwiseControl
• RemotePC
• TeamViewer
• RemoteUtilities for Windows
• LogMeIn Pro
• ChromeRemote Desktop
• Remote DesktopManager

The right one for your business, would depend on many factors, such as other security measures, size of the business, budget and many other, hence we would recommend reaching out for a FREE consultation and advice.

Regardless of the software used, there are other risks than can be avoided, when recognising in time and providing safety measures. Those risks are:

Lack of accessibility permissions and protocols.

Not having written policies and protocols, that your team need to familiarise themselves with and sign off, can lead to a disaster.

Lack of certified devices that your team can use to access company network, will lead to problems with controlling, monitoring and locking the device from unauthorised access to data and having malware or other viruses creeping in to your company network and causing damage, due to outdated operating systems or lack of adequate anti-virus or anti-malware software installed. 

Outdated web protection.

Cyberattacks are more dangerous than ever before and getting harder to prevent. Therefore, having the best web protection is a necessity not a luxury.

Inadequate data encryption.

Not having encryption software to secure customer personal data or company data, is like writing a credit card details on a notepad, and leaving it on a desk, for anyone to be able to read it and steal it.

Lack of device tracking

It is a great benefit for your team to be able to access company resources on the go, however it is creating a massive risk, if the devices that are allowed access, are missing or have been stolen. Hence tracking and managing the mobile devices, which are granted access to the business network, need to become a top priority for your IT department. They should also make sure, that they can be remotely, backed-up and have the access removed if necessary.

Increase rewards from remote working, by decreasing the risks.

Remote working is here to stay and growing in popularity, by its benefits. Understanding the benefits and the risks, and acting accordingly, can only help your company prosper.

Get in touch, and we will provide a FREE consultation, what would be good for your company.

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