Now that most teams are working remotely, your organization must maintain digital security and productivity, while employees are connecting from various locations.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, companies around the world coped with the crisis in various ways: by temporarily closing, by conducting business exclusively through a website, and by having their teams work remotely. Complex IT decisions were made in haste, as preserving public health became the priority.

Now, many months later, company decision-makers are left to deal with the fallout, as the short-term fixes from the beginning of the pandemic have been used to their capacity. It’s time for better, safer, and more long-term solutions that address the “new normal” of doing business in and after this pandemic.

Considerations to Make for Your Organization’s Access and Security

It’s common for business security to come under threat in times of crisis. While access should always be a priority, many organizations have had to restrict access simply because it’s resource-intensive to screen every individual user – especially when security and IT resources may be limited.

Hospitals were some of the first organizations to restrict access during the first days of the pandemic. For example, many large healthcare providers, quickly locked down entry points, meeting rooms, patient rooms, hallways, surgical areas, and delivery docks, as well as their own employees’ computer access. Due to health and privacy concerns, security had to be the highest priority.

However, some organizations didn’t tighten security quickly or thoroughly enough. Cybercrime has increased during COVID-19, including phishing attacks on government assistance recipients, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and Zoombombing incidents where meeting participants are exposed to graphic content.

How much of a priority is security at your company? Here are some urgent issues to consider:

Proactivity vs. reactivity. Now that the height of the pandemic has passed, it’s time to move to the next phase and work proactively to create a long-term remote access strategy.

Review implementations made in haste. Take a hard look at the decisions that were made under pressure. Are better solutions now possible? What could be improved?

Test, patch, secure, retest, repeat. Assess endpoint security and test your access points thoroughly to ensure they’re secure.

Balance visibility with productivity. Your security team needs visibility into the user environment without sacrificing users’ productivity. Review all protocols, restrictions, monitoring capabilities, role-based permissions, and user feedback.

Have you considered Cloud-Based Solutions?

Now is the time to evaluate cloud-based technologies and consider the benefits that technology-solutions-as-a-service (TSaaS) could bring to your organization. This cloud-based approach enables your team with immediate security controls and updates without the hassle of server maintenance.

This reduces IT support costs by eliminating ongoing software support and maintenance. Hosting your IT network in the cloud means gaining access to robust security features and making an enormous upgrade to your organization-wide security.

Is Your Organization Adapting to the New Operating Landscape?

Remote work may continue to remain a fixture in our operations, with an estimated 25 to 30 percent of workers continuing to do at least some work from home. Now is the right time to make sure that your organization is equipped to keep people working remotely and securely over the long term. Ask questions like:

• Is it easy to scale our network and bring new users onboard?
• What types of access issues are our existing users having?
• Which access issues are the biggest limitations to reaching full productivity?
• Are users on company-issued devices? Personal devices? A mix of both?
• Are all users adhering to security standards?
• Do we use multifactor authentication technologies?
• Are there workarounds threatening security?
• Are corporate assets at risk?
• How up to date are your network operation and business continuity strategy?

As your organization’s decision-makers determine the answers to the questions above, consider engaging with an outside vendor who can provide the latest and innovative solutions. ATSG has the solutions you require to evaluate the right tools for your organization and guide you through a smooth implementation process.

ATSG – Transforming the Customer Experience Through Tech-enabled Managed Services

Today’s choices for mobility, cloud, infrastructure, communications, applications, and operations are mission-critical for small, mid-sized, and large enterprises alike. ATSG, Inc. is leading the transformation into Technology-Solutions-as-a-Service with our tech-enabled managed services portfolio and a commitment to technology innovation, operational excellence, and client intimacy.

Recognized by industry leaders and industry-leading publications, ATSG has over 25 years of operating history delivering exceptional customer experiences that directly result in competitive advantage, cost-savings, growth, and improved operational efficiencies. Visit www.atsg.net, email [email protected], call 1-914-517-2919, or visit one of our five Tristate locations today for more information.