Securing The Entire Workforces Remotely

According to a survey conducted by consumer Insight Africa, 8 out of 10 Kenyans prefer working from home. In all its varied forms, remote work has become much more than an add-on to conventional business practice, especially in Kenya, as more companies are shifting base to home oriented offices. Showing that today, more than ever before, people are working in places outside of the conventional office.

But, even before the pandemic disrupted the planet, remote work had gone from that rare unicorn of workforce arrangements to the elephant in the room at work meetings. Meaning, it has always been possible to do work tasks from home.

“I do not remember having shopped online to such a level. Not only are there so many changes commercially, but there have been so many corporate changes too. Making sure we thrive in the face of uncertainty is ensuring we use remote team work to drive forward digital change.” Said Kendi Ntwiga, Country Manager for Microsoft.

To some, it can be miserable. To others, it is the best thing that has ever happened to them, especially to millennials.“I want to have a good job, but I also want to have a life.” So the conundrum of remote work and its numerous advantages is an unclosed circle, the gap that is bridging the circle from closing is security. For the foreseeable future, remote work is decidedly the new normal.

As Kendi emphasises, “this is a transition for some companies.” While employees have the same functional capabilities they have in a traditional office, not having them in the same physical space can lead to some security issues for teams that aren’t as well-versed in remote work. “Rapidly adapting and automating will allow for success in changing situations.” She added.

Key questions for securing the workforce’s remotely revolve around how does everyone right now, understand optimising communication to know how to create boundaries without losing business resilience.”I just need to raise cases with people who i need to talk to, are we able to optimise services to a higher level of communication, are we able to collaborate remotely? think about this to remain resilient” Explained Kendi.

“Engaging from a tech perspective breaks down Silo’s that stand as barriers to business continuity. Think beyond the seasons and shift to digital commerce and understand that this is a winning model.” Concluded Kendi.

Kendi then averred to how critical it is to secure the remote workforce member’s identities as the company moves to a remote posture. Implementing conditional access alongside multifactor authentication are two time-tested security measures that used together can stop 99% of hackers. Especially as companies migrate to cloud.

The CIO virtual Cloud and Security summit outlined strategies, tools and solutions on how you build a better, smarter, more secure remote workforce. Your employees shouldn’t expect to lose any productivity or connectivity when they work remotely. They should function identically to how they would in your traditional office environment. The same goes for their cybersecurity.