In March 2020, when the first lock-down was put in place, I think it’s fair to say that most people thought this was going to be a relatively short-lived disruption to our lives and businesses. Yet, here we are almost 1 year on and in the middle of our 3rd lockdown. Now we can all see that the world of work has changed in a number of ways. Ways that are unlikely to revert to a pre Covid-19 state. One of these ways lies within working from home and hybrid working.
Working from home and hybrid working are the new norm and will be here forever. Hybrid working is defined as working some of the week in the office and some of the week at home. Last week we saw that the Irish Government published its “Remote Working Strategy” which clearly shows that there is a plan to make remote working a permanent option for employees even after COVID-19 has become a distant memory.
How this relates to you
At times, SMEs seemed to be resistant to such work practices that were perhaps commonplace in corporate/larger enterprises. “Working from home” or “remote meetings” using the likes of Teams or Zoom being a prime example. The use of technology and good broadband services have made these things easier to get into place for SMEs. And perhaps with all this change, comes the realisation for SME owners and managers that they could do even more with their technology.
In the initial rush to get personnel working remotely, it is very likely that business owners didn’t think too much about the potential security issues within this new setup. We have seen many such cases and the purpose of this blog post is to ask business owners and managers to rethink their remote working plans and strategy:
- Are you sure that the company’s data is safe with remote working in place?
- Are you confident that the home office setups of your staff are secure?
- Have you provided sufficient cyber security training to staff working from home?
- Do you have a Working from Home policy or strategy?
Overall, remote working poses a potentially major challenge for business owners when it comes to ensuring work environments are secure.
At BITS, we have the experience and expertise to identify all of the potential risks associated with remote working. We can work with you and your team to ensure all gaps are closed and that this new way of working is securely set up. Both now and for years to come.
Are you concerned about how your business might react to our new remote future? Click here to submit your thoughts and we’ll be in touch with the answers you need.
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