Commercial Integrator August 2021 - 35

My
PERSPECTIVE
IT Role in Bringing Employees Back to the Office
IT departments are now tasked with ensuring the security of the organization as employees trickle
back into the physical workplace. by Zachary Comeau
AS END USERS BEGIN TO TRANSITION
back to the office - at least part of the time
- the IT department is now tasked with
making sure devices that were taken home
are accounted for and that each employee
has the tools they need to work regardless
of where they actually work.
For many organizations, their infrastructure
has changed dramatically over the
last 15 months with new cloud-based SaaS
platforms that quickly helped employees
work remotely. However, organizations still
had on-site infrastructure and now have to
figure out how to marry that existing infrastructure
and local processes with this new
way of working, says Chris Jordan, CEO of
Fluency Security.
" And so now what's happening is that as
you bring people back, there is a tendency
to say, 'Let's go back to where we were.'
But the reality is that most companies have
signed multiyear agreements in a SaaS
infrastructure or cloud infrastructure and
they're not bringing their workforce completely
back into place, " Jordan says.
Organizations can't simply end those
cloud-based investments and dust off the
old system, scan endpoints and resume
business as usual before the pandemic
- especially because these new SaaS,
cloud-based solutions are incredibly useful
for hybrid work.
" They're now trying to integrate local
processes and the way they think things
should have been versus a more flexible
workspace that isn't going to go away, "
Jordan says.
Cybersecurity Training
" Companies have likely undergone some
type of digital transformation during the
time working from home, so use this as a
catalyst to adopt new and better habits, "
says Grant Wernick, CEO and co-founder
of data analytics company Fletch.
" Start thinking of security as more of a
critical business need as opposed to an
afterthought. Modernize your security
commercialintegrator.com
According to IT experts, the top concern as employees begin to come back to the
organization's physical workplace and reintroduce devices onto the network is the
organization's cybersecurity.
practices focused on the latest frameworks
and controls that matter most to you. "
Organizations should also consider
adopting a zero trust model, which will
help vet all devices before they're placed
back into trusted networks.
Jon Clay, vice president of threat intelligence
at Trend Micro, says organizations
should kick off a new round of training and
awareness for employees when they come
back to the office.
Phishing attacks and stealing credentials
remains the top intrusion vector, so employees
need to be made aware of how they are
being targeted.
" If an organization doesn't have a security
awareness training program, now would
be a good time to develop and roll one
out, " Clay says.
Schedule User Returns
IT teams should advocate for a phased
approach to bringing employees back to
the office so these complicated technology
and cybersecurity issues can be worked on
over a period of time and not all at once.
When the inevitable help desk requests
start piling up, you should ensure you have
staffed accordingly and allocated enough
time to address those concerns.
User returns should be scheduled in
groups, and organizations should consider
a third-party technology partner to help
manage the process, says Peter Robert,
co-founder and CEO of Expert Computer
Solutions. This allows IT teams to not only
address user issues, but ensure that each
device has been properly scanned and
vetted before it connects to the network.
Take Your Time
Providers of enterprise technology are
quickly adapting to bring hybrid work
solutions to the market, but they tend to be
behind business trends.
" The industry has not had enough development
cycles to catch up to a hybrid work
environment, " Jordan says.
Instead of rushing employees back to
work and creating policies now, Jordan advocates
for forecasting where the organization's
employees will be in six months.
" Stop fooling yourself and start planning
for the way your business operates, " Jordan
says. " You as an IT person are empowering
a company - not the other way around. "
AUGUST 2021 Commercial Integrator 35
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Commercial Integrator August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator August 2021