Overcoming the Challenges of Remote Work

Remote work is an increasingly popular corporate trend that is changing the work as we know it. It is a shift from paradigms about the concepts of work and the workplace. People have always believed that work could only be done in an office or a dedicated workspace.

What then is Remote Work? It is a working style that allows professionals to work outside of the traditional office environment. It is based on the idea that work does not need to be restricted to a particular space and condition for it to be executed. Remote work allows for certain flexibility that more often than not, increases productivity since when people can work in ways and at times when they are the most creative or productive.

Remote workers can work wherever they choose to: at home, café, co-working space or in a city across the world. It is an exciting prospect with a lot of benefits. But like everything in life, it has challenges. Working remotely exposes employees and organizations to cyber-attacks and corporate breaches, making the task of securing machines and data increasingly challenging. Its important businesses manage their security effectively and understand the areas which may leave the network vulnerable. This is especially important for small businesses which extend their security boundary beyond their office walls exposing their data to risks which are difficult to manage.

In this article, we will be taking a look at some of the most common remote working challenges which businesses are faced with.

1. Keeping mobile devices and laptops safe

In the midst of all the movement involved with remote working, keeping resources safe becomes more difficult and keeping devices safe is the first line of protection against cybercriminals.

Whether your employees are working in a coffee shop or public transport company, they should keep their devices safe at all times. This can be done by keeping operating systems and applications updated while minimizing the threat of attacks by keeping devices locked at all times.

2. Cyber security

What would remote work be without technology? Not much actually. Technology makes remote work easy. It makes critical communication across geographical spaces possible. You need gadgets and tools to facilitate your remote work if you are going to be any good at it.

However, technology has its flaws. The same technology that made remote work flexible, efficient and attractive is also flawed by cybersecurity concerns.

Remote work often involves the transfer of information and data between people: office to the employee and vice versa; client to the service provider and vice versa. These transfers which are often over public networks pose risks for all parties involved because the information and data being transferred can be hacked and applied for nefarious purposes.

VPN is the solution to this problem. This is because VPN services allow remote workers to establish secure online connections with their remote computers wherever they are in the world.

Even in countries where websites are blocked. No hassles. Security is guaranteed. Beyond providing secure connections, VPN also guarantees fast and stable internet, and you can confirm from the NordVPN Review on VPNpro.

3. Collaborating over cloud

Cloud computing has brought many benefits to corporations around the world especially as a catalyst for remote working. Collaboration technologies such as video conferencing and file sharing enable employees to communicate more efficiently with one another as well as increase productivity. However, this technology comes with certain security challenges.

In securing the cloud connection, the first thing to do will be to evaluate and classify all the data being shared; this makes it easier to understand the security and compliance priorities associated with the cloud network. Secondly, before adopting a cloud-based collaboration system, it’s important to research the various providers in the market, so you’re confident in their abilities to manage your business data.

4. Irregular password updates

When you have your employees working under you, you’re able to enforce regular password changes. However, while working remotely, this becomes difficult therefore it’s important to create a direct network to employee devices which enables you to give notifications on password change. Usually, a mix of numbers, alphabets and alpha numerals make for strong passwords.

Password managers which help generate long, complex and unique passwords automatically without relying on employees to remember them could be used. A password manager also enables the entire organization to share log-ins without revealing the actual password.

These controls are not perfect solutions, but most of them can be easily implemented by persons working remotely. In the long run, employers, employees, and freelancers need to review their security posture on a regular basis and put measures in place to improve them when necessary.