When it comes to selecting solutions for remote work, 86.9% of IT leaders put security ahead of performance. But this level of emphasis on safety opens the door to another problem. Employees who have to work with the burdensome functionality of the software become frustrated with slow applications, submit an increasing number of tickets, and have their overall productivity diminished because of restrictive security protocols. This balancing act can be made easier by using proven methods to provide both high-end safety and reliable usability.
Why Security Is a Top Priority
As technology becomes more advanced and more deeply integrated into the personal and professional life of the average person, threats to online safety also increase (phishing scams, ransomware, etc.). Remote workers are particularly susceptible to being targeted by hackers and their bots. A breach of a remote worker’s security not only means access to their personal information and networks but also puts the companies they work for at risk.
To avoid customer harm, class action lawsuits, and damages to service delivery and product integrity, most businesses are more than willing to invest in prevention instead of having to clean up a disaster after a data breach. Data breaches impact an enterprise’s ability to operate, as well as its public reputation as a safe, reliable company to do business with. Safety mechanisms need to be in place to protect the customers, workers, employee devices, and the company itself. This includes effectively communicating and monitoring compliance with security protocols, such as regular password updates and file management strategies, so that any noncompliance can quickly be investigated and defended against.
Consequences of Ignoring Performance in a Remote Setup
Neglecting security needs can create major problems for any business. Neglecting the usefulness of a remote working environment can be similarly disastrous. Remote work employees consistently complain about issues such as VPN slowdowns, video buffering, call failures, and poorly running applications. These problems can all stem from stringent security measures in their working systems. Nearly 70% of IT leaders agreed. They admitted that security negatively impacted the performance of their networks.
Without an adequate level of functionality for workers, their ability to perform their jobs decreases. Declining product and service quality creates more dissatisfied customers and disgruntled employees. Customers may get exasperated enough with missed deadlines, slow delivery times, be concerned about transaction security, and have clunky technological experiences to look for other businesses to meet their needs. Workers can get overwhelmed enough to seek work at companies with better technology that will help them perform their jobs in faster, less time-consuming ways.
All human beings have limits to what they can tolerate daily. When workers become increasingly agitated by the state of their digital work environment, they inevitably begin to sidestep or modify protocols to make their work easier to do. This can include security compromises such as accessing company systems on unauthorized devices or sharing files to personal accounts in order to edit them. These steps are taken in an effort to bypass the company security that is causing lag, interruptions, barriers to access, or crashes that derail their work. While these methods may mean that these employees are more likely to meet deadlines, exceed quality expectations, and work more quickly, it also means that the security of the files they are working with is compromised.
Focusing mainly on security means sacrificing the quality of work that attracts and maintains new and old customers. Focusing mainly on performance means sacrificing the security of the work that is done each day. Both extremes can lead to wasted time, extra effort, excess spending, and lowered work quality.
How to Achieve a High-Performing, Secure Work Environment
Safety protocols and usability features must work together, not against one another, to achieve a remote work setup that benefits the company overall. This means employees and customers are satisfied with how the product or service delivery process is managed daily.
Intelligent businesses will consider investing in AI-powered zero-trust solutions, packet loss mitigation strategies, and personal secure access service edge (SASE) models.
AI-powered, zero-trust network access (ZTNA) solutions, such as the one provided by Cloudbrink, that can adapt to utility needs are essential for balancing security and performance related to remote work environments. With AI as the backbone of these kinds of systems, much of the heavy lifting related to monitoring needs and modulating resource allocation is done seamlessly and automatically. Since only 19% of organizations report having full visibility of their performance shortcomings, the supervision of AI fills a major gap in the IT aspects of any business. Yet the cost of hiring additional staff is reduced exponentially.
Packet-loss mitigation technology can help reduce the impact of latency. This makes events such as video calls and webinars smoother, easier to facilitate, and more reliable. Creating a more sophisticated communications environment for clients and staff means increasing productivity and customer satisfaction, raising the potential to earn more revenue as well.
Personalized SASE models can be optimized for individual users. No matter where the user is working from or what their specific role may be, these models provide a level of efficiency unlike anything traditional corporate networks have to offer.
Conclusion
Since both security and performance are so critical to remote work, trying to choose one over the other only results in a multitude of complications for businesses, workers, and customers. There is a new generation of network solutions that prioritize both strong defenses and easy accessibility available via options such as personal SASE and ZTNA. Investing in performance-aware security is what separates floundering, struggling businesses from those that are growing and leading in their industry.
