This blog post will address, and hopefully, demystify a topic I struggled with when first starting out with Intune or Endpoint Manager to use its new moniker, and that is the difference between Configuration, Compliance and Security Policies and in which scenarios to use them.  So, let’s dig into it, I’ll cover each policy type in turn and in an order that should hopefully help tie the relationship between the policies together.

Configuration Policies

The best way to think of a Configuration Policy is as Intune’s implementation of Group Policy, in fact, Microsoft has engineered Configuration Policies in such a way as to allow you to import and utilise ADMX files in the same way you would with a traditional Group Policy Object.

Configuration Policies are therefore what you would use to apply predefined settings to a user or device, such as defining a set homepage or other browser settings in IE and Edge (and even Chrome and other browsers, but that’s for another blog!) or enforce a custom desktop wallpaper or lock screen behaviour in Windows 10 and like Group Policy Objects, Configuration Policies can be applied to a targeted set of users or devices using groups within Azure AD.

Security Policies

Security Policies or Security Baselines as they are interchangeably referred to are pre-configured Windows settings that help you apply a known group of settings and default values that are recommended by Microsoft, that is to say, when you create a security baseline, you’re creating a template that consists of hundreds of individual Configuration Policies.

Microsoft routinely releases a new Security Baseline which is a thorough pre-defined set of policies covering all facets of the target technology, such as Windows 10, that can be quickly and easily deployed to secure your environment.

Note, Security Baseline are extremely exhaustive and I would advise caution over adding them without careful testing, they are, however, extremely useful at locking down an environment to a given standard quickly.

Compliance Policies

Compliance Policies are used to evaluate a device’s compliance against a pre-defined baseline, such as the requirement for a device to be encrypted or to be within a defined minimum OS version.

Compliance Policies are a good tool for alerting on configuration drift, and when deployed alongside Conditional Access Policies can control what a device can and cannot access should it be deemed non-compliant, for example, non-compliant devices can be blocked from accessing corporately owned data.

Summary

Each policy type when individually deployed correctly can add great value in securing a plethora of OS and device types, however, when configured and deployed together they can not only enforce an entire collection of settings championed by Microsoft but also provide the assurance that should a device fall foul of the required compliance baseline that device and the user using it would not be able to access and potentially but inadvertently open the company up to malicious exploit.

Finally, I’d highly recommend following Intune Training on YouTube where Steve and Adam (and others) share some great content on all things Intune.

I also maintain a List on Twitter for the key folk I follow in the MDM space, feel free to follow that here.

The post Understanding Intune Policies appeared first on HTG.

“…a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention…” ― Herbert A. Simon, American economist, political scientist and cognitive psychologist.

I wonder if Herbert knew just how much information we’d have at our fingertips, today.

The internet and social media are jam-packed with IT experts wanting to share their opinions, advice and knowledge with you. If you follow the right people, you’ll get a steady stream of valuable IT insights. The question is, how do you find these professionals?

With around 330 million monthly active users and 145 million daily active users on Twitter alone, it can be difficult to decide who deserves your time and attention.

Six must-follow IT experts on Twitter

1. Richard Corbridge

Richard is the Chief Information Officer at Boots. He is an expert in healthcare strategy and technology. He has over 20 years’ experience in the Health and Clinical Research Information sectors. Richard has a keen interest in healthcare business change and benefits management and focuses on customer experience, engagement and other advantages that come from implementing technology.

2. Kimberly Bryant

Kimberly is the founder of Black Girls Code. Her goal is to increase the number of women of colour in the digital space by teaching girls about computer science and technology. She talks about how minorities have helped shape technological advancements and the importance of amplifying their innovations for the future.

3. Chris Skinner

Chris is one of the most well-known technology influencers in the FinTech industry. He provides insights on his blog, thefinanser.com. He’s a bestselling author and his latest book, ‘Doing Digital’, shares digital transformation lessons learned through interviews with BBVA, China Merchants Bank, DBS, ING and JPMorgan Chase.

4. Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher is the co-founder and editor-at-large of Recode, and is the producer and host of the Recode Decode and Pivot podcasts. She talks about disruptive technology and is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. Kara also hosts the new New York Times podcast, Sway.

5. Werner Vogels

Amazon’s Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Werner Vogels, covers a broad range of tech topics on his blog All Things Distributed. He’s the man responsible for pushing Amazon’s tech innovation on behalf of Amazon’s customers at a global scale.

Werner’s keynotes are well known and a ‘must-attend’ at AWS re:Invent. The 2020 session is available to view on YouTube now.

6. Laura Dawson

Laura is the Chief Information Officer at the London School of Economics and trustee of charity IT leaders. Previously, she was CIO at the British Council and she tweets about technology in the charity sector, digital transformation and leadership.

These six IT professionals post meaningful content often enough to inspire interest and sustain valuable conversations with their social followers. They are great examples of how IT experts can share their knowledge effectively and harness the power of thought leadership on social media.

Talk to the friendly IT experts at HTG

For even more industry-leading IT expertise (if we do say so ourselves), stay up to date with the team here at HTG. You’ll find us sharing our knowledge on our blog, over on Twitter, and on LinkedIn. If you prefer a direct line, get in touch.

The post 6 IT expert Twitter accounts you need to follow in 2021 appeared first on HTG.

After the expedited digital transformation of 2020, you know how difficult it can be to navigate your IT evolution at speed – but also that sometimes, it’s necessary. In the case of remote working, respondents to a McKinsey survey said their companies moved 40 times faster than they thought possible before the pandemic. End User Computing (EUC) is at the heart of that digital acceleration.

For many businesses, this process was no mean feat. The main challenges reported were that IT infrastructure was insufficient, or that organisational silos impeded commitment to – and execution of – the required changes.

In this blog, we’ll take a look at how you can avoid those challenges by hiring an EUC specialist to design your IT roadmap. Here’s why they should be involved.

The benefits of having an EUC specialist

An unmanaged and uncontrolled EUC strategy can be a significant source of problems for businesses. Organisations often start down the wrong path without realising it. Often, it’s because they don’t know enough about implementing EUC, and find it hard to think in those terms.

It’s crucial to have an expert on board to guide the strategy. For your EUC strategy to run smoothly, you need someone who can:

• Assess application usage and determine how important each application is
• Support your migration strategy from legacy applications into new cloud-based environments
• Perform functionality testing with end-users
• Pre-empt user issues, and resolve them when they arise

While you might think doing those tasks yourself will save money on salary, there are some specific benefits that come with hiring a specialist:

Secure and flexible infrastructure

There’s no ‘one-size fits all’ when it comes to EUC. By tailoring a strategy to your business, an EUC specialist will create the kind of infrastructure flexibility and security that your business needs. In a recent blog post, Brian Madden from VMware mentions the importance of said flexibility and how, for some, it ‘…will be expressed by going “all in” to the public cloud. For others, it will be doubling-down on on-prem infrastructure… And for others still, flexibility means a hybrid approach.’

An EUC specialist experienced in cloud, on-prem and hybrid solutions will be able to identify the best course for your business to take – and will ensure any transition or migration is as secure as possible. Get a great EUC specialist on board, and they’ll do this without sacrificing the end-user experience

Reduced EUC risk

Research provider Chartis estimated that the EUC Value at Risk for the 50 largest financial institutions was over £8.9 billion. This highlights the degree to which EUC risk can impact a business. Beyond financial loss, EUC risk can lead to a number of other worst-case scenarios: the massive data blunder in NHS contact tracing last year was a stark reminder of its importance.

Evidently, there’s much at stake when it comes to EUC risk. It’s critical that businesses assess, review and manage this risk accordingly. An EUC specialist can help guide you through these steps and will be able to spot the small but exponential risks to your business that others might miss.

Competitive advantage

In an unstable, unpredictable economic landscape, the ability to change and adapt to new requirements defines an organisation and allows you to retain – or lose – your competitive edge.

Achieving the required level of desktop mobility will often require new, cloud-optimised infrastructures. Once you’ve got the infrastructure, you can scale on-demand with simple, automated processes and tools. An EUC specialist with multiple partners will have the right knowledge, connections and experience with these tools to determine which solution is right for your business and employee needs.

Mobility is the NOW, not the future

Investing in your EUC strategy today will help you increase your organization’s adaptability for the future.

With 82% of company leaders planning to allow employees to work remotely at least some of the time, you’ll need to get your ducks in a row. The strategy you pulled together last March may have served your business in the short-term, but you’ll need something more robust to stand the test of time.

An EUC specialist will ensure you build a more secure, nimble and user-friendly IT infrastructure. Want to learn more? Here at HTG, we align EUC solutions and strategies with tangible business outcomes. For more information on how we can help you, get in touch.

The post A place at the top table: why you need EUC specialists to guide your IT roadmap appeared first on HTG.

The unpredictable pandemic only accelerated an entirely predictable trend: the rise of remote work. In March, as organisations scrambled to adapt, it became clear that securely managing access to IT would be a challenge and business continuity was at risk. Or rather, it would have been if Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) hadn’t been released about six months earlier.

WVD (and other virtual desktop solutions) have proved to be a saving grace for IT departments the world over. Their popularity has grown alongside that of remote work: some sources report that there were six times more WVD users than expected in 2020. According to research conducted by Forrester, those users have seen massive improvements to cost efficiency and productivity.

Cloud-based virtual desktops are to traditional IT infrastructure what remote work is to the office – the safer, more efficient future. Here’s how:

1. Productivity

That same Forrester survey found that businesses adopting WVD saw an annual productivity increase of 22 hours per user. How is that possible? When it comes to the benefits of virtual desktops, it’s probably less about gaining those hours and more about reclaiming them through centralised IT management.

ComputerWorld’s Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols highlights the inefficiency of a traditional, decentralised approach in decidedly un-traditional circumstances: ‘Most companies are dealing with the astronomical rise in telecommuting by trying to manage Windows 10 users remotely. But it hasn’t been pretty. To quote a sysadmin friend of mine, “I’ve had about a billion calls on how to use the VPN, and don’t talk to me about securing and patching Windows 10 remotely.”’

The old remote management model doesn’t work at volume. Timely scalability is a pipe dream because attempting to troubleshoot Windows 10 issues remotely on top of VPN access provision is an efficiency vacuum. It ties up IT managers and holds employees back from getting work done. Yet it’s completely avoidable with a centrally-managed, cloud-based Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

2. Familiarity

It takes an average of 66 days for a behaviour to become automatic. For many of us, using the OS we’re familiar with has become second-nature, and we’re able to reap the productivity rewards that come with that. We’re advocates for a more modern approach to remote IT, but we’re not advising a behaviour change for end-users. According to Microsoft, over one billion devices run Windows 10. Let’s not create a tidal wave of lost productivity by forcing their owners to learn a new interface.

WVD has proved popular because it presents the end-user with the same interface they’re used to. It’s the most seamless option for shifting your IT infrastructure to the cloud and centrally-managing your employees’ IT. For all intents and purposes, nothing about the actual use of their OS has changed (aside from the fact that it’s more secure and has fewer connectivity issues).

3. Security

56 percent of people have been using their personal devices to work remotely. That’s a significant number of potential leaks in your data security bucket, especially if you’re relying on decentralised IT and allowing employees to store company data at home.

Virtual desktops allow for near-instant access provision, but they also allow managers to rapidly deny users access in the face of security threats. Centralised VD management also gives IT professionals the benefit of security and connectivity reports that reflect the entire company’s activity, making it far easier to track down and plug any potential breaches.

Windows Virtual Desktop and the future of work

If the future of work is remote – and there’s a good amount of evidence to suggest it will be – IT infrastructure will have to evolve. If it doesn’t, ‘remote’ will become a by-word for ‘unsecure and unproductive’.

To preserve any semblance of business continuity in the face of instability, businesses will need to be able to scale their IT up and down without sacrificing security. That’s a tall order, but virtual desktop systems like WVD have been meeting it for over a year now.

The post 3 business benefits of virtual desktops (and the saving grace of WVD) appeared first on HTG.

The UN’s theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” The theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, despite the progress that’s been made, there is still significant work to be done. Here are five facts about women in tech we should be talking about this International Woman’s Day.

1. “None of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children,” the WEF (World Economic Foundation) found that the gender pay gap will take roughly 257 years to close, even more than the 202 years it predicted in 2018. This is even more sobering when you find out that unless more women are encouraged to enter fields such as science, technology and engineering, the gender gap could widen. In a report by the WEF, it found that the UK has slipped from 15th to 21st place, leaving it behind a few developing countries and most rich ones.
2. Only 27% of female students we surveyed say they would consider a career in technology, compared to 61% of males, and only 3% say it is their first choice. Over 25% of female students say they’ve been put off a career in technology as it’s too male dominated, and only 22% of students can name a famous #womanintech in comparison to over 66% being able to name a man in the tech industry.
3. A study carried out by the WEF showed that among professionals in fields such as artificial intelligence, women only make up 22 per cent of roles, creating a gender gap three times larger than other industries. “In an era when human skills are increasingly important and complementary to technology, the world cannot afford to deprive itself of women’s talent in sectors in which talent is already scarce.”
4. One study found that women in the industry are more likely to be in roles termed as ‘execution’ roles, which are generally non-technical. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to be assigned the more technical ‘creator’ roles. For instance, the top position for women in tech is Project Manager, whereas the top position for men in tech is Software Engineer.
5. According to data from European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, males graduating in science, mathematics, computing, engineering, manufacturing and construction, outnumber female graduates almost two to one.
   Even though you have more females going into higher education, when it comes to STEM subjects, that is not the case. While the rate of females graduating in STEM subjects has been slowly increasing, which is encouraging to see, it’s not enough. According to UCAS data, just 35% of STEM students in UK higher education are women.
   With the technology and digital transformation taking place, the number of programmes has increased and so has the number of male graduates meaning that little has changed when it comes to overall representation of female STEM graduates.

Find out more about International Women’s Day and how to support the cause, here.

The post International Women’s Day 2021 appeared first on HTG.

In early 2020, Reuters reported a major spike in IT hardware sales:

‘With more employees working from home to help slow the spread of coronavirus, demand is surging for laptops and network peripherals as well as components along the supply chain…as companies rush to build virtual offices.’

That was in March, months before a record-high 38 percent of UK employees were working from home. While that number has since dropped, the experience has convinced many to adopt flexible working in the long term.

The pandemic accelerated an already-developing paradigm shift in the workplace. It pushed businesses to prioritise adaptability, flexibility and mobility for their employees. As a result, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) was one of the pillars of business continuity throughout 2020.

Why are we claiming that it’s dead, then? It has something to do with that spike in laptop sales back in March.

Thick and thin

In many offices, thin clients (basic computers designed to provide access to an operating system via a server) were the traditional choice. The server did all the real processing, and the computer was more of an access point.

Thin clients still have their place as desktops for basic line-of-business (LOB) applications, but they don’t meet the requirements of a newly-remote workforce that leans heavily on video conferencing. Most don’t have a camera, built-in microphone or the graphical power needed to run Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Even if they did, though, there would still be a problem.

Thin clients served well when everyone had access to strong, consistent internet connections in office settings. Employees are now having to share WiFi with partners and children. Servers would have to be a lot more powerful than they usually are to run video software through VDI.

It’s become increasingly clear that the end-user’s client has to become ‘thicker’, and to take on some of the processing load locally. That begins to explain some of those laptop sales. Most of our customers have deployed laptops to replace thin clients and plug the processing gap, allowing us to implement a ‘hybrid approach’ that’s more than the sum of its parts.

VDI another day

The shift towards thick clients doesn’t eliminate the need for virtual desktops. In fact, it makes them more valuable than ever.

To navigate processing challenges and enable collaborative remote work, we’ve found that virtual desktops are an indispensable part of a hybrid whole. By running more demanding software locally, employees make the most of more powerful laptop hardware. Critical, proprietary, or security-sensitive LOB applications are delivered via VDI.

Thin clients were secure because there was no sensitive data stored on the device itself; it was all in the server. That’s incredibly important from a data loss prevention perspective.

Laptops present a far greater security risk for remote teams – especially if employees are using their own. Sectioning off LOB applications in the virtual desktop while running Teams calls directly from the laptops is a ‘best of both worlds’ approach. That’s why VDI is still so valuable, and why (as we mentioned in another post), Microsoft saw six times more WVD users than they expected in 2020.

No going back?

Do thin clients still have their role to play when people can go back into the office, or will thick clients prevail? When it comes to the future of work, laptops and personal desktops managed with a hybrid approach look to be the more practical option.

After all, research suggests that employees are more productive when allowed to use their own devices, and productivity is good for business continuity. It’s unlikely that staff will want to return to less functional, less familiar thin clients.

Whether businesses adopt BYOD policies or provide laptops for their staff, managed VDI can work in tandem with locally-processed software to make remote work a viable option. End-users may be accessing virtual desktops on different devices, but virtual desktops don’t seem to be going anywhere but up.

The post The virtual desktop is dead: Long live the virtual desktop appeared first on HTG.

If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that your business needs to expect the unexpected. In 2020, many of our customers digital transformation roadmap took the same three steps:

1. Enable remote working for all staff as soon as possible
2. Improve hastily put-together remote working plans
3. Implement fully optimised remote working policies and processes (e.g. remote onboarding and offboarding).

This may seem simple on paper but, **70 percent of digital transformations fail.**

With expert advice from the right partner, you can prevent your process from becoming just another statistic.

Here are the main ways your digital transformation can fail and our advice on how to avoid these pitfalls.

1. There’s no plan

We cannot stress this enough – without an effective plan, your digital transformation will fail.

If you don’t outline the scope and manage expectations, no one will know what you are trying to achieve. Without a clear purpose you run the risk of doing potentially expensive busy work that brings no real-world benefit.

A comprehensive plan enables you to get buy-in from your entire business. And if everyone is on the same page, you’re more likely to succeed.

To prevent any scope creep down the line, we also recommend appointing a transformation leader. This is an internal senior champion. They help to keep the project on track but reminding people of what you are trying to achieve and why.

2. Technical solutions overshadow business outcomes

Every activity you carry out should be aligned with overarching business goals. If technical solutions lead your digital transformation, rather than business outcomes, it will not succeed.

After all, digital transformation isn’t something you just ‘do’. You need to know the implications for you business.

For example, although getting 50 new laptops to your teams might be a vital step in your transformation efforts, that’s not the point. What you’re actually doing is enhancing customer and end user experience by using modern technology.

Establish what you want to achieve through digital transformation, then explore technical solutions. After all, technology is a tool, not an end goal.

3. Running before you can walk

We love ambitious businesses. But, it’s important you don’t get ahead of yourself when carrying out any workplace modernisation.

You may have a plan for your digital transformation, you may know what you want to achieve and why. But remember, this is a nuanced process, not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution.

So, before you take any steps in your digital transformation roadmap, you need to look inward.

Carry out a ‘pre-flight’ check on your technology. Check legacy systems, hardware, software and anything that may require attention during your process. See where your current pain points lie when it comes to your business technology. Then, codify these pain points and use them to inform your plan and the goals you want to achieve through your digital transformation.

This guarantees that you will always be addressing real needs in an objective, data-driven way.

Expert transformation requires expert advice

At HTG, we have more than 25 years of experience in planning and implementing effective digital transformations. So, we understand what’s required to achieve a smooth transformation that uses technical solutions to support business outcomes.

We hope that our insights help you in your transformation efforts. Avoid potential pitfalls; speak with our team of experts.

The post 3 reasons why your digital transformation roadmap will fail at the first hurdle appeared first on HTG.

As the popularity of cloud computing grows, so do the range of cloud solutions available to you. What’s known as a ‘hybrid’ approach is becoming more and more prominent, and for good reason: it can deliver measurable cost savings, flexibility, agility and scalability at speed. It’s become so popular that the Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report found that around 80 percent of enterprises already have a hybrid cloud strategy.

So, why are hybrid cloud solutions so widespread? When implemented correctly they offer your business the best of both the private and public cloud. Let’s take a look at a quick definition, then break down how a hybrid solution could be the answer to balancing your books.

What is a hybrid cloud?

A hybrid cloud is composed of a combination of private (on-premise infrastructure) and public clouds. It allows businesses to implement a hybrid strategy. This involves some workloads being managed in the public cloud, and sensitive data and business-critical applications being processed in a secure private cloud. Hybrid solutions are designed to meet client needs and/or regulatory requirements.

How can a hybrid cloud solution save your business money?

The hybrid cloud approach allows you to easily scale your computing resources, as well as reduce costs and make local resources available for your company to store more sensitive data or applications. Here’s how it can save you money:

Less upfront investment

Hybrid clouds are scalable without excessive upfront investment. You can manage workloads and resources across multiple cloud instances or vendor services. This enables your business to access virtually unlimited capacity in the public cloud in the event you experience a sudden surge in your computing needs. That means you won’t need to invest in large-scale in-house servers to increase capacity for temporary peaks in demand.

Reduction of on-prem server maintenance

A hybrid approach also saves businesses money when it comes to general hardware maintenance. Implementing a combination of public and private cloud versus 100 percent private means you’ll have less hardware to manage and update. Therefore, reducing the costs you pay on utilities and facilities-related overheads, security and risk management and IT staff labour.

Better data loss protection

Data backup and disaster recovery are other key areas where the hybrid cloud provides potential cost savings. There is no single point of failure because you store your organisation’s data in multiple locations. As a result, it provides a cheaper — and more reliable — alternative to completely private IT infrastructure.

Long-term savings

Hybrid cloud solutions provide businesses with long-term savings by reducing the need to purchase preemptive storage capacity. Instead, implementing public offerings that supply consumption-based payment models as well as competitive pricing from multiple providers.

A step in the modern direction

A shift to hybrid can support your digital transformation strategy, fuel growth and boost innovation whilst lowering costs. It’s a valuable option when it comes to modernizing your IT infrastructure.

For any IT transition to be successful, CIOs, managers and business owners need to plan carefully. Your team has to account for the best practices unique to hybrid cloud solutions — which is where we come in. Our experts can help guide your transformation strategy with our cloud design service, which uses your business goals and KPIs as a guide. Let’s work together and figure out what’s right for your company. Find out more about our cloud services here.

The post How hybrid cloud solutions could be the answer to balancing your books appeared first on HTG.

For your digital workspace to be a success, it has to enable employees to do everything they could in the office from anywhere in the world – securely. That last part is arguably the most important. Would you rather have slower, clunkier processes, or open your company’s data to increased risk?

With the right security policies and remote working tools in place, that’s not a choice you’ll be forced to make. Security and functionality do not have to be mutually exclusive. Here are four steps you can take to ensure your staff are working from home without compromising data security.

1. Adopt a hybrid approach

Thin clients are often thought of as more secure than laptops, but if you’ve read our blog on the future of VDI, you’ll know that they’re not as well-suited to the requirements of the modern workplace. We’ve seen clients investing in laptops over thin clients as it becomes increasingly clear that remote work is a lasting trend.

To make up for the increased security risk associated with locally-hosted software, it’s a good idea to provision line-of-business (LOB) applications through VDI rather than having them processed on the laptop. A hybrid approach allows for greater visibility over the security of your business-critical apps. Crucially, it does so without hampering your employees’ ability to collaborate using locally-hosted video conferencing software like Microsoft Teams.

2. Refresh your security policies

Like many businesses, yours may not have been a remote-working organisation before 2020. A lot will have changed – especially your reliance on IT. Whether employees are taking advantage of a BYOD policy or you’ve provided them with laptops, your security policies will now have to account for the unique challenges presented by a dispersed workforce.

Revisit your existing policy to ensure that you’ve covered basics like:

• Antivirus software requirements
• Password best practices
• Acceptable use
• Network security requirements

It’s also worth going beyond the cybersecurity fundamentals to counter record-high numbers of malware and phishing attacks. Measures like two-factor authentication are no longer an option, especially if you’re taking our advice and making the most of a hybrid system. LOB applications will have their data safely stored elsewhere, but Teams conversations – which will likely be processed locally – may be at risk without the proper precautions.

3. Update legacy platforms and processes

CSO’s Susan Bradley makes an important point about access provision:

‘Those who use geoblocking in the firewall to restrict access…will need to review and revise those policies given that your firm’s employees will be coming in from various locations.’

In our experience, it’s not just firewall policies that need updating. We’ve seen our fair share of businesses that are still running virtual desktop instances on outdated, vulnerable operating systems. If you haven’t already, now is the time to audit your cloud resources and plug any potential leaks.

4. Educate your employees

Don’t leave your security policy on the intranet to collect dust. Instead, actively engage your workforce in the security conversation. That could mean hosting virtual workshops, or, if you’re part of an enterprise-level organisation, asking team leaders to review policies with their colleagues. As threats mature and adapt to the meteoric rise of remote work, so should your team’s vigilance and security education.

Meeting in the middle

To a certain degree, your cybersecurity strengths and weaknesses are down to your employees. Without trusting them to follow best practices and use good judgement, you won’t get far as a remote organisation. You will reduce the risk of a breach several times over, however, by doing some of the thinking for them.

Don’t force your team to choose between functionality and security, and refresh policies to reflect the changes that have taken place over the last year. That way, there’s little to hinder successful, secure remote work.

The post 4 steps to ensure your staff are deploying remote working solutions securely appeared first on HTG.

It’s no secret that 2020 was a year defined by change. Not the strategic digital transformation dreams of ambitious IT professionals, but change of a different sort. Businesses were forced to cobble together a digital workspace that would allow their employees to work remotely. As many as 60 percent of the UK workforce are still working from home in 2021.

And yes, it was the right thing to do. But the results? Duplicated EUC services, costly contracts, last-minute hardware provisioning and unsecured, lagging systems – all set up and maintained by IT teams under pressure and without the time to plan, or train staff.

For many organisations, this is where they stand today.

Sound familiar?

Redefining the ‘digital workspace’

The above scenario isn’t what we’d call a thriving ‘digital workspace’. Here’s our definition:

A digital workspace gives you the mobility to do the work you do in the office, from anywhere in the world. It means having fast, secure access to everything you need, from any device.

Alternatively, Citrix uses the term ‘single pane of glass’. That is, you have a clear line of access to your suite of applications from a single touchpoint. Set up correctly, the digital workspace represents a holistic shift in how your team uses real-time collaboration tools to deliver better business results.

Of course it’s here to stay

The HTG position on the subject is, overwhelmingly: yes, digital workspaces are the future.

By our standards, any organisation looking to remain competitive should consider them a fixture of work, moving forward. But, we predict the ‘rush job’ version of 2020 will quickly be forgotten.

Instead, businesses will prioritise enlisting expert help to put reliable, frictionless virtual desktop solutions in place.

And those that don’t? Well, they won’t have the necessary agility, resilience or levels of productivity to thrive in tough times.

Don’t take our word for it…

You need a digital workspace for distributed teams to work together effectively. A remote working framework is the ‘new normal’ for millions of employers:

• Companies like Amazon, VMware and Salesforce have all said they will continue with a flexible working model from now on.
• Willis Towers Watson’s recent study shows the number of people working from home in 2021 will be seven times higher than three years ago.
• The Institute of Directors has reported 74 percent of companies expect to maintain increased remote working levels, even after coronavirus.

Form analysts to business leaders, the consensus is the digital workspace isn’t going anywhere.

Make room

Right now, the ‘struggle to unplug’ is the main difficulty people are facing with remote working. In Buffer’s annual survey, 27 percent cite this factor, above others like ‘communication issues’ or ‘loneliness’ (both 16 percent). Compared to previous years, this is a massive shift in pain points.

Yes, people require easy access to documents, project management and communications tools. But, one advantage of a virtual desktop setup for your digital workspace is that all your work tools are ‘collected’ in one place. This, then, provides a clear line in the sand, so it’s easier to maintain a work-life balance.

Make flexible working truly sustainable, from today. Use virtual desktop technology to help your employees maintain a healthy separation between ‘personal’ and ‘work’ spaces.

Good boundaries make good work.

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