During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was much uncertainty. As the country continued to learn and react to the changing landscape, most small/midsize businesses were reading daily news reports to determine if their business sector was deemed essential and how to quickly transition the relevant workforce to work from home.

Pre-COVID-19, most companies had some casual work from the home infrastructure. But as the demand for a more robust solution became a reality, some IT professionals scrambled to meet this new challenge. They quickly developed work from home solutions that enabled large numbers of in-office personnel to transition to work-at-home quickly. 

In some cases, these solutions were never meant to be a permanent solution. But, as businesses all over the country continue to adapt to every changing landscape, the need for a robust, and possible hybrid solution, allowing employees to work from home and/or in the office all while having a seamless experience. 

Statistics for employees working from have organically risen over the last 15 + years. According to Global Workplace Analytics (GWPA), work from home has grown 173% since 2005. The COVID-19 pandemic will only accelerate this trend. The GWPA estimates that 25%-30% of the entire workforce will be working from home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.

Potential Cybersecurity Weaknesses in the Home Office

Personal computers, smartphones and other devices aren’t secure beyond a simple antivirus program or firewall. Last month, the issue was so worrisome to experts that the International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM) warned government agencies, businesses and other organizations of the risks involved with letting employees work from home without secure devices.

While many precautionary steps can be taken by the individual worker with the help of his/her IT department, companies should enact policies and take measures to further shore up their remote employees’ defenses. 

Extraordinary Times

To be sustain or emerge during these extraordinary times, we believe that organizations should prioritize and formalize:

• Develop a remote work program with policies and practice under a Risk Management umbrella
• Establish a cybersecurity work from home policy that specifies cybersecurity training for every employee 

Benefits when one Works from Home

While there are distractions while working from home and pressures to hit deadlines working from home also offers employees benefits beyond the safety from COVID-19 pandemic. It is estimated that employees save between $2,500 and $4,000 per year on things like gas and lunch out, which is the equivalent of 11 work days per year. 

The coronavirus pandemic has forced both employers and employees to quickly adjust to remote working. Most of us believe that work from home is here to stay and data trends suggest it will continue to grow in the years to come. Companies must adapt to this new work environment by providing their workforces with solutions that give employees a seamless experience to collaborate with co-workers, access to all systems and allow for the servicing of customers.

Black Bottle IT is a leading cybersecurity team of experts who work with organizations to develop work from home cyber security protocol, tools and architecture, employee cybersecurity training and compliance checks. 

We will meet with you to assess your workplace environment and what applications you use — both network and cloud-based. We will look at how your end users are deployed and what type of device support you require. Understanding the architecture, our goal is to keep remote employees protected and educated against malicious cybersecurity risks. 

Let us help you make working from home safer.