For the public sector, the challenge of working from home hasn’t just been a cultural one.
Guest blog by Veam.
It’s also been a technical one. New logistical challenges have emerged, with employers needing to hurdle obstacles that previously wouldn’t have caused them to pull at their own hair or strain their eyes at their screens. Collaboration, connection and even the sharing of best practice have become fresh puzzles to solve as governments and other organisations attempt to quickly figure out how they can work as ‘normally’ as possible.
Solving so many new problems at once can feel extremely daunting too. Especially when trying to figure them out from afar. But it’s possible for the public sector to make remote working a success by planning around four specific key areas of their operations.
Getting time back
Productivity will suffer if employees can’t access the resources they need to do their jobs effectively. To keep disruption at a minimum, employees must have access to all the files, tools, apps, and data they usually have when they’re working in an office. Many organisations use a hybrid cloud infrastructure to ensure time isn’t wasted in this way. But to make this kind of infrastructure work as intended, IT teams must embrace Cloud Data Management to ensure that all relevant tools and services remain fully available and accessible to employees across all storage environments.
Secure virtual offices
Accessing data remotely brings risk. From a security standpoint, it’s an inescapable fact that working from home increases the attack vector for malicious activity by a significant margin. IT teams must therefore be encouraged to educate employees on cybersecurity best practice, which can help reduce the risk of cybercriminals engineering access to a network using techniques such as phishing links.
Education should also include ensuring that all employees understand the importance of their organisation’s Virtual Private Network (VPN). VPNs are critical for protecting sensitive data whilst employees work over the internet, and they aren’t necessarily as intimidating to use or understand as they might first appear. VeeamPN enables employees to connect to their desired VPN without hassle or delay. IT teams also have a duty to make sure all remote workstations are backed up to secure endpoints and installed with protective, up-to-date anti-virus software.
Back up data regularly
Conducting regular backups is vital to ensuring that data employees create is stored, managed and accessible in the usual resilient way. Regardless of where they’re working from. This starts with a backup and disaster recovery business continuity plan that’s regularly tested and implemented. CIOs need to plan for the potential impact of entire departments accessing what they need through a particular VPN.
Embrace automation
Automating crucial business continuity procedures should be in any progressive CIO’s thinking. Especially when IT teams are overstretched with providing desk-side support, monitoring network capacity and tightening up cybersecurity to support working from home. Whether it’s running backups or monitoring the network for potential vulnerabilities and threats, automation is an IT team’s best friend when faced with unprecedented challenges.
Be prepared
It’s almost impossible to understand the long term impact this new way of working will have on the way the public sector operates. At least for now. But amidst so much uncertainty, there are things that can be done to help make operations as smooth as possible in the meantime. Ensure the right resources and tools are available. Make working environments feel secure. Back up data regularly and embrace automation. Remote working during this period won’t be easy. But with the right planning in place around these four key areas, public sector organisations will have everything they need to run as close to ‘normal’ as they could hope for. For however long may be needed.
This is an advertorial in issue 19 of In our View. Read the whole issue: Higher marks for homeworking
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