The pandemic caused many utility organizations<\/a> to pivot to a remote, then hybrid, work environment for many of their employees (operations and field personnel likely excluded but still impacted).<\/p>\n Many had a legacy, on-premise solutions they had to quickly make available in a new model or replace with a cloud work-from-anywhere solution. Employees had to change their work models and collaboration paradigms from the traditional \u201ceveryone in the office\u201d work environment.<\/strong><\/p>\n Today, the remote and hybrid work solutions<\/a> utilities companies use to collaborate and get work done are likely:<\/p>\n In this blog, we\u2019ll explore three ways utility organizations can keep employees productive and engaged through remote work<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the largest areas of inefficiency is the number of concurrent solutions users need to access to perform the same task. Best example? Virtual meetings. Ninety percent of Fortune 500 companies<\/a> use multiple video conferencing platforms to connect with their colleagues.<\/p>\n As remote and hybrid work becomes a standard for many utility organizations, employees are finding that even some of the most common daily tasks, like scheduling, hosting and joining meetings, are often a frustrating challenge. Why? Because many organizations don\u2019t have a standard, singular, supported solution for holding virtual meetings.<\/strong> Centric Consulting president and co-founder Larry English details this challenge in his recent Forbes article<\/a> titled, \u201cOutdated Tech is a Non-starter in the Hybrid World.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Larry, companies \u201cthink by providing employees with numerous ways to connect and collaborate, remote work will be successful. The result is usually the opposite \u2013 people don\u2019t know what tool to use for what function, and even something simple like scheduling a meeting feels like a minefield.\u201d<\/p>\n He goes on to stress that \u201corganizations should invest in a few tools that can work together and cover all your needs\u201d because \u201cthe fewer tools used by an organization, the easier to manage in terms of security and IT support.\u201d<\/p>\n Most, if not all, of our large utility clients have already invested in Microsoft 365<\/a>, which gives them the opportunity to further standardize and govern the solutions their employees use to collaborate daily. This includes using features like Office, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and Exchange Online.<\/p>\n One of the biggest challenges organizations face as many employees remain in a more permanent remote or hybrid working model is the increased risk of security vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n We have found internal networks and tightly controlled VPN access no longer connect utility employees to the systems and data they need for their jobs. In short, utility organizations must extend networks to homes and a multitude of different devices. This introduces the risk of new security vulnerabilities.<\/strong><\/p>\n A recent study found that 67 percent of utility applications<\/a> have at least one serious exploitable vulnerability open throughout the year. The impacts of these security vulnerabilities can be devastating. For example, last year\u2019s Colonial Pipeline attack<\/a> forced that company to shut down over 5,500 miles of pipelines and cost $4.4 million in ransom paid to hackers. Today\u2019s utility organizations need a security model that improves cyberthreat defense, adapts to the complexity of the hybrid workplace, and protects people, devices, apps and data wherever they work.<\/p>\n Zero-Trust Security<\/a> follows the guiding principle \u201cnever trust, always verify.\u201d This security framework requires verification, authorization and encryption for all users, whether inside or outside the organization\u2019s network before they receive access. It also assumes there is no traditional network edge. Networks can be local, in the cloud or a hybrid with workers in any location.<\/p>\n While no security strategy is perfect, and we will never completely eliminate data breaches, Zero Trust is among one of the most effective strategies. Zero Trust uniquely addresses the modern challenges of today\u2019s utility organizations, including securing remote workers, hybrid cloud environments and ransomware threats.<\/strong> A key component to the standardizing on cloud platforms like Microsoft 365 is adopting a framework like Zero-Trust Security.<\/p>\n By adopting a cloud work-from-anywhere solution, organizations have shifted many internal infrastructure and support services costs to their cloud provider, which should have resulted in overall cost savings. However, the burden of supporting a remote workforce has increased. One of the major contributors to this burden is what some are calling \u201clast-mile support<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201clast mile\u201d refers to the internet connection leading into a home or office. For remote employees, their home internet connections are now being used to complete their job. Most companies used to consider the internet connectivity of employees beyond their \u201cscope of influence,\u201d but creating a functional remote work environment requires support from corporate resources and ISPs (internet service providers).<\/strong><\/p>\n An employee who lives in an area with poor or inconsistent internet access will not be very efficient in their role if they cannot reliably connect to, stay connected, and send and receive information on time. Many employees are not, and should not be, expected to be internet technology savvy to optimize their connection to their corporate cloud-provided solution. This creates two new challenges for IT support organizations.<\/p>\n\n
1. Use a Comprehensive Collaboration Platform<\/h2>\n
2. Provide Secure and Compliant Collaboration<\/h2>\n
3. Reduce Collaboration Costs<\/h2>\n