07/05/15

Ensure your business is protected as the mobility gap closes

A recent survey conducted by Phoenix has called in to question the real progress being made by businesses in embracing mobile working, finding that a relatively low level of UK workers actually make use of the ability to work remotely, despite its reported status as a major component of the modern organisation.

The survey, conducted with 1,000 workers aged 18 and over from a wide range of industry sectors, who use IT and electronic devices as part of their day-to-day work, revealed that on average, half of UK workers work from home less than once a month, while over one third (36%) of workers never do. This is despite the fact that over three quarters (76%) of companies have a remote working policy in place, according to a separate survey conducted by Phoenix with 100 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and IT decision-makers (ITDM). The CIO and ITDM survey also shows the slower rate of adoption of remote working, with 62% reporting that just 30% or less of its company's employees work remotely more than once a week.

One reason attributed for the slow rate of adoption is legacy infrastructure that has not been upgraded to enable remote working. However, the need for greater mobility is a significant driving force for the IT sector, most notably in the implementation of cloud-based solutions. "The changing needs of businesses require 24/7 access to data and it's widely recognised that 'always-on' cloud services can help businesses overcome ageing systems, providing greater flexibility and removing the need for physical infrastructure" said Mike Osborne, Managing Director of Business Continuity at Phoenix. "You only need to look at the recent announcement that Microsoft has agreed to allow a number of smartphone manufacturers, including Samsung, to roll-out its suite of Office365 apps across their devices for free, to see the demand for cloud-based apps."

So, while the current reality is that remote working is not as prevalent as expected, it is still seen as a key ingredient of the successful business of the future. The number of companies that have remote working policies already in place is testament to this and it's clear that the take-up of remote working is only going to grow, with more and more workers becoming fully connected to work all of the time.

But while there are clear benefits to the workforce, can the same be said for their employer? "While increasing reliance on cloud services is hugely beneficial for businesses, it also exposes them to the inherent risks of backing up and storing large amounts of critical data outside of the company" says Osborne. "A loss of data can be costly, both in monetary and reputational terms."

This calls for the implementation of a data protection strategy that seamlessly incorporates the protection of business critical data stored on mobile devices. Chris Coulson, DRaaS Product Manager at Phoenix explains, "Organisations need to be safe in the knowledge that no matter where their data resides, it's fully protected against data loss, reputational risk and the financial penalties that can result from a data loss or breach".

Furthermore, if a mobile device is lost, it is vitally important that businesses can quickly locate this device and immediately remove any sensitive data before it is accessed by any unauthorised individual. Phoenix's team works with companies to implement cloud-based data protection and recovery solutions so that cloud platforms and end user devices are included in one single solution. The bonus for CIOs is that this can be done in such a way that there are minimal overheads on the IT operation and no user intervention is necessary.

Coulson said "One of our customers recently deployed our Cloud Backup & Recovery solution to around 2,800 endpoint devices. These were configured with five different policies such that backups were spread throughout the day from 8am to midnight - minimising and smoothing network traffic and utilisation."

The simplicity of the deployment and the complete automation of the backup process means no user intervention is required and the Phoenix service desk monitors and manages the solution as an addition to contracted managed services the customer has with Phoenix.

"Due to the nature of our customer's business and some of the high profile civil engineering projects that they are involved in, critical data has to be stored on mobile devices and its protection and security is paramount for compliance, reputational risk and customer confidentiality."

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