Two thirds of firms want to invest in better connectivity for home workers
Vast majority of UK bosses believe half of staff will be working remotely for remainder for 2021, according ot new research from Daisy
Nearly 70 per cent of organisations want to provide their remote working staff with a dedicated connection to the corporate network, according to new research from Daisy Corporate Services (DCS).
The survey of 350 UK CEOs, CFOs and CIOs across the public and private sectors also revealed that the biggest technology challenges faced so far during lockdown are shared broadband connections, cybersecurity risks and connectivity performance.
Nearly 90 per cent of employers expect that half of their employees will continue to work from home over the next year, which resulted in a quarter of respondents stating that they are looking at downsizing their office space.
"It is clear that organisations will need to continue to support homeworking long into the future," stated Richard Beeston, product director at DCS.
"While many organisations were able to navigate the short-term technology challenges posed by the rapid increase in homeworking, further transformation is required for it to be effective in the long-term.
"To date, many homeworkers have simply ‘got by' using their existing internet connectivity, but this does pose both ongoing performance and cybersecurity challenges for many organisations. As homeworking models mature, we'd expect to see increased investments in connectivity and security as remote access to systems, applications and data becomes the norm."
Cybersecurity will continue to be the main focus for organisations whose employees are working remotely. Almost half of respondents felt that cybersecurity risk management of remote workers was an "essential" part of ongoing homeworking strategies.
The most popular areas for cybersecurity investments over the next 12 months are: protection against data theft, recovery from a cyber breach, VPN and penetration testing, respectively.
Nearly 40 per cent of respondents stated that they will increase their IT budget this year, while 30 per cent said they would decrease theirs.
"The last 12 months have illustrated just how important IT is to supporting ‘business as usual' operations and the need for robust cybersecurity practices," continued Beeston.
"The next stage for many organisations will be to ensure that employees are making effective use of the technologies they are being provided with, both from a security and productivity perspective. Those organisations they are able to do this effectively will be the homeworking winners."