Technology
The Executive’s COVID-19 Exit Strategy | Download the Guide
Articles by: Richey May, Jul 01, 2020
As local governments loosen the restrictions around in-person business operations, executives are starting to prepare their physical office reopening. It’s now time for leadership to fine-tune their COVID-19 exit strategy.
Technology and information security are top of mind for many executives as they look ahead to determine how teams will operate while protecting their people, processes, and technology.
According to a recent report released by the cybersecurity organization, (ISC)2, 96% of organizations had moved at least some of their employees to a ‘work from home’ model by April 2020, with roughly half of businesses shifting all employees to remote work.
GetAbstract found that out of 1,200 surveyed full-time workers in the U.S., 42.67% wanted to work remotely more of the time after their office reopens. Those who stated they would prefer to return to the office may not realize that it won’t be the same as it was when they left back in March. Going back to the office may mean face masks, social distancing, lines for elevators and bathrooms, periodic desk cleaning, having temperatures taken one or more times per day, flex shifts, and other unpleasant activities. Upon returning to the office, the number of people who want to continue going into the office is expected to decrease further.
Self-reported working arrangement prior to COVID-19
Preferred working arrangement after COVID-19
Many large companies, such as Twitter, have publicly announced they will continue to allow employees to work remote — permanently. No one knows when local governments will permit all employees to be back at the office or if a second wave of infections will reverse course on the economy re-opening. Businesses need to plan their exit strategy keeping in mind that things may change, and the plan needs to be fluid.
Some questions organizations should think about:
- How will we onboard/offboard employees while they work from home?
- Should ‘going back to normal’ even be the goal for your business?
- Are there opportunities to capitalize on now that ‘work from home’ has been tested?
- How will a prolonged workforce impact people, process, and technology?
- Where are the company’s crown jewels and sensitive data sitting during ‘work from home’?
- Can we still meet our Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs)?
- Who do we absolutely need back in the office and why?
- Are we sure our computers were protected while in employees’ homes or do we need to do anything to ensure we’re not bringing a compromised computer back into the office?
For a more detailed discussion on recovering and rebuilding in the time of COVID-19, check out Michael Wylie, Director of Cybersecurity Services panel discussion with EDR vendor SentinelOne, here.
During your swift transition to a remote workforce, perimeter security controls like IDS, IPS, web proxies, central logging, network firewalls, etc. may have been bypassed leaving your computers exposed for months. You may already have been breached and don’t know it yet. A well thought out strategic plan may mean the difference in success or failure.
To retrieve your free copy of Richey May Technology Solution’s “Executive COVID-19 Exit Strategy” detailing how to build your exit plan, click here.
*Survey conducted April 16-17, 2020 with 1,200 full-time US workers representing a range of income levels and industries.