Addressing the Remote Dilemma with Integrated Support

Sponsored Blog Post – Written by Splashtop

The conversation around remote work has evolved over the past two years. We’re no longer debating whether remote work is a good idea or not—at least we shouldn’t be. Remote work, or distributed work (a combination of remote and in-office) is here to stay. Smart businesses are discussing how to make remote work more accessible, secure, and seamless for employees. 

However, remote and distributed work environments bring new IT challenges. To succeed, a distributed workforce needs to be supported with the same functionality and efficiency as their in-office counterparts. 

Herein lies the remote dilemma: IT teams are expected to support a growing workforce, balancing security, usability and IT support from a distance, with the same budgets. How can IT departments do the seemingly impossible while keeping everyone happy?

1. Create an in-person experience for the remote workforce

To give remote employees the same experience as in-person employees, you first need to identify what makes the experience different—beyond the commute. Often extra time and reduced distractions improve employee experience. However, issues with performance and reliability at home make it difficult and frustrating.

When working remotely, employees need the same experience and functionality as they have at their office workstation. With remote workers heavily favoring Apple products, this concern has only grown over the last two years. Remote employees who remote into an office computer that has a different operating system on their home computer, often experience a frustrating lag in connection and performance. 

To succeed, remote employees must be able to access the same tools and apps they use in the office on the devices they use at home. To create an in-person experience, companies must focus on giving employees the ability to log in and instantly connect to their device with low latency and high performance. 

Reliable, high performance for remote workers means fewer help desk tickets for IT to manage. It also results in a happier, more satisfied workforce.

2. Effortlessly deploy and support remote workers on any device or platform

Some companies may have take home devices for everyone, but many don’t. Even companies that do struggle with supporting multiple devices. They likely have employees who revert to working from their personal devices for reasons of preference, simplicity, or home network integration.

Long-term remote work creates a need for IT teams to troubleshoot multiple device types including personal devices. Remote security and management of these devices is a top concern. IT teams have a strong need for a single platform to manage multiple device types and capabilities (i.e., RMM, ITSM, and endpoint security). 

Simple to set up, manage and scale

Organizations want to simplify life for their workers and for themselves, by streamlining operations and using fewer, more integrated tools in their environment. For example, Splashtop integrates with Addigy’s Apple device management platform. 

This integration provides easy set-up and fast connection to managed devices. IT can create standard deployment settings based on your organization’s security requirements. This allows you to automate deployment to devices and remotely control, manage and support Apple devices from within the Addigy platform.

Inclusive of all devices and operating systems

A solution isn’t simple if it doesn’t work for everyone. That’s why it’s so important to choose a solution that delivers reliable, consistent performance across devices and operating systems. Remote workers are using their home networks and devices for work every day. A problem with a personal device or application requires the same level of support as a problem on an office desktop. 

While most IT teams have a remote support tool that enables access to managed computers, remote BYOD situations create a new support burden. Mobile devices further complicate the situation. In a study conducted by Ponemon Institute/Keeper, 67% of respondents reported that the use of personal mobile devices by remote workers has negatively impacted their organization’s security posture.

To successfully support remote workers’ BYOD needs, progressive IT departments have shifted to real-time capabilities for supporting any device, both managed and unmanaged. The fastest route to executing this shift is through implementing an attended support solution.

3. Maintain security and compliance

When security and compliance are the endgame, you have to consider factors including access and authorization, data protection (whether at rest or in transit) and infrastructure security. A recent Tenable study that found 74% of organizations attribute recent business-impacting cyberattacks to remote work tech vulnerabilities. It’s imperative to ensure no back doors are open on critical servers or end-user devices. 

Remote work and cybersecurity 

The increase in remote work drives new levels of ransomware and cyber threats due to the sheer number of devices being used. Add to that the difficulty IT departments have in securing those devices, and you have a recipe for disaster. 

Advanced remote solutions provide IT with control over device security, regardless of where your employees are working. They’re built on zero-trust frameworks that mitigate risk through: 

• Device authentication
• Two-factor authentication (2FA)
• Single sign-on (SSO)
• And more

With a zero-trust framework, you mitigate the risks inherent to remote work by restricting employee streaming to just their desktop. This protects the data in your corporate network.

Compliance

As remote work continues to be the norm it will require a different security stance. In today’s world, a secure support solution must help you navigate compliance (with GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, FERPA and more). Maintaining compliance for both in-office and remote employees will become a major focus for IT teams. 

By using remote, unattended access to manage endpoints with PCs, mobile, and IoT devices (like POS terminals and scanners) you ensure compliance with the latest software & security requirements. Plus, you can easily maintain endpoints to ensure compliance and strengthen security.

Make remote access and support a strength, not a burden

IT managers have faced growing complexity as they contend with the evolving work patterns and individual needs of a distributed workforce. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In the end, there doesn’t need to be a remote dilemma at all. The secret to a truly distributed workforce—one with real staying power—lies in making remote access and support a strength, not a burden.

---

About Splashtop

Splashtop’s secure remote access and support deliver an in-person experience users need with security IT can trust. Learn more about Splashtop for IT Support and how you can launch a remote session from within your Addigy console.