Fixing the Roadblocks to Remote Work

For many of us, remote work has been our reality for much of the past year.  At times it can seem like one of the best things to come out of this pandemic with its ease and convenience of working in your own environment.  While it is true that many people enjoy and prefer remote work, there are some glaring issues that if left untouched will affect the effectiveness of working from home. The future of networking must improve.

The first one is the speed of the internet.  Remote work simply put is dependent on how fast our internet works.  Slow internet connection can have a disastrous impact on a productive work day.  Inability to access files, join internet based meetings, or even access an online calendar can greatly diminish productivity. 

In 2020, data usage rose 38% per household.  With an average usage of 16.6 gigabytes of data per month per household it is no wonder that internet speeds have greatly decreased. This can pose dangers to productivity and the overall effectiveness of remote work.

The second factor that affects the universal installation of remote work is security. In a world controlled by data, our concerns around cybersecurity have never been greater.  With each employee of any given company working from home, the chance of a cybersecurity nightmare has dramatically increased. 

There are many risks when it comes to cyber security but there are three that have recently been on the rise directly related to working from home.  VDI or RDP, phishing, and VPN vulnerability: are all risks that could be a serious roadblock for the continued use of remote working. 

The final challenge of remote work is simplicity of integration.  When working at an office, if something goes wrong you can just call IT.  When working at home you are the IT, so if a problem arises and you can’t fix it then you lose valuable work time. 

Over 61% of companies do not have the resources to effectively integrate remote work without increasing the risk of a cybersecurity attack.  This lack of knowledge can significantly contribute to a less effective and potentially unproductive work environment. 

While the convenience or working from home may sound enticing to the employee, until companies can figure out how to solve these problems it cannot be more than a temporary fix to an extraordinary situation.  However, companies like Ananda Networks who provide internet services offer hope in this complex situation.