• August 10, 2020
  • by James Kurczaba

Addressing Technical Challenges of the Modern Workplace

Addressing Technical Challenges of the Modern Workplace – Featured Image

The modern workplace is being realized in real-time, as the vast majority of the population continue to work remotely. Today’s workforce – and the future workforce – has high expectations about the ability to work from anywhere and on any device, as the typical nine-to-five at an office building is becoming increasingly obsolete.

While this might raise red flags around teams’ productivity and the potential cyber attack threats, the modern workplace done right can increase productivity, improve flexibility, and mitigate security concerns. However, there are two major technical challenges of the modern workplace that first must be addressed.

Major Technical Challenges

Flexibility

Flexibility is one of the biggest draws, as well as challenges, to what is deemed as the modern workplace. Right now, we see flexibility happening in a lot of different ways; it might mean employees sprinkled across the country or the world, and adjusting to multiple time zones. It might mean not having everyone online at the same time as they manage full-time remote work and full-time parenting. It might mean more devices and more types of devices in the fleet.

Flexibility is about employees having everything they need to execute their responsibilities from wherever they are working, and to do so without being vulnerable to security threats or opening the company to increased risk.

Security

Given this remote and flexible workforce, the next challenge that must be addressed is that of security. With so many employees working out of their homes or out of coffee shops, it is crucial that security measures and protocols be put in place to ensure that all regulations are being followed, particularly if employees are dealing with any type of sensitive or confidential information.

Another security challenge many companies face is that of storing and accessing data from the cloud. While this platform provides the flexibility so many employees are looking for, it can quickly become a weak point of security, giving attackers vulnerabilities to access and exploit. The key challenges of security and flexibility continue to be addressed by Microsoft in their popular Modern Workplace environment.

Modern Workplace Solutions

For the modern workplace, flexibility and security must go hand-in-hand, but the right tools are needed to get there. Microsoft 365 provides the suite of software needed for teams to work smarter together, no matter where they are. Dubbed the Modern Workplace Solutions, Microsoft has expertly crafted an ecosystem of products to seamlessly support teams’ needs.

Microsoft Teams

One feature that many organizations are currently utilizing is Microsoft Teams, which allows for secure chatting, calling, and video-meeting all through one application. It supports collaboration from anywhere through real-time editing of documents, presentations, and files across multiple users.

Security

Security concerns must be taken seriously. Cyber attacks are not a matter of ‘if’ they will happen but a matter of ‘when’ and you need the right partner and strategy to mitigate that risk (see more here). Microsoft 365 threat protection tools will keep businesses, employees, and customers safe from cyberattacks and security in the cloud.

Apps

Another opportunity for Microsoft 365 users is the ability to buy or build apps to best meet the company’s needs. The amount of customizations is almost infinite, providing the most beneficial solutions for unique businesses and teams.

Devices

Hardware manufacturers like Lenovo have developed devices like the popular ThinkBook series that tackle daily security and flexibility challenges head-on. For example the ThinkBook 13s includes both legacy USB-A and forward-looking USB-C ports to ensure compatibility with a wide range of peripherals. It’s also built to withstand water spills, extreme temperatures and vibrations making it well-suited for business travelers. Features like a fingerprint reader and the Trusted Platform Module (dTPM) on the ThinkBook 14s help thwart hackers by protecting business-critical data.

Looking for a laptop to meet the demanding needs of your distributed teams? We compare the Lenovo ThinkBook and ThinkPad series here.

See the Comparison

Success in the Modern Workplace

In order for modern work teams to be successful, they need the right tools and the ability to collaborate virtually, so that flexibility does not translate to lessened productivity or increased security concerns. By utilizing these modern workplace solutions employees can ensure they are able to get their work done, whenever and wherever that may take place.

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James Kurczaba

James Kurczaba

James Kurczaba is a Consultant on the Technology Experience & Enablement team at WBM Technologies His background in marketing has cultivated an interest in understanding user behavior and how those insights can be used to improve end-user interactions with technology. As an adoption and change management specialist, he is focused on improving the employee experience through long-term technology adoption and organizational digital transformation.

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