The coronavirus outbreak has already forced millions to work from home globally. As the outbreak grows, remote work is proving to emerge as a vital public health strategy.

With no choice but to stay home, there are two options, either not to work at all or set up a work from home structure. Not working at all is not a sustainable option, especially long-term. It puts a financial strain on individuals, businesses, and even the national economy.

Therefore, the option to work at home has been opted by dozens of tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, along with thousands of businesses globally. While employees work from their home, their IT teams, along with the remote access software they’re using, has been put to the test.

COVID-19: The Remote Revolution

Schools, offices, and other institutions are in a locked down state. COVID-19 is impacting all industries across all geographical regions. This never before experienced event is confronting IT organizations and teams across offices with a remote management challenge. With millions of employees working remotely, most IT professionals are unprepared to meet the demands of their remote workers.

Due to this unexpected situation, several organizations have had to deploy remote access software on employee’s devices to manage their productivity properly. This is especially crucial for those employees who are in travel mode, or if they’re subject to a travel ban.

To cope up with the ever-increasing need for secure remote access service, IT teams are hustling to equip their employees with the latest tools so that employees can securely work from their home.

Challenges faced by IT Professionals

The Information Technology sector, commonly referred to as the IT sector, is the brains behind most of our modern work infrastructure. From an inadequate legal framework to a lack of innovative ICT infrastructure, the IT sector isn’t short on their own challenges.

Some employees may already be equipped with a mobile computing device, such as a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, that’s been provided by their company. However, the same can’t be said about others who rely on traditional desktop systems. They might need a mobile computing device, and they’re going to need it really fast.

The IT teams may elect to install remote access software on each employee’s’ system. That, undeniably, can prove to be even more straining if the remote access software needs to be installed remotely, which would be particularly difficult if the worker is not allowed to go into the office at all at the present time due to company policy or government shutdown.

A Boom in Remote Access Software

As a result of COVID-19, remote access software has been put to a rigorous test like never before. Previously, on a given day, you might need the software for a couple of minutes or an hour maximum. With work from home implemented across industries, millions of employees are wholly resorting to remote access software throughout the day.

Consequently, remote access software is being used by millions of users who are essentially testing the software by using it to carry out meetings, chat with colleagues, send and receive confidential office documents, share sensitive data such as forecast projections, and so much more.

Security Challenges

Once you or your organization has successfully made a network connection to a remote access software, it then becomes critical to secure the internet connection. Come to think of it, from crisis rises an opportunity and cybercriminals are certainly going to capitalize upon it if they can (and many are very competent) on the lack of corporate network security in a home office.

Just like you’re working from home, so are cybercriminals and malicious actors. In fact, as repulsive as it is, they’ve been eagerly waiting for this time only, when we’re most vulnerable. It has come to light that cybercriminals are already taking advantage of the crisis by secretly packing malware in a map software that shows countries where the coronavirus has spread.

That’s not all; malicious actors are already launching several phishing attacks, such as creating popups that talk about donation for coronavirus victims and making false claims regarding cures for the virus. Learn how coronavirus is being used in malicious campaigns.

What’s worse for SMEs and other institutions is that they might lack the regulatory and compliance rules set by GDPR and CCPA. Without following international laws and regulations, companies may face potential fines if data is known to be mishandled or leaked. What this means is that such companies would be responsible to resort to a secure remote access software to carry on with their work.

Integration Challenges

To begin implementing remote access software, numerous organizations will have to figure out how to pay for all the software and additional IT network infrastructure that’s required for their operations.

As an IT professional, you must ensure that whatever remote access software you opt for, it should offer supreme online privacy and security. The software must have AES 256-bit encryption. Encryption ensures the communications between a remote device and the internet is completely leak-proof.

In a Nutshell

As COVID-19 shows little to no signs of slowing down, working from home will be the norm for a-while. This means workers will be more dependent on remote access software for their daily work operations.

One thing is clear, our workplace is changing and won’t be the same after the global pandemic. Companies will now shift their focus towards a more agile work environment and limit their dependency on physical workplaces.

Companies that offer robust remote access systems should have the following:

Provide prompt access with no need for an extensive installation process.

Provide supreme online privacy and security, along with authentication options.

Be reasonably priced and offer multiple pricing plans for businesses of all sizes.

Offer the ability to customize features according to a user’s choice.

Offer multilingual support for users in multiple regions.

Each one of us can help flatten the curve by setting up a robust remote work structure and stay at home during this challenging time. With sturdy robust access software, companies can weather this storm more easily than ever.

PureVPN’s Business VPN will help small and large corporations to facilitate their remote employees during this hard time and the ability to securely carry on with their daily operations without any hurdle.