The “New Normal”

2020 The year of the “New Normal”

Without a doubt, this year 2020 has been a year of radical changes. adherents to the astrological and numerological issue, had been warning all of us. They said “2020 is a square year” what I did not understand them, because apparently the squares are of changes.

Yes, it changed our lives. And to think that we are hardly in the middle of the year. However, I have always thought that changes are good, they motivate us and push us out of our comfort circles.

In my case, I have experienced a very important amount of changes, they have led me to reinvent myself.

The situation thus invites us to search for new alternatives, which we must face and overcome fears.

If something has seemed very strange to me for a long time, it is that in this country (USA) where the SoHo (Small Office Home Office) concept was invented, many of the companies continue with the old and archaic paradigm of forcing their employees (those who They can work remotely) to have a constant presence in their facilities.

The Covid-19 forced many of us to stay at home, some had the opportunity to continue their jobs remotely, some companies have had to learn on the go and others have even found it better that way, as it is more profitable. Especially if we consider that office expenses, such as electricity, water, air conditioning, telephones and much more, have ended up being transferred to employees.

The difficult thing about this situation is that the bosses need to learn and understand how to do the job assignments, as well as how to supervise them, always framed in the achievement of the tasks and objectives.

For this, it is necessary on the part of the company, the implementation of a system, processes and methodologies of remote work, that above all things mitigate the common risks in this type of situation.

Today more than ever, it is necessary that all companies have a technological platform, properly managed and that offers its employees the possibility of completing their work remotely, easily and safely, especially to users who are not experts in technologies but that use them as a fundamental tool for the fulfillment of their tasks.

There are many companies and tools that are beginning to be offered in the market. It is important to make clear that these are not remote desktops or the indiscriminate use of sensitive documents or not, which are sent by email. It is understood well, that all mail that we send if it is not properly encrypted is susceptible to being captured and read by unauthorized persons. And when I refer to all mail is all we send. Unfortunately, the encryption modes of emails, although varied, are usually very complex in their implementation. However, solutions such as Citrix Share Files, and the correct installation of their respective PlugIns in email clients, make this task easier for the common user.

Remote Workforce is here to stay. It is time for companies, all in general and regardless of their size, to accept and implement it.

On the other hand, it is necessary that those in charge of technologies, begin to sensitize and instruct all members of their organizations, regarding the obligation they have to become a “Human Firewall”, knowing how to identify any type of threat, as well as knowing the most common methods used by criminals to attack their potential victims.

The end user is definitely a super important point to mitigate the risks of this work model.

But we also understand that then, it is necessary that the technology departments grow in order to include as daily tasks, the monitoring of platforms, which goes from servers and networks to computers and / or users’ phones.

The correct application of the use policies, security policy, group policies, user policies, equipment policy and the determination of the levels of confidentiality of the documents, their routes, people and groups authorized to access all this information, guarantees in some way the mitigation of risks.