The Future of Work; My Takeaways from WebexOne
There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work. Companies needed to adjust to remote working policies with no other options. However, while the situation will take a while to revert to a complete norm, that norm has evolved into a new hybrid model. Companies will not return entirely to the office. In fact, many employees have shared their interest into keeping the work from home setup, and migrating towards a more flexible environment. Some might still stay at home at all times, some will opt for a hybrid work model, and some will prefer the office. This will become the norm.
I have been reading various articles about forced digitization and the future of work, and statistics show that the transition to remote working was not easy nor trivial for organizations. Different technological gaps arose, including but not limited to challenges with connectivity, challenges with the environmental setup for video conferences, challenges with connectivity, etc. In this context, security and privacy are, of course, extremely important challenges.
And, this week, this topic has been brought up by CISCO APAC, within their WebexOne conference. The discussions were about the Future of Work, the collaboration, and the security of remote working.
One message has impacted me in particular; we are currently missing the virtual experiences, where everyone will be able to get a seat at the table no matter where the table is to create an inclusive environment.
This has really brought to my attention the importance of real inclusion and fairness. In fact, while some of us are able to work comfortably from our home office, with a stable Internet connection, others might experience real issues, including surrounding noises, non-existant professional setup or background for video conferences, very unreliable connectivity, etc. This certainly affects the inclusion and potential for an international, and diversified team, where geography and other factors should not matter, but skills.
I am certain we all have experienced a particular setup where we were unable to collaborate seamlessly and continue discussions due to technological glitches, connectivity issues, or background noise.
Therefore, as a leader, a business owner, or a manager, the topic about inclusion becomes and takes even further considerations in this case. Ensuring a fair experience to all employees within the team while maintaining the flexibility, and productivity becomes a debate in itself.
This hasn’t been the only message that I have enjoyed within the conference.
I really appreciated the WebexOne Opening Keynote, where Jeetu Patel, SVP/GM Security & Applications at CISCO, mentioned that our industry focuses on the wrong metrics, considering and valuing quantity over quality. Well, I can’t agree more. It is not how many meetings you have attended, it is how much value you have brought to the table or got, by attending the meetings.
Beyond the Opening Keynote, I found the sessions very interesting and aspirational. The discussion with Amal Clooney was inspirational. As an international human rights lawyer, Amal has shared several interesting points, and I would definitely advise you to watch her video.
In conclusion, It seems like we will not be bound anymore by the famous 9–5 scheme. Employers are changing and understanding how to enable and empower employees.
Companies do benefit as well from this change, and now they have metrics that support those changes. Faster decision-making that occurred during the pandemic (67%) is an amazing benefit for businesses. It improves productivity, and therefore revenue for the business. Aside from a faster decision-making process, the figure above shows us the benefits that workers want to keep include greater autonomy (70%), working well as a dispersed team (69%), and the Sixty-three percent want to continue traveling less and sixty-four percent want to use that time more productively.
We are therefore, coming back to the hybrid setup and the interest of employees to keep their autonomy while working. You can read more here:
All this seems exciting, and engaging. However, for me, I foresee a major challenge with the technological gaps, as mentioned. #Security and #privacy remain a real struggle for companies, especially for small and medium enterprises. While the employees are working remotely, the contractors, the partners, and the people outside of your company still need to interact with you to ensure that business continues.
What has raised my interest during the CISCO conference is the built-in and optional extended security capabilities, including some Data Loss Protection to keep your data safe and protect your users in real-world collaboration scenarios. I let you check it out by yourself with the sessions on demand on WebexOne.
Therefore, when addressing the requirements for a hybrid working model and discussing the future of work, we need to consider additional aspects beyond “just” usability and friendliness. Those aspects require us to address privacy, security, inclusion, language barriers, support limitations, number of concurrent attendees, etc.
It is not an easy choice, but I hope this article will direct your thoughts towards the right matters.
By Magda Chelly:
Former Chief Security Officer | Author & Keynote Speaker | IFSEC Global Top 20 Cybersecurity Influencer | Entrepreneur | PhD, S-CISO, CISSP, Cert SCI (General Insurance)
Find out on magda-on-cyber.com
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