Now that we are four months into 2021, we’re seeing some aspects of our pre-pandemic lives slowly returning.  While this is refreshing, there are some changes brought on by COVID to which we’ve grown accustomed and there’s no looking back. One of the most impactful of those changes is the surge in remote work.  It’s estimated that, by 2025, the number of employees will have increased by 87% compared to pre-pandemic numbers. That’s an estimate that’s easy to envision as 80% of executives plan to extend remote work beyond the COVID pandemic, and 96% of employees want to continue functioning in this way. Big tech companies like Zillow, Twitter, Facebook, and Square have announced permanent shifts to working remotely. working remotely Nevertheless, remote work does have its hurdles which employees and companies must learn to navigate. One of the greatest problems with remote work is no longer being able to rely on the network security that’s built-in to the functionality of a physical business office. Sixty percent of businesses have reported an increase in cyberattacks since they switched to remote work. The top risks to cyber-security are VDI or RDP, phishing, and VPN vulnerabilities. Before the pandemic, 71% of businesses were satisfied with their security measures, but that number has now dropped to only 41%, post-COVID. Another big hurdle is internet reliability and speed.  Among surveyed employees, 35% report being unable to finish their work due to slow internet speed, and 43% report using phones and hotspots at the height of the COVID pandemic. Sixty-nine percent of employees also report having VPN problems, which is having a surprising, negative effect on businesses. On top of all this, real-time applications like Zoom are being affected by a surge of in-home data usage, which rose by 38% in 2020. Unreliable VPNs and remote access software are hampering business productivity.  IT departments are currently facing new challenges giving all remote employees access to all their necessary business applications, and only 39% of businesses are equipped to manage the security risks inherent with remote work. These issues demand a quick response as 94% of employees report facing these kinds of challenges each day. Private networks and a cloud-based SASE model, such as Ananda Networks provides, are a great solution to removing the biggest obstacles facing companies and employees alike.  Remote work is here to stay; insecure networks and slow internet can’t be. Source: Ananda Networks

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