How Lack of IT Control Puts Communications at Risk

Now more than ever, enterprises need robust administrative controls for platforms that drive mission-critical business processes. Administrative controls are especially critical for communication and collaboration platforms that are key drivers of operational efficiency in the era of the mobile workforce.

 

Today, shifting working paradigms, practices, and issues including BYOD, remote working, employee turnover, and regulatory compliance underscore the need for IT teams to ensure the security and compliance of collaboration solutions through enterprise-level administrative controls.

 

Collaboration is key to enterprise success more than ever today as the workforce becomes increasingly mobile. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to remote working, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. In its “Future Workforce Report,” Upwork projected that 73% of companies will have remote workers by 2028, while IBM cited expectations that the global mobile workforce would reach 1.87 billion workers by 2022.

 

As the mobile workforce continues to grow, enterprises will need purpose-built real-time collaboration platforms that securely connect employees in distributed locations while allowing administrators to monitor and audit usage.

 

According to Accountemps data cited on CFO Dive, 63% of CFOs reported that worker turnover has increased in the past three years. Further, a 2018 survey by Statista found that 51% of respondents change jobs every one to five years.

 

Workforce churn creates challenges for managing communication and messaging technologies. As a result, IT administrators need the ability to quickly activate and de-activate user accounts and be able to mitigate the risks posed by sensitive company data on the personal devices of employees who leave the organization.

 

BYOD policies have become commonplace as the lines between the workplace and employees’ personal lives continue to blur. Whether they are sending work-related communications at the office or at home, in many cases employees are using personal mobile devices, causing a lack of control and security risks for IT departments. In fact, the recent “Impact of New Mobile Communications in the Workplace Report,” conducted by NetSfere in association with Mobile Ecosystem Forum, found that 30% of employees prefer using their own personal devices for business communication.

 

BYOD has popularized employee use of consumer-grade messaging apps for business communication, creating a real-time risk for the enterprise. These platforms are not built with the enterprise in mind and don’t provide the administrative control needed to mandate and manage enterprise policies that are critical to ensuring security and compliance with regulatory requirements. As BYOD continues to rise so does the need for IT administrators to be able to manage, control, and secure all business communication and sensitive, confidential data on all devices, including those owned by employees.

 

In certain industries, enterprise communication is subject to strict regulatory requirements. Whether it’s compliance with FINRA and Sarbanes-Oxley in finance or compliance with HIPAA and privacy regulations in health care, the regulatory burdens on today’s enterprises call for a strategic and measured approach to compliance. Anemic administrative controls jeopardize the organization’s ability to meet its regulatory obligations. To reduce the risk of fines and penalties, decision makers need to know that IT administrators have control mechanisms in place for accurate compliance monitoring at all times.

 

To achieve information security, regulatory compliance, and bottom-line business improvement, IT teams need an enterprise communication platform that is equipped with robust administrative controls for managing users, monitoring activity, and enforcing corporate policies. Click here to learn more.