Hybrid Computing Is Here (And You Should Be Ready)

Remote and hybrid work aren’t going away, so you can’t expect that today’s workforce won’t demand them in at least some capacity. That means your business needs to be ready to deliver these expectations in at least some capacity, especially if you want to remain competitive. If you aren’t willing to commit to full-on remote work, a hybrid approach combines the flexibility of remote work with the need for in-house operations, and is a perfectly suitable way to offer what employees want and need without sacrificing productivity and security.

Let’s discuss the benefits and risks of hybrid work, as well as how you might implement this approach for your business.

How Hybrid Work Benefits Your Business

Your business should at least consider a hybrid approach for the following reasons: access to and retention of top talent, cost efficiency, and resilience.

Sure, you’ll have an easier time getting the cream of the crop to work for your business, but your existing employees will also benefit from a little more flexibility in their work arrangement, decreasing turnover rate. If your full team doesn’t need to be in the office all the time, you end up saving money on office space and utilities, too—and if your business is equipped for hybrid work, it will be ready to shift operations remotely in the event of a disaster.

In this way, it pays to implement hybrid operations, even in a limited capacity.

Risks to Consider for Hybrid Work

For hybrid work, the three major risks you’ll encounter are security, productivity, and compliance, and you’ll want to address each of them.

As far as security goes, you’ll have to deal with an increased attack surface. You might find that your employees are using their personal wireless networks and devices, which means you’ll have to also consider additional security measures and training for how to avoid online threats. Productivity is an evergreen issue for remote and hybrid employees as well, as you’ll need to make sure they know how to effectively manage their time and responsibilities while away from the oversight of the office. You might also find they experience connectivity and collaboration issues due to technological hiccups. Compliance, too, needs to be highlighted, as employees will likely be working with sensitive data while out of the office and in uncontrolled locations.

Even if the issues sound like a lot to handle, we assure you they are quite manageable, provided you have the infrastructure and expertise in place to address them.

How to Mitigate the Risks of Hybrid Work

You can make remote and hybrid work a lot less scary if you implement the right technology. Here are some recommendations:

• Tools that control access to important data, like multi-factor authentication (MFA) and cloud computing solutions.
• A unified communications tool that helps your team stay on the same page (like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace).
• Centralized endpoint management that helps your business secure every device used by your employees to access company resources.

Hybrid work might not be for every business, but it’s worth considering if you want to remain competitive. If nothing else, being prepared for hybrid work can pay off in the long term. If your business doesn’t have the IT expertise to make hybrid work a reality, however, you might feel stuck.

Not anymore. BSGtech can be your trusted IT experts as your business prepares for hybrid work. Learn more by calling us today at (866) 546-1004.