The Board-level conversation: Remote work
VMware recently announced the VMware Anywhere Workspace, which combines innovative digital workspace, endpoint security and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technologies, working harmoniously across any application on any cloud to anywhere.
VP of Product and Technical Marketing, End User Computing, Renu Upadhyay, explained that this solution brings together the benefits of three innovative solutions, namely VMware Workspace One, VMware Carbon Black, and VMware SASE.
Since the pandemic began last year, employees and IT departments were sent home, overnight. They didn’t have the necessary tools to work from home, and much less have the devices to log in from their homes.
Instead, there was a patchwork of solutions to respond to that initial space (demands). As they come out of (lockdowns) and see sustaining benefits of working from anywhere, they see value in meeting the needs of a remote workforce, Renu observed.
Supporting choice, securely
Now, there is choice of devices to use, choice of applications to use, and choice of locations to work at. Renu shared, “These are the characteristics of a Work Anywhere organisation.
“It is not easy to support this, compared to before when all information was siloed behind a perimeter, and there was a lot of controls and security.”
She shared how a series of challenges were felt by different organisations inside of IT.
For example, the network team had to figure out how to support employees working on home WiFi, and ‘give’ them Quality of Service (QoS), performance, and security to access apps. Security had to protect data when employees log in from anywhere to apps that are on the cloud, and on devices that do not belong to the company. “How do they ensure (employees) have the latest solutions and security postures are up-to-date?”
Instead, there was a patchwork of solutions to respond to that initial space (demands). As they come out of (lockdowns) and see sustaining benefits of working from anywhere, they see value in meeting the needs of a remote workforce
Many different point solutions were used, and all these led to fragmentation, operational complexity, and gaping holes in security because solutions were not interoperable.
VMware’s VP and MD, Southeast Asia and Korea, Sanjay Deshmukh is stoked about VMware’s new holistic solution, the VMware Anywhere Workspace, for three main reasons.
The first reason is due to a June 2020 Deloitte study of organisations in ASEAN which revealed that 50 million jobs are going to be remote. VMware’s solution is suitable for organisations to build a platform to provide better employee experiences with security already taken care of.
The second reason is the role of security becoming more crucial. Being able to set up and enable employees to remote work quickly, requires a comprehensive approach towards security “… especially because this region has different types of networks to access the
Sanjay K. Deshmukh, Vice President and Managing Director, South East Asia and Korea.
Internet, and so many different types of devices (to do it with),” Sanjay said. ‘Companies have to set up a very comprehensive security framework.”
The third reason has to do with the concept of employee experience, especially now during a pandemic and workers needing to be away from office, but still productive.
Supporting remote work
Sanjay shared VMware’s own experience of having to onboard new hires during the pandemic lockdown. “New hires did not get to go into the office and experience its culture (and bond with co-workers).
“The digital experience they are going to get, and the onboarding process, is going to determine how long they stay,” he pointed out.
Fortunately, VMware executed and supported a modern device onboarding process, whereby machines were “dropshipped” to employee’s homes, and within 15 minutes of booting their computers up, the employee is completely onboarded and productive with access to all the applications they require.
New hires did not get to go into the office and experience its culture (and bond with co-workers). The digital experience they are going to get, and the onboarding process, is going to determine how long they stay.
Renu concluded, “Remote work is now a board-level conversation.”
She explained that CIOs are entrusted to make remote work happen for company, and a holistic solution like VMware’s can address concerns of the CISO, while LOBs and HR can ensure employees are engaged and productive from anywhere in the world.