How to secure data for remote working

How to secure data for remote working
Covid-19 has forced firms to find new ways to keep business information safe

Elly Yates-Roberts |


Just weeks after governments around the world implemented restrictions to halt the spread of Covid-19, most knowledge workers had transitioned to a full-time work-from-home model. From pharmaceutical companies who were enabling virtual sales teams, to financial services firms sending entire departments to work from home – organisations worldwide experienced a fundamental shift in how and where people were working. 

At Synergy Technical, we were ready and well prepared to help, and most of our customers were already well positioned to shift quickly and securely to a remote work model. As a Microsoft partner that specialises in modern workplace solutions like Microsoft Teams and Windows Virtual Desktop, our core focus is enabling organisations to work from anywhere in a secure and productive manner. Our expertise spans across the USA and over 70 countries, so we understand the complexities involved in enabling a secure and productive workforce. 

When planning for any implementation of productivity tools like Teams, security is always top of mind for us. However, we know that for many of the companies that were forced into quickly shifting to working from home, speed was likely the key priority. These businesses needed to have their employees connected and able to collaborate quickly. Fortunately, Microsoft 365 makes that an easy process. Now these organisations are up and running with tools like Teams, they must consider how to safeguard their data while to allow users to continue working productively and securely.   

In many cases, employees are using Teams to collaborate and update documents from personal devices, so now is the time to implement sensitivity labelling to protect documents. This will keep their data safe throughout the entire document lifecycle, regardless of the endpoint. 

Teams makes it easy to collaborate with business partners and others outside of an organisation, but it’s important that the appropriate security policies have been applied to limit the permissions of these guests. Consequently, companies should consider setting up multi-factor authentication for all users accessing their tenant, including guests. 

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to evolve, companies are going to be focused on enabling their workers to easily transition back and forth between remote and in-office work. Now is the time for all organisations to make sure that the security configurations are in place in order to allow employees to work safely from anywhere. 

Rohana Meade is president and CEO of Synergy Technical

This article was originally published in the Summer 2020 issue of The Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.

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