In participation with the National Cybersecurity Alliance and in celebration of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, CyberPolicy is proud to promote cybersecurity education by providing resources for small business owners to plan for, prevent, and insure against cyber crime.
The pandemic has forced new ways of operating onto a largely unprepared workforce. In less than 6 months, public spaces have become taboo, facial coverings are normalized and technology has assumed a more prominent role in business than ever before. At the same time, a fundamental attitude change about office life has forced organizations of every size to rethink their in-person operations.
As an image of the post-pandemic era begins to form, work life is looking very different than previous decades. Here are a few aspects of “office life” that will inevitably change in the wake of the pandemic.
Millions of people all across the country were forced into telecommuting at the onset of the pandemic. A sizable portion of those workers are choosing to stay home now that stay-at-home orders are beginning to lift. The reason: their jobs can be performed effectively away from the office. Remote work will be a discussion in virtually every industry going forward.
The businesses that choose to resume in-person operations will be forced to revamp and redesign their offices in ways that prioritize hygiene and social distancing. This can be a costly route, but there can be savings opportunities when businesses downsize their office space. Reduced square footage in combination with remote work and overlapping on-site staff will be a favorable recipe for many businesses.
When the pandemic ends and workers return to the office, they will continue to use the tools that became mandatory during quarantine. Conferencing and collaboration apps like Zoom and Slack proved their value in day-to-day use while employees were forced to work from home. This software will move from ‘nice to have’ to a position of ‘must have’ and will serve an irreplaceable function in many operations.
Remote work will create a greater distinction between knowledge workers and tasks workers. Knowledge workers use analytical thinking and a computer to perform their jobs. These are traditionally non-management roles that are performed with a high degree of autonomy such as software engineers, designers, scientists, copywriters, and academic researchers to name a few. Knowledge workers will make up the majority of the workforce that are given the option to stay at home. This distinction will also factor into how a company creates positions, hires employees, and distributes workloads.
While remote work and productivity applications sound appealing to both workers and employers alike, reliance on technology does come with pitfalls. More connected devices and 3rd party applications in use, offer more avenues for hackers and cyber criminals to exploit. Simply put: More technology creates more opportunities for a cybersecurity breach.
In many cases, cybersecurity has taken a backseat to hygiene, sanitation, and fiscal savings in the scramble to reformat professional life. This fact comes with great excitement from cyber criminals that are eager to exploit porus security barriers. Criminal activity online is at an all-time high and hacking attempts have increased exponentially since the onset of the pandemic.
All business conducted online carries risk. However, many business owners downplay the significance of their firm’s online exposure. Every email received and invoice processed creates an opportunity and business owners should have a reasonable concern that a cyber attack is possible.
Cyber insurance is a class of business insurance that is gaining attention by means of necessity. The rise in cybercrime has resulted in the rise of cyber insurance. This type of insurance protects a business’s online assets and activities, and is literally the only safeguard that you can obtain against cyber crime. Visit us online or give us a call at (800) 590-7292 to learn how cyber insurance can protect your business and remote workforce today.
