Growing adoption of collaboration platforms could bring potential risks

There has been a widespread adoption of collaboration platforms across industries to improve and personalize Customer Experience. Organizations are using these platforms in innovative ways to improve, personalize and hence deliver better Customer experience to a variety of customers across rural and urban areas. This has helped companies establish a better connection with a larger customer base and gives customers the flexibility to connect from anywhere, anytime and across any device/platform.

Beyond connecting with customers, companies are also using collaboration platforms in a variety of ways to enable new ways of working, learning, service delivery, hosting events and empowering a hybrid workforce. In the post-pandemic world, collaboration and conferencing tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, etc. have replaced desk chatter, watercooler conversations and even email. As we approach the end of 2021, organizations across the globe have understood the importance of the hybrid work space and are preparing their teams for this new normal.

As a semblance of normalcy resumed during the latter half of the year, we saw organizations adopt a mix of remote, hybrid and physical setups in different mixes as were best suited to their objectives.

Virtual Care and Telehealth are here to stay and the past couple of years have really highlighted the importance of virtual healthcare. Telehealth and video communications have made value-based care more accessible, convenient, and affordable. Various innovations and improvements have improved patient experience to a great extent. Providers today can consult with global experts and continue their medical education with virtual training, certification programs, and conferences.

Most of the workers are on home networks, potentially using personal devices, or interacting - unwittingly or not - through unauthorized communication apps. This makes the identification and mitigation of risk, and the management of regulatory compliance, exponentially more complex. It is time to adopt the Zero Trust approach, to adapt to hybrid working environments, and more companies will drive to adopt the ‘Zero Trust’ security model. The ‘zero trust’ approach requires verifying everything and trusting none when it comes to cybersecurity.

Finally, the conversations around protecting the hybrid workforce from risk will lead security professionals to adopt modern tools and technologies, like multi-factor authentication and the Zero Trust approach to security.

Deepak Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA