Dive Brief:
- Employees locked out of systems because of password issues as they pivoted to remote work "negatively impacted productivity" during the pandemic according to 71% of CIOs, a survey from Hitachi ID Systems found. The survey polled 100 North American CIOs at small, mid-size and enterprise companies between April and May.
- Employees' lack of access to on-premise applications was the second key challenge of working remotely, 55% of respondents said. Issues with multifactor authentication hurt work processes for 43% of companies.
- Provided with foresight of the pandemic's impact and the need for a quick pivot to distributed work, 67% of CIOs say they would have previously outfitted their teams with collaboration tools.
Dive Insight:
Even if just occasionally, 75% of Americans say they want to keep working remotely after COVID-19 restrictions subside, according to the IBM Institute of Business Value. One-third of workers say they expect to return to the office full-time, the MindEdge/Skye Learning State of Remote Work 2020 report states.
Working through the global crisis highlighted gaps in IT, allowing companies to become more aware of the challenges they face amid disruption.
The pandemic caught almost three-quarters of businesses unprepared. The shift to remote work left IT managers scrambling for equipment sweeping long-term business technology goals off the table as sustaining operations became the top priority.
Cybersecurity is more top of mind for tech executives given the rise in phishing attacks, and the challenges of managing a distributed workforce. At home, relying on consumer-grade internet connections to tap into company systems, the remote worker is a prime target for malicious actors.
As they re-evaluate tech priorities for the year ahead, CIOs are challenged with striking a delicate balance. Deciding which initiatives to keep and which ones to cut or defer, IT executives must align with business goals without falling behind on the innovation curve.
