EXPERT SPEAK
WHY CHANNEL AND INDUSTRY PARTNERS BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN ANYWHERE WORKING , SECURITY AND USER EXPERIENCE
Ossama Eldeeb , Senior Director , Partner Organisation , VMware , South EMEA , explains why building a hybrid working future and translating the plans into action require the help of IT teams and , the support and expertise of trusted partners .
The last two years have been an unexpected evolution in the way that we work . In the face of massive change and disruption , we rallied to provide quick fixes to keep the lights on and keep industry moving .
Now we can take those quick fixes and turn them into permanent solutions for the modern , distributed workforce .
But organisations are up against a challenge , and they need the expertise , experience and objectivity of technology , industry and solutions partners to meet it . The challenge ? 68 % of businesses still have no detailed vision or plan in place to realise a hybrid future , according to McKinsey . While there is recognition at a strategic level that hybrid working is the future , translating that into action requires the help of IT teams and the support and expertise of trusted partners .
Areas such as security and bringing it back in line with corporate , national and international requirements need to be addressed . But rather than go down the traditional route of locking everything down or pursuing perimeter-based security models , they need to provide a secure , frictionless , productive , user-led experience required for a successful hybrid work environment . It ’ s the great balancing act of the new era of work , and where partners can provide value .
Businesses are increasingly looking to skilled partners to help them bridge that gap between anywhere working , security and user experience , and show how all three can be achieved without compromise .
How ? Let ’ s start with security , as that is really where the biggest barrier lies .
Start with security and end with user experience
When speaking to IT buyers , leading with the traditionally HR-based argument of why a user-first experience needs to be front and centre no longer works . It ’ s simply not at the top of the priority list of IT teams . While it might sound contradictory , my advice is for partners to lead with the security conversation if they want to help customers improve the user experience .
This strong focus on security is , in part , a hangover from the beginning of the pandemic when security policies were relaxed to get employees up and running at home . Partners are well-placed to help
Ossama Eldeeb , Senior Director , Partner Organisation , VMware , South EMEA ensure customers don ’ t continue to follow the perimeter-based approach to security , and instead put in place the more modern zero-trust model .
Adopting a zero-trust framework will also help IT teams fix the user experience . How ? It works on the understanding that today ’ s digital workspace no longer has perimeters , with endpoints , workstyles and applications situated everywhere . Rather than taking the traditional approach to implicitly trust anyone inside the network , zero-trust never automatically trusts anything inside or outside a company ’ s ecosystem , requiring verification of trust prior to allowing application access .
In helping customers modernise their security , partners can therefore advise
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