We all used to know exactly what an office was and what it meant to “go to work.” Except for certain fieldwork, the traditional definition of being in the office or “at work” is increasingly disassociated from a single physical building. What now defines the office is much more of a virtual perimeter, which aspects like network access and endpoint devices conveniently define. As flexible workforce models stretch that perimeter further, organisations must rethink their cybersecurity strategies.
Organisations are wrestling to disentangle work from a physical location as they adjust to flexible work models, and one of the biggest challenges has been dealing with endpoint security. Securing endpoint devices is often considered secondary to identity management, data security, and software hacking. The truth is that endpoint security became a front-and-center issue when remote workers started using a hodgepodge of devices at the beginning of the pandemic. As the world has moved from hybrid work by necessity to hybrid work by design, organisations have started to recognise the true value of investing in upgraded and secure devices.
When IDC surveyed cross-regional IT decision-makers earlier in 2023 about their biggest organisational concerns relative to remote and flexible work models, 44% cited security across endpoints, networks, applications, and the cloud (up from 40% in 2021). In 2023, 41% cited trusting employees to keep corporate resources and client data secure as a challenge. When comparing longitudinal data, it is striking that concerns about managing multiple devices and operating systems more than doubled between 2021 and 2023, from 15% to 33%.
Why device security matters for the future of work
Device security is critical for its own sake and as one step in building a much broader culture of trust that must be established within organisations. Flexible work models in particular demand that employers are confident with corporate devices and their expanded use as artificial intelligence (AI) enables or connects more and more devices. Hardware vendors are increasingly aware of how important it is to reinforce security measures (e.g., bios-level security) as the parameters of the virtual office become more expansive.
Meanwhile, back in the physical office space, organisations are investing heavily in redesigning physical places to better connect to virtual meeting environments that enhance communication, collaboration, and teamwork. About 39% of organisations that IDC surveyed noted they will prioritise dedicated collaboration spaces and conference rooms when redesigning work facilities in 2023 and 2024. These investments matter because they signal a growing recognition that purpose-built hardware and software are increasingly interconnecting digital and physical spaces. These tools are designed to magnify human connections and remove technical concerns that could interfere, such as ease of securely accessing laptops, networks, applications, and data stores.
Read more about the threat landscape in HP’s latest Threat Insights Report.
