Quick Wins + Long Term Strategies for Remote Work

A year ago, only about 3.4% of the total U.S. workforce worked remotely. Although it’s too soon to accurately count the uptick in remote work, suffice to say the number has grown exponentially since all of our lives were upended by the coronavirus pandemic.

Federal, state, and local government agencies have faced immense pressure to continue providing citizen services while also keeping their employees safe. But with such a quick and massive shift in the workforce, many agencies scrambled to cobble together work-from-home solutions. From issuing devices to deciding on collaboration platforms, they had to move fast to keep fundamental services running.

Thankfully, many agencies were able to quickly adapt – even more so due to efforts in the last two years to modernize core IT infrastructure. If this crisis had hit six months or a year earlier, many organizations would not have been in as good of a position as they are now to keep the status quo while working remotely -- but that doesn’t mean it was an easy transition, and there’s still work to do to support agency workers’ on-going productivity in this ‘new normal’.

Looking ahead, implementing a Zero Trust security model can help agencies mitigate cybersecurity issues and challenges they face with telework, both immediately and in the long-term.