IDC EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS Sponsored by: Citrix The Great Remote Working Transition: How Well Prepared Are ANZ Enterprises? June 2020 Written by: Simon Piff, Vice President, Security Practice, IDC Asia/Pacific Introduction As lockdown restrictions ease and organisations make plans to enter a new phase of transition and normalcy, those that support their workforces with an effective and secure remote working solution will have a distinct advantage. According to a recent IDC survey, commissioned by Citrix to better understand the preparedness of Asia/Pacific organisations for remote working, all respondents surveyed across the 10 markets said they need remote working capabilities — in Australia and New Zealand, slightly more than one-third, or 32.7%, do not have such capabilities. Aligning with other research that IDC has done, the results reflect the importance of remote working as part of any effective digital resiliency program. Remote Working Driven by Necessity The shuttering of and restrictions on businesses to maintain social distancing throw the spotlight on a remote workforce as a prerequisite to maintaining business continuity and mitigating risk during times of business disruption. When asked what drove their organisation’s desire to provision remote working technologies, it is clear the COVID-19 pandemic served as an impetus. As shown in Figure 1, there was a significantly lower percentage (16.4%) of those across the regional sample who had "been planning for a while as part of their business continuity plans", The COVID-19 health crisis underlines a critical need for secure remote working as businesses across the Asia/Pacific region meet the challenge of ensuring business continuity head on. Commissioned by Citrix, IDC surveyed 342 IT decision makers and influencers of organisations with a global workforce of at least 500 employees. The online survey took place between April and May 2020 across 10 markets: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. KEY STATS » 67.3% of enterprises in Australia and New Zealand versus 64.6% of Asia/Pacific enterprises are currently offering remote working solutions. » 49.1% of enterprises in Australia and New Zealand versus 55% of Asia/Pacific enterprises are offering remote working to all employees. WHAT’S IMPORTANT IDC believes remote working is essential for sustainable business operations, both now and in the next normal working scenario as the pandemic subsides. Among the key benefits: » For employees : Increased productivity due to not having to commute to a workplace; more flexibility to juggle family and caring responsibilities » For employers : Potential cost savings include accessing a larger talent pool as they are not limited by geographic area or location; more engaged, motivated, and productive employees. AT A GLANCE Secure connectivity and access to business applications and tools take on strategic importance as remote working becomes part of the future of work.
Transcript
IDC EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS Sponsored by: Citrix
The Great Remote Working Transition: How Well Prepared Are ANZ Enterprises? June 2020
Written by: Simon Piff, Vice President, Security Practice, IDC Asia/Pacific
Introduction As lockdown restrictions ease and organisations make plans to enter a new phase of transition and normalcy, those that support their workforces with an effective and secure remote working solution will have a distinct advantage.
According to a recent IDC survey, commissioned by Citrix to better understand the preparedness of Asia/Pacific organisations for remote working, all respondents surveyed across the 10 markets said they need remote working capabilities — in Australia and New Zealand, slightly more than one-third, or 32.7%, do not have such capabilities.
Aligning with other research that IDC has done, the results reflect the importance of remote working as part of any effective digital resiliency program.
Remote Working Driven by Necessity The shuttering of and restrictions on businesses to maintain social distancing throw the spotlight on a remote workforce as a prerequisite to maintaining business continuity and mitigating risk during times of business disruption.
When asked what drove their organisation’s desire to provision remote working technologies, it is clear the COVID-19 pandemic served as an impetus.
As shown in Figure 1, there was a significantly lower percentage (16.4%) of those across the regional sample who had "been planning for a while as part of their business continuity plans",
The COVID-19 health crisis underlines a critical need for secure remote working as businesses across the Asia/Pacific region meet the challenge of ensuring business continuity head on. Commissioned by Citrix, IDC surveyed 342 IT decision makers and influencers of organisations with a global workforce of at least 500 employees. The online survey took place between April and May 2020 across 10 markets: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
KEY STATS
» 67.3% of enterprises in Australia and New Zealand versus 64.6% of Asia/Pacific enterprises are currently offering remote working solutions.
» 49.1% of enterprises in Australia and New Zealand versus 55% of Asia/Pacific enterprises are offering remote working to all employees.
WHAT’S IMPORTANT
IDC believes remote working is essential for sustainable business operations, both now and in the next normal working scenario as the pandemic subsides. Among the key benefits:
» For employees: Increased productivity due to not having to commute to a workplace; more flexibility to juggle family and caring responsibilities
» For employers: Potential cost savings include accessing a larger talent pool as they are not limited by geographic area or location; more engaged, motivated, and productive employees.
AT A GLANCE
Secure connectivity and access to business applications and tools take on strategic importance as remote working becomes part of the future of work.
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compared to 47.3% who acknowledged the pandemic as "an imperative" for investing in remote working solutions. For 40% of respondents, remote working is notably part of their existing business continuity or digital transformation roadmap.
FIGURE 1: COVID-19 Has Made Remote Working an Imperative Q What is driving your desire to provision remote working technologies now?
Source: IDC-Citrix Business Continuity Flash Study, 2020 (N=342 Asia/Pacific, 55 Australia and New Zealand)
Despite the strong acknowledgement of remote working, the percentage of respondent organisations that are still "currently considering" making the necessary technology investment reflects a gap between knowing and not doing much about it (see Figure 2).
FIGURE 2: Some Still Reticent About Investing in Remote Working Technology
Source: IDC-Citrix Business Continuity Flash Study, 2020 (N=342 Asia/Pacific, 55 Australia and New Zealand)
In terms of the extent and breadth of deployment, the survey showed some differences across the respondent pool. As shown in Figure 3, over one-third (38.2%) of respondents surveyed had no access to a device for remote working, raising both access and security concerns around BYOD offerings as alternatives. Considering the tools needed to facilitate remote working solutions, it raises the concern that unsecured non-corporate devices are able to access the range of tools (e.g., email, collaboration, business applications and files) from a device that probably does not conform to an organisation's security policies and requirements. As observed, the majority (78.2%) of respondents have access to email, and collaboration tools, and 63.6% to business applications; however, across the board this is lower than the Asia/Pacific average.
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FIGURE 3: Email and Business Collaboration Tools Top the List Q Do your employees have access to these for remote working?
Source: IDC-Citrix Business Continuity Flash Study, 2020 (N=342 Asia/Pacific, 55 Australia and New Zealand)
Different Strokes for Different Folks As every organisation comes to terms with remote working, it is clear there are different views. For one, 38.2% of respondents believe that they would be able to scale back or remove this remote working offering, compared to 25.5% who have provided remote working to all employees and anticipate that this level will continue even after the pandemic subsides. A lower 12.7% of enterprises have not deployed but believe they will only offer restricted access, should they provide any at all.
This approach should be reviewed, considering the results of another survey. According to IDC's Future of Work Employee Study 2020, 29% of Australia and New Zealand employees surveyed cited a lack of access to remote working solutions as a roadblock to their organisation’s overall success. Motivated individuals want to be able to work from wherever is most convenient.
Confidence in organisational security remains high, with 80% of respondents agreeing that remote working access to their organisation is secured. That said, concerns remain; chief among them is the security of work-related files, followed by remote user authentication and malware. (see Figure 4).
FIGURE 4: Top Cybersecurity Concerns Q When considering remote working implementation, what are your top security concerns?
Source: IDC-Citrix Business Continuity Flash Study, 2020 (N=342 Asia/Pacific, 55 Australia and New Zealand)
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As far as the barriers to deploying remote working solutions go, a small percentage of organisations noted that they had to address either budget (3.6%) or skills (9.1%) issues to be able to consider this approach. Other organisations have been challenged by employee access to either a device (38.2%) or the requisite connectivity (23.6%).
In many cases, management culture is as much a barrier to adoption as anything else, as shown by access restricted to either leadership or IT-only roles. Slightly less than one-quarter (23.6%) of Australia and New Zealand respondents said they consider providing employees remote working on a case-by-case basis, which IDC believes is the correct way to address this issue, while 7.3% of organizations provide to lines of business only and 9.1%, which is the highest in the Asia/Pacific region, provide to only the C-suite.
Permitting remote access to only a few leadership roles diminishes the value of this as a tool to drive productivity, recruitment, and overall business performance, so a broad case-by-case approach that looks to only exclude those that implicitly do not need such access would be the proposed approach by IDC.
FIGURE 5: Who Has Remote Working Access Q When considering your remote working needs, what are the roles will this be offered to?
Source: IDC-Citrix Business Continuity Flash Study, 2020 (N=342 Asia/Pacific, 55 Australia and New Zealand)
Secured Remote Working: Delivering the Best Experience for the Workforce In the pursuit of productivity without sacrificing security, the technology investments that respondents cited as their top 5 to support the new remote working culture are: firewall, network monitoring, data loss prevention (DLP), end-user monitoring and behavioural analytics, followed by governance, risk and compliance management.
IDC believes it is not only possible to deliver secured remote working but also a user-centric experience to help boost employee productivity. IDC's Future of Work Employee Survey bears out the importance and value of ensuring that employees have secure remote working capabilities: 63.9% of Australia and New Zealand respondents cited productivity gains.
Amid the backdrop of global uncertainties, the drumbeat of innovation for every business must continue as Asia/Pacific organisations find ways to minimise business disruption and empower employees. As IDC's research shows, saving on commute time and more flexibility for family and caring responsibilities offer better work-life balance which, in turn, means more motivated, productive, and engaged employees. With the additional prospect of access to a larger pool of talent, employers that fail to capitalise on remote working solutions risk falling behind in today's increasingly digital world. As the situation during the pandemic has showed, businesses that maintain online interactions enjoy an advantage in nurturing all touchpoints as virtual becomes a must have to meet customer engagement needs.
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About the analyst:
Simon Piff, Vice President, Security Practice, IDC Asia/Pacific
Simon Piff is Vice President for IDC's Asia/Pacific Security Practice. Based in Singapore, he advises both technology and business leaders as well as IT suppliers on digital transformation, the CIO agenda, and digital trust, as they relate to the ability of organisations to gain improved returns on their IT investments around hybrid cloud infrastructure, mobile productivity, the value of analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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