New survey reveals impact of pandemic on business productivity, performance and security

A new survey of 500 IT professionals at companies of at least 1,000 employees in the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Ireland and the UK., revealed that the transition to widespread remote work presented myriad business challenges and security risks for the employees on the front lines of IT security.

The 2020 Work-From-Home IT Impact Study by Sectigo and Wakefield Research survey was conducted across industries and includes additional insights on IT professionals in U.S. banking to capture challenges in their field. While many IT professionals saw an increase in employee productivity at their company, they also saw new and dangerous risks emerge—and despite the clear and present danger, many companies remain at-risk as proven long-term IT security strategies have not been fully implemented.

In all, 86 percent of IT professionals report challenges in managing the digital identity of users, devices, and processes at their companies. In the U.S. banking industry, the rise of risk is even more dire: 93 percent report challenges to managing digital identity of users, devices, and processes at their companies.
Nearly half (49 percent) of IT professionals feel employee productivity at their company has increased since the start of widespread remote work, while another 35 percent feel it’s stayed consistent. Only 16 percent say productivity decreased.
As they adjusted to this new work model, companies bottom lines were affected: 38 percent of IT professionals say their company delayed revenue-generating initiatives for 4+ weeks as a result of adjusting to widespread remote work.
Despite risks, nearly 3 in 5 IT professionals (59 percent) expect the number of remote workers to increase after offices reopen. This includes 17 percent who expect it to increase significantly. IT professionals working in U.S. banking are even more optimistic: 72 percent expect an increase in remote work.
Nearly 2 in 5 companies put revenue-generating projects on hold during the first month of the lockdown, instead reallocating those resources to ensure that their remote work systems were operational with minimal downtime.
44 percent of companies delayed cybersecurity initiatives for one month or more while they focused on remote work setup.

This report is online at The Sectigo “2020 Work-from-Home IT Impact Study” is available for download at https://sectigo.com/resource-library/2020-work-from-home-it-impact-study

In today's rapidly evolving security landscape, organizations face an ever-growing array of disruptive events, security threats and risks. Traditional reactive approaches to security intelligence often leave businesses vulnerable and ill-prepared to anticipate and mitigate emerging threats that could impact the safety of their people, facilities or operations.

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