We recently commissioned the largest global survey into secure digital communications and workplace productivity, speaking with over 6,000 employees and 850 IT decision makers in Europe and the US. Our report, Freedom to Focus: Securely empowered employees, protected businesses, investigates the state of cybersecurity in wake of hybrid working and escalating digital transformation.
Haven’t read the report yet? Here’s a brief insight into our findings.
Pitching a bold new marketing campaign. Crafting a killer sales deck for a new prospect. Implementing a smart new system to drive financial efficiency. Whatever the task at hand, employees produce the best possible outcomes when they feel empowered to make decisions and can concentrate fully on what they’re doing.
So it’s no surprise that 98% of employees in our research agreed that it’s important to be free to focus on their core role at work this year.
Yet today’s workplaces are filled with distractions and friction, preventing employees from focusing on their most important work.
We learned that the biggest barriers to employee focus are:
- 41% too much bureaucracy and process overload
- 29% worrying about other work-related issues
- 27% time consuming security processes and protocols
- 26% too many different IT systems
Distractions have been exacerbated by remote working in the last two years: over half of employees (55%) have increased the number and type of tools they use to share information for work purposes.
More tools, more problems?
The result? A combination of collaborative noise and IT friction means employees are less able to focus, feel more stressed, and are even at greater risk of causing data security leaks.
That’s not to say that using a range of collaboration tools is a bad thing; these platforms have been critical to ensuring business continuity during the pandemic. But there is a clear tension between employees’ desire for the freedom to focus and the way they currently operate.
But how exactly are employees personally impacted by an increase in the number and type of collaboration tools, and what is the impact on digital security?
How are progressive IT leaders meeting these cybersecurity challenges head on?
Is security training the solution? Or is it time to change our approach?
Download the free report to find out and hear from cybersecurity experts including:
- Steve Bond, Information Rights Manager, Open University
- Martin Viech, Freelance Writer, Analyst and Contributing Editor at IDG Connect
- Shira Rubinoff, Cybersecurity Executive, Advisor and Author
