ALYSSA BLACKBURN
BALANCING RISK AND PRODUCTIVITY IN A HYBRID WORLD By Alyssa Blackburn, Director of Information Management, AvePoint With Australia leading its global counterparts in the
have highlighted the reality that today’s workplaces
shift to hybrid working, local business leaders have
face constant and significant security risks. Whether
been faced with the challenge of not ‘if’ but ‘how’
these are well-funded international crime syndicates
to make hybrid teams, environments and project
using email scams, human error by local teams over-
management work as effectively as possible. Many
reliant on manual processes or data management
executives are still concerned about optimising the
plans (or lack thereof) that involve storing data for
productivity of hybrid workplaces while others are
longer than needed, every business has risks that are
deterred by the cyber risks that come with a digital-
unique to its operations and industry.
first workforce. In fact, any business that has information carries However, focusing solely on either of these business
risk. For years, businesses have competed and
challenges will lead organisations to miss finding the
innovated to get as much customer and prospect
balance between risk and productivity that ensures
data as possible. Data was seen as the end-goal.
teams are collaborating safely while staying engaged.
Today, as has been proven by data breaches in some
Cybercrime continues to rise and many employees
of Australia’s largest organisations, businesses
are likely to leave a company if flexibility and hybrid
are starting to recognise data is an asset, but also
ways of working are not available. Consequently,
a liability.
understanding the implications of hybrid working on the business’ risk and productivity, and then
Consumers have been quick to recognise this and
implementing strategies to minimise risk and
are holding businesses accountable. It is no longer
maximise productivity, need to be front and centre in
acceptable for businesses to treat data security and
boardroom discussions.
management as a secondary business priority. There are effective steps every business can take in the
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TAKING A PROACTIVE APPROACH TO MANAGING HYBRID WORKPLACE RISK
short and long term to prevent cybersecurity threats
Recent data breaches and cybersecurity attacks on
with treating data protection as one of the most
high-profile companies across a range of industries
important business issues an organisation faces
W O M E N I N S E C U R I T Y M A G A Z I N E
and mitigate the risks of data breaches. These start
J A N U A RY • F E B R U A RY 2023
