Market research company IDC and Microsoft hosted an exclusive webinar featuring industry experts to discuss business continuity and its challenges, as regional and global organisations maintain the remote working standard
The session entitled 'Powering Through Together' explored the recent rise in the use of cloud technologies and collaborative tools and urged business leaders to adopt a holistic approach to cybersecurity while ensuring their workforce 's productivity.
Mark Walker, associate vice-president, Vertical Industries for IDC Middle East and Africa, delivered the opening keynote and discussed the challenges facing leaders in unprecedented times, as well as the implications of the outlook for companies.
Business has changed significantly over all sectors in terms of priorities, customer focus, and digital transformation plans – uncertainty and risk have increased significantly.
IDC research indicates that, following an initial surge in IT investment in communication and collaborative solutions, the focus is now on accelerating digital transformation using highly secure cloud-based platforms to deliver solutions that accommodate remote work and provide reliable, secure accessibility.
Ann Johnson, Microsoft's corporate vice president of cybersecurity solutions group, shared her view of business continuity and gave business guidance to adapt and enable secure remote work options to become more operationally resilient in the short and longer term.
“Cybersecurity provides the underpinning to operational resilience and business continuity as more organisations adapt to enabling secure remote work options, whether in the short or longer term,” said Johnson. “Cloud technology and artificial intelligence help unlock new capabilities to extend the power across endpoints, networks, data, applications, and infrastructure to improve productivity and collaboration as we must also be empathetic to the end user experience during times of constant disruption.”
During the webinar, Middle East and Africa experts from Microsoft highlighted important security strategies that can help organisations improve their security posture.
Mina Nagy, Azure Security lead shared best practices for security professionals on how an organisation can make its remote workforce secure and manageable. And Mehmet Uner, the services strategy lead, discussed ways to enable secure access to cloud and on-site applications for all devices with ease of modern management capabilities.
The session has also hosted a panel discussion with Financial Services industry participants. Yuri Misnik, group technology office at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), shared insights about the strategy that was put in place while implementing remote work procedures.
“Security of our customers and their data is our top priority. Our model is one of continuous improvement across all functions of the group, this discipline that gives us confidence that we will stay one step ahead of the emerging threats and determined adversaries.?” concluded Misnik.
