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Establishing user-friendly AND secure connections

Companies purchasing communications and IT support solutions want those tools to be simple and intuitive to use. After all, business solutions which replicate consumer-oriented usability can save businesses significant time and money, allowing users to collaborate seamlessly and intuitively with their colleagues and customers. This simplicity is one of the reasons why cloud-based solutions have seen such explosive growth in recent years, as companies look to technologies which can streamline operations regardless of location and outsource infrastructure management to third-party providers. While these cloud-based technologies provide a range of benefits, however, they can also introduce new complexities in a company’s security policy, such as when it comes to protecting access to sensitive applications and files.

For companies looking to equip themselves with communications and IT support solutions while ensuring strong security protocols, there are three criteria to pay attention to:

1. One consolidated solution

All-in-one solutions provide a unified security framework for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Centers as a Service (CCaaS), and support tools. This allows employees to call, meet, message, and handle support requests from a single platform and easily switch between channels within a single application, minimizing potential points of entry from outside attackers.

IT teams can also use a single management portal to collectively manage permission settings for different applications. By consolidating one vendor, companies can benefit from a high level of connectivity and reliability. Moreover, all-in-one solutions typically offer a wide range of integration options with existing CRM applications as well as collaboration tools like Slack, providing even greater control over security settings.

2. Implementing security controls

The protection of communications, support infrastructures, and data requires the use of industry-standardized security controls. Using logical access control or a perimeter protection tool, administrators reduce the risk of unauthorised application access or network traffic. Cloud solutions such as UCaaS or CCaaS also benefit from data being stored centrally so that IT managers can create backups automatically. 

In addition to malware protection and end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for written and verbal communications, it is also important to have comprehensive vulnerability management and monthly network scans. In this way, administrators always have an eye on their remote work solution. Via logs, they are immediately informed in the event of suspicious cases and can quickly counteract any misuse of data. The functions work largely in the background and only have a minor impact on the use of the communications software, offering high level security and data protection.

3. A dedicated security team

A mature business continuity plan ensures that all teams are fully functional even when working remotely. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has proven useful to increase network capacity as well as the ability to move traffic. In this way, IT can avoid what is known as a single point of failure. Monitoring all cloud services around the clock helps to meet or even exceed a company’s data protection and security standards.

Whether malware, phishing attacks, fake websites, spammers, or scammers, the increase in remote work during the pandemic has caused the number of cyber attacks to skyrocket in many industries.

Businesses must now adopt risk-based authentication solutions to combat this stark increase in cyber criminality. Platforms that detect suspicious behaviour in user profiles, even when logging in remotely from a non-authorised device, can prevent hacker access while adding an extra layer of security. Meanwhile, employees are left to benefit from user-friendly, simple login processes via single sign-on to quickly access data and virtual meetings.