Increased productivity means increased security risk

For better or for worse, we take our computing devices everywhere. From the beach to the boardroom, we use our laptops to take notes, do research, watch cat videos, and stay in touch with our networks of friends and colleagues. There’s no argument that it’s convenient, but for your IT staff these devices on the move can be a nightmare when it comes to keeping them—and by extension all other company IT assets—secure. 

As our devices, from cell phones to laptops, become more sophisticated, feature-rich, and always connected, we increasingly use them for both work and pleasure. Your employees might take a work-provided laptop to do a little work on a plane, watch some Netflix at home, or download a new app that promises to help them stay organized. In sum, when work and play are often intertwined, employees are using their laptops for anything and everything they encounter in their lives. This means that an IT staff has to keep a handle on what any given laptop might do at any given time, especially if it’s something that would affect the security of other devices and the network. 

The Distributed Workforce Nightmare

Here’s a story of a company that successfully moved their staff in numerous locations while seamlessly maintaining the security of their network and confidential data. This specialty corporate recruiting firm matches bilingual and multilingual employees with companies that need US-based staff with language and cultural knowledge to support international expansion strategies. To serve their clients in every major economic center across the US, this firm placed staff in those markets, and as we all know, for every person, there is at least one laptop. With staff and laptops distributed across the country, they were challenged in managing those IT assets, and couldn’t ignore the security risk of unsupervised staff left largely to their own devices to configure, manage, and use their computers.

The firm looked for a solution that would automatically monitor and manage over 100 laptops in over a dozen geographically distributed offices. The company chose LanScope Cat to deliver them a centralized platform to manage their distributed IT assets. With LanScope Cat, new laptops are automatically detected when they connect to the corporate network and added to the centralized inventory. From there they are managed through a centralized dashboard view of all employee laptops in use. LanScope Cat manages operating system versions, installed applications, hardware assignments, and warranty and replacement life cycles. 

To secure the firm’s data, LanScope Cat records each laptop’s internet usage and enforces IT policies in real time by blocking or warning certain sites and apps, helping staff understand what is good and risky behavior on their laptops. Allowed behavior proceeds seamlessly so as not to interfere with the staff completing their tasks, but activity is logged and analyzed. From this wealth of information, the firm can investigate to find the source of issues when they arise, provide audit and compliance reports as needed, and review and update their policies on a regular basis to keep the workforce productive.  

Rest Easy with Centralized Asset Management

With LanScope Cat, this recruiting firm upheld security, smoothed the way for the expansion of their business, and standardized and protected the activity of their distributed workforce. Learn more today about how LanScope Cat can enable you to securely grow and protect your most sensitive assets.