Hybrid work needs to move on from pandemic-era tech

When the pandemic-inspired lockdowns hit in 2020, businesses rushed to established technologies like VPNs in order to support remote working.

But new research conducted by Gartner Peer Insights for Citrix Systems shows 96 percent of IT leaders think these technologies no longer cut it and are rethinking their approach.

Of the organizations that participated in the poll, 96 percent have a hybrid work policy or allow both fully remote and hybrid work, while 85 percent say their workforce is more geographically dispersed than it was two years ago. In addition 75 percent have seen an increase in the number of seasonal, contract, or freelance workers.

But remote work solutions are seen to be falling short in a number of areas. 96 percent of respondents say they fail to protect against additional security risks posed by employees working from anywhere. They create a digital divide between in-office and remote employees (63 percent), don't provide a consistent user experience (46 percent) and hinder efficient collaboration among distributed employees (46 percent). They also don't support bring-your-own-device initiatives (33 percent) and are difficult to scale and manage (25 percent).

In order to provide a more consistent and secure experience for employees regardless of where they work, enterprises are turning to other technologies including virtual desktop infrastructure (69 percent), virtual apps and desktops (56 percent), desktops-as-a-service (42 percent) and zero trust network access (34 percent).

"Hybrid work is the future of work," says Tim Minahan, executive vice president of strategy at Citrix. "Innovative organizations recognize this and are reimagining the solutions used to support it so they can deliver it today."

When asked what they wanted their hybrid work solutions to provide, the top three benefits cited by respondents are: providing layered protection for all devices on the network, including unmanaged and BYOD devices; creating an equitable work experience by providing employees with consistent and reliable access to applications and data regardless of where they're working; and providing layered protection and consistent security management for all applications.

You can find out more on the Citrix site.

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