Amid Coronavirus Concerns, Remote Work Could Become the Norm

Covid-19, which has infected nearly 100,000 people around the world as of this writing, is now also disrupting enterprises, forcing management teams to reconsider how they do business and how they can drive the most value from remote work.

Earlier this week Google and Twitter told thousands of their employees to work from home as a precautionary measure to help stop the spread of the virus. Analysts believe the coronavirus could lead to employee absenteeism as high as 40 percent, with severe operational consequences. In heavily infected areas, numerous workplaces have shut down altogether and public transportation is being avoided.

To enable employees to work from home during such an emergency (which is likely to become more common if the coronavirus cannot be contained), organizations require IT solutions that help them maintain business as usual, even if key employees are not able to come into the office.

Ensuring business continuity for employees working from home

We here at CTERA hope your organization stays healthy and safe throughout this global crisis. But the reality is that many enterprises are already feeling the impact of coronavirus, and IT leaders must seriously think about the ability of their employees to productively work from home during an emergency.

If you are new to CTERA or an existing customer, CTERA can provide your employees with secure access to their work files from home through a simple, familiar experience from their laptops, mobile devices, or a web interface.

CTERA customers can leverage the built-in agility of our platform to meet various remote work needs through several key features in CTERA Drive, including:

• File services anywhere – Files can be accessed and shared with anyone from any Windows, iOS, or Linux device. Users enjoy desktop access to any number of cloud-based folders and files, helping enterprises maximize productivity regardless of the physical storage on users’ laptops. What’s more, endpoint backup is delivered through CTERA Drive, enabling file-level data protection for remote workers as well.
• Secure, private data access – CTERA’s data replication protocol acts as a built-in VPN, providing AES-256 encrypted access to the enterprise’s private cloud that no third party can access. Work from home or from the coffee shop: your files are protected. It’s the primary reason Fortune 100 customers choose CTERA for file sharing and collaboration.
• Network efficiency and uptime – The same data replication protocol also includes deduplication/network optimization technologies, which means your users don’t need high-powered home modems and internet connections to work productively.
• Unified, modern collaboration – Depending on the situation, organizations might have to close certain offices while keeping others open. CTERA’s software-defined platform can seamlessly bridge this sort of atypical operation. Remote users’ CTERA Drive clients and offices’ CTERA Edge Filers both continuously sync with the CTERA global file system (aka CTERA Portal), which enables any number of users or any number of sites to edit, collaborate, and share files as if they were working under one roof.
• Mobile access – The CTERA Mobile app completes the continuum of simple user access, with full data control from any Android, iOS or Windows mobile device. Even if users use personal smartphones to work, the CTERA sync protocol ensures complete data privacy.

As the coronavirus continues to spread, organizations face several urgent health and operational challenges. It is imperative that all possible measures be taken to protect employee well-being, while at the same time minimizing the virus’s impact on business operations to the greatest extent possible.

We are standing by to help with any remote work and file services needs you have as your organization prepares for and copes with this dangerous situation with minimal business disruption.