The way in which we work has completely changed. The office is no longer the only - or even the default - choice for employees to get all of their work done. Digital connectivity enables workers to stay in touch with HQ around the clock and remain productive from anywhere in the world. Over the last five years in the USA alone, remote working has surged by 44%, while it's predicted 50% of employees in the UK will be working remotely by the end of 2020. Add to this the fact that, at the time of writing, an increasing number of companies are having to temporarily close centrally-located offices and encourage employees to work from home.
There’s no doubting the business benefits of mobile working – including greater productivity, lower operating costs, and increased staff morale leading to higher talent retention. However, the lingering concern is an increased risk of employees leaking sensitive data, either accidentally or maliciously, via their mobile device. And that makes sense; it’s only natural that on-the-go employees end up making more mistakes. One example I recently heard about was an employee sending emails while travelling who, using their 'off hand' for their mobile device while carrying luggage in their dominant hand, ended up sending an email containing sensitive data to the wrong person.
Cue a breach of security and phone calls from regulators threatening financial penalties.
We hear about instances like this from companies all the time. Which is why it’s absolutely critical to empower employees with tools that appropriately secure confidential email content however they choose to work. That way, remote workers still remain productive and, better still, the organisation minimises the threat of a security breach.
We've developed and built a secure mobile app that makes it quick and easy for users to not only read but also respond to Egress-encrypted emails, which is great for fast-tracking sensitive information flows when out of the office. And with just a couple of taps, employees can apply the right level of protection to their emails, making sure that the quest for ultimate efficiency and mobility doesn’t come at the expense of data security and keeping information safe.
Something that’s particularly exciting about the app is that, just like with Egress Protect on desktop, you can use it to manage and control your sent items after they have left your outbox. We’ve all worked on a sensitive project where, for whatever reason, a colleague of third party no longer has the authorisation to access specific information. Within the app, you can track when recipients have viewed an email and even fully revoke access altogether so that for anyone who suddenly no longer has the authority to view certain content, immediately blocking them for reading the email message and any attachments. This gives you complete security when protecting sensitive data.
Ultimately, people are the new perimeter when it comes to email data security and the surge in remote working only serves to illustrate this further. As we increasingly work away from the office, security doesn’t need to be sacrificed to tap into the inevitable benefits in productivity. With tools to make email security quick and easy from anywhere, working on the go can now be both productive and safe.