Acoording to the research, with many Australian workers now either working in a ‘hybrid’ work model, or conducting most of their work remotely, the decline of face-to-face communication has led to 43% of workers feeling isolated from their team – which has ultimately impacted their work output.

Almost half (49%) of workers say that they would like to be closer or in better contact with their team members when working outside of the office. To help address issues of worker isolation, 44% of those surveyed said that better video conferencing solutions and video calling capabilities need to be implemented to bridge this ‘connection gap.’

“The number of Australian workers who are undertaking their roles remotely has grown dramatically throughout the pandemic, which is placing a real strain on businesses to ensure that teams still feel connected, and workers can carry out their tasks effectively in spite of not being in the immediate vicinity of support,” said Soti vice president of sales Asia Pacific Michael Dyson.

“Mobile technologies such as video conferencing and messaging capabilities can bridge this divide, but these devices need to be fit for purpose and managed properly.”

Alarmingly, 46% of Australian remote workers stated that they have not been provided with any additional security briefing or solutions for managing their mobile devices since they began working outside of the office.

“As Australia’s workforce has shifted to operating outside of an office environment, the security of mobile devices is critical,” added Michael.

“An unmanaged device that becomes compromised or lost is a major issue for business, especially when it exists in a remote environment and without the supervision or help of IT staff. It is now more important than ever for organisations to ensure all their mobile devices are properly managed and secured – which is why more education around device management and security needs to be supplied for remote workers.”

While mobile devices remain the bread and butter of any remote workforce, many consist of a mix of personally owned and company-supplied devices – with more than half of remoted workers (62%) using a mix of both personal and company-owned mobile devices, and 27% using only personal devices. However, this hybrid combination comes with its own challenges entirely when it comes to mobile device management (MDM) and security.

“Australian organisations need to be aware of the need to secure critical and private company information in a remote setting, and when most devices are running from home, or personally owned, the risk of this information being unsecure is much greater. Sensitive information may be protected through an enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution within one organisation, but then that information might be shared with a contractor (like an electrical contractor servicing a customer for a utility provider), who has an unmanaged device. This means that an organisation could send private information to a contractor, whose own mobile device is not secure, and the sender doesn’t know or have control over what the receiver does with that information,” ended Michael.

Implementing an integrated EMM solution, such as Soti MobiControl, will simplify the security and management of mobile devices and IoT endpoints for business-critical mobile operations. It can remotely wipe data from compromised devices and shut them down, along with preventing any sensitive information from being sent to unauthorised persons or even allowing a screenshot to be taken. Through a single, easy-to-use interface, an integrated mobile strategy allows organisations to have total control over a variety of mobile devices and operating systems while securing confidential company data – something that is increasingly important in today’s remote workforce.