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Energy Technology Musings

Changing Working Relationships Will Require Business Adjustments

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INSIGHTS & TRENDS

As economies around the world begin reopening, a question confronting the business community is how to restart operations.  The key to answering the question is determining how different the new work environment will be from what existed prior to the pandemic.  How comfortable will workers be about returning to their offices and workplaces?  Will it be like the first day of school?  There is much speculation on how the future business world will look.  We know it will be different from 2019.  The primary difference will be increased acceptance of remote working that has now become standard.

Although many employees initially struggled with the virtual communications world, most eventually mastered the art of minimizing disruptions, implementing the best visual backgrounds for calls, and establishing protocols.  What most employees did not appreciate was the security challenges their information technology departments faced as a result of the dramatic increase in remote interactions.  Cybersecurity has been an ongoing challenge for companies throughout the continued growth of email and employee computer use.  Protecting employees against phishing expeditions that endangered their workplace was the IT’s department’s foremost responsibility. 

Often remote working included operating plants and facilities, as opening and closing valves, adjusting production processes, and sending work orders and invoices all involve the use of electronic signals.  How those operations are controlled, while ensuring they are protected against unauthorized access and/or control, has now become a key responsibility for IT departments. 

Increasingly, protecting the brains and muscle of businesses is becoming the mission of IT departments.This means investing in systems that restrict and verify all the remote signals and operations corporations are embracing in today’s post-pandemic world.Software to control and protect operating units, which builds on existing cybersecurity systems, is how companies will protect their employees and operations in the evolving post-pandemic world marked by less personal and more electronic interaction.

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COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

For this Company Spotlight, we interviewed Nozomi Networks’ CEO, Edgard Capdevielle, and CMO, John Vincenzo, about how the company is bridging the cybersecurity gap between operational technology (OT) and IT. Nozomi Networks accelerates digital transformation by protecting the world’s critical infrastructure, industrial and government organizations from cyber threats. For more information on Nozomi Networks, please visit nozominetworks.com.

Background: Companies are recognizing that the number of attacks and vulnerabilities have risen to the point where they understand that it’s not a matter of if, but when they’ll need a security solution to address the risks. With the proliferation of devices connecting within organizations and the expanding threat landscape, IT and OT professionals alike are…..READ MORE

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