To what extent do you expect remote working to cause device management and device security challenges over the next 12 months?
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Main motivations for implementing advanced remote device management capabilities
[3 maximum]
How significant have the following factors been in the IT PC/client estate management challenges you have faced?
Remote working
7.7
Cyber security breaches/risks
7.4
Increasing IT workload
7.4
Increasing number of devices
7.1
Volume of patching
6.9
Increasing diversity of devices
6.6
Increasing geographical spread of devices
6.3
Modern manageability
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The coronavirus lockdown has been the ultimate proof-of-concept for mobile, flexible working – demonstrating beyond doubt that the perimeter of any organisation is no longer the office or the corporate firewall. It now extends to wherever the furthest-away employee or connected device happens to be in the world.
Whatever device an employee is using, it will host, store, process, or access internal applications, data, and services, many of which may involve sensitive or privileged information. In that environment – and with so much device variety – trust, authentication, management, and security are critical factors.
Keeping devices secure
73
%
73
of IT leaders believe keeping devices secure will become a much bigger challenge in the years ahead
%
Key Findings
The most important functions to have were cited as:
67% Multi-factor authentication
45% Cloud-based administration
51% End-to-end session encryption
The need for management
1% 2
1% 1
8% 5
5% 4
3% 3
Introduction | Key findings | Big picture | Remote working | Management musts | The hardware | Security & trust | The future | Sponsor info
41
%
150
Taking charge of your increasingly remote, diverse, and numerous endpoint devices
Even if a device was trusted yesterday, can IT managers assume that its user today is the same person? And what about automated devices at the Edge, such as sensors, which merely feed data to other systems?
The big question
So how can IT teams manage and secure all of the organisation’s endpoints – wherever they happen to be?
Computing wanted to gain insights into how they are coping with these challenges, so we spoke to 150 IT leaders in medium to large organisations across all major sectors of the economy – 100 percent of whom are professionals actively involved in using, procuring, testing, and evaluating the IT estate.
Keeping devices updated
57
%
The big picture – and the details
Many IT leaders* believe the following issues will become even bigger device management challenges than they already are, over time:
Clearly, security tops the IT leaders’ agenda in this new world. But security in what situations? And what are the other key challenges in this environment?
*Respondents who said the challenge will increase, either slightly or greatly
On a scale of 1 to 10, ‘1’ being ‘not at all’ and ‘10’ being ‘extremely significant’
As you can see, remote working, cybersecurity breaches and risks, and the increasing numbers of connected devices are all perceived as being the most significant factors dictating a need for smarter IT estate management.
The increased diversity of devices, their geographical spread, and the volume of security patches and updates are also seen as significant by most respondents – along with the increasing workload of IT departments (no surprise there).
On a scale of 1 to 10, ‘1’ being ‘not at all’ and ‘10’ being ‘a great extent’
77
%
Just 4% of leaders felt
that device management challenges wouldn't increase that much over the next 12 months
4
%
However 77% felt that remote working would cause significant increases to device security challenges over the next year
The lockdown has forced the issue in many organisations, and IT leaders are only too aware that this way of working may become the new normal. In this new world, securing and authenticating remote, flexible working will be of paramount importance.
Clearly, the demands on IT teams to keep different devices up-to-date, secure, and able to do their jobs are greater than ever. As OS updates stack up, testing time increases, and as the cost of security breaches multiplies, IT workloads grow – taking in regulatory compliance too.
It stands to reason that the IT team can’t be as lax on security as the average worker may be, sat in their home office with the company laptop or in a cafe with their own tablet. Manageability today means IT leaders being able to take charge of every endpoint in an increasingly remote and diverse environment.
So how are IT leaders doing in this regard?
Stayed the same
Decreased greatly
Increased greatly
Increased slightly
How has the financial cost of IT PC/client estate management at your organisation changed over the past two years?
Decreased slightly
But it’s not just about employee hardware. IoT and Edge devices and other endpoints across the internet are even more prone to downtime, and may come in a variety of different processor flavours that are optimised for low power consumption, low cost, and tasks such as AI and ML inference.
It’s vital that organisations explore the cost and benefits of endpoint management and look for the right solution – and at the potential costs of failing to do so. This latter group of costs may come in the form of lost trust and reputation, but equally may be financial.
21
%
For 60% of IT leaders the financial cost of IT PC/client estate management has increased over the last two years
60
%
While 21% reported costs actually decreasing
Processing the facts
Intel processors easily dominate respondents’ PC hardware platforms.
PC Processor mix deployed in current hardware platforms
Intel Core vPro®
73
%
Other Intel
54
%
AMD Ryzen Pro
19
%
Other AMD
12
%
So, security and remote working are linked in IT leaders’ minds as risks that demand both insights and robust, agile management.
The need for constant authentication
The challenge for IT managers is that many current solutions lack the ability to provide end-to-end visibility, security, and trust in such a complex and fast-expanding environment. It is no longer sufficient to just regard some devices as trusted and others not.
So what were the main motivations for IT leaders opting for advanced remote IT management capabilities in the first place – beyond an overall desire for greater security in a world of multiplying devices, when workers are based outside company headquarters?
Security compliance topped the chart, cited by over half of respondents (51 percent), with the need for more nimble and efficient device management processes following hot on its heels (49 percent).
But internal issues are on IT leaders’ minds too: the number three motivation is reducing the IT team’s workload via dedicated management tools – chosen above the need to facilitate remote working itself.
Lesser, but still significant, are the growing IT estate (28 percent) and its complexity (23 percent) along with a desire for more accessible, cloud-based tools (28 percent).
The boom in IoT and Edge devices influenced 9 percent of organisations, which is likely to become a much more significant issue in the years ahead, as organisations strive for more sustainable, efficient, greener processes – both internally and for customers and citizens.
How efficient are your current IT PC/client estate management processes?
Asked to rate the efficiency of their current IT PC/client estate management processes on a scale from ‘1’ (very low) to ‘10’ (very high), over two-thirds opted for the 7-10 range, signifying efficient to very efficient. A further 15 percent rated themselves as ‘6’, just above middling. In total, a little over 18 percent of IT leaders rated themselves as middling to poor – though only 5 percent of respondents described themselves as poor in this category.
*On a scale of 1 to 10, ‘1’ being ‘extremely inefficient' and ‘10’ being ‘extremely efficient'
What features do you believe will be key to device management/security over the next three years?
[3 maximum]
So why are these features so critical? The only workable IT estate management model is one that authorises and authenticates every request for access, in accordance with the organisation’s internal policies – and the wider regulatory environment.
It should also give IT teams full remote management of authorised devices, regardless of what and where they are. That includes the ability to de-authorise them and erase content remotely, should they be compromised or fall into the wrong hands.
This is why remote IT estate management is a must-have for IT leaders. Many are on the journey towards having these capabilities. But the world has already changed for every type of organisation. As a result, IT teams would be well advised to invest in these capabilities now – and not wait two to three years, by which time it may be too late.
Multi-factor authentication
67%
End-to-end session encryption
51%
Cloud-based administration
45%
Securely erase a remote disk
43%
Advanced access control
43%
‘Post-perimeter’ security methods
34%
Off-domain device management capabilities
30%
Hardened device security (below OS)
30%
Cloud-based AI intelligence
24%
IoT/Edge ‘userless’ management capabilities
18%
Out-of-band (OS independent) device management capabilities
16%
There is evidence that many – but not all – see these need:
One-third strongly agree that advanced remote IT estate management capabilities are now essential, with a further 41% somewhat agreeing
1/3
The growth of cloud-based platforms and remote working has redefined cybersecurity, agree 78% of IT leaders (31% strongly)
78
%
84% of respondents agree that organisations need to look beyond perimeter-based security, regardless of workers’ locations
84
%
The consequences of absent or ineffective remote device management represent a financial risk, say over three-quarters of IT leaders (77%), while 87% believe they spell a major cybersecurity risk
87
%
Average score = 7.6
So what of the future?
Keeping devices performant
48
%
of respondents are already
using PC management tools
(including cloud-based)
55
%
A further 25% are actively implementing these tools
25
%
Just 6% have no stated intention in this space
14
%
Another 14% are planning to adopt them in the next two years
The ‘wherever I lay my device is my office’ culture of the modern workforce is making our IT estates increasingly varied, complex, and remote.
79
believe remote working will cause significant IT management challenges
%
77
believe remote working will cause cybersecurity risks to increase
%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Device management challenges
Device security challenges
0%
2%
2%
4%
6%
7%
21%
23%
26%
9%
0%
0%
3%
3%
7%
10%
16%
24%
28%
9%
Average score = 7.6
Average score = 7.6
Average score = 7.6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0%
2%
2%
4%
6%
7%
21%
23%
26%
9%
0%
0%
3%
3%
7%
10%
16%
24%
28%
9%
Device management challenges
Device security challenges
Average score = 6.9
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), a leader in the semiconductor industry, is shaping the data-centric future with computing and communications technology that is the foundation of the world’s innovations. The company’s engineering expertise is helping address the world’s greatest challenges as well as helping secure, power and connect billions of devices and the infrastructure of the smart, connected world – from the cloud to the network to the edge and everything in between.
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About the sponsor
Find out more about Intel
5%
16%
19%
53%
7%
28% 7
15% 6
3% 10
15% 9
21% 8
Visit the newsroom
Visit the website
Remote working
Visit the dedicated Computing hub
Learn more about the Intel vPro® Platform
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51%
Need to improve security compliance
5%
Desire for out-of-band (OS independent) device management capabilities
9%
Increase in IoT/Edge devices
35%
Need to reduce IT workload
23%
More diverse/complex IT estate
49%
Need for more efficient device management processes
28%
Growing IT estate
28%
Desire for cloud-based tools
34%
Facilitating/reaction to increased remote working
44%