When done properly, remote access can enhance employee productivity and generally make your organization run that much more smoothly, without compromising security. When done wrong, though, remote access can be a frustrating experience for users, while exposing your organization to security risks such as data theft, malware, and ransomware. In this post we’ll provide some remote access guidelines and best practices that will help your company provide secure, and convenient access for employees who need to work remotely.
Best Practices for Remote Access
If you want employees to have a safe and stress-free remote working experience, here are some best practices to follow.
Safety First
The most common source of security problems in remote access solutions are employees who are careless. That’s why it’s important to have clear guidelines for remote access. The IT department can also take steps to enhance security by minimizing opportunities for employees to engage in unsafe online practices. See our post on Remote Access Security – Best Practices for details on things you can do to keep your remote desktops secure.
Develop a Remote Access Plan
In some organizations, remote access evolves over time in a haphazard fashion. Different departments or even individuals may implement different types of remote access for different purposes. This can lead to confusion and expose the company to unnecessary security risks.
The first step in developing a remote access plan is to make sure you understand the company’s remote access requirements. Some of the different ways in which companies use remote access include:
- Remote access to the entire company network (e.g., using a VPN)
The traditional way of letting users work remotely is to give them a laptop fully loaded with any necessary software, and then letting them access the corporate network on the go using a virtual private network (VPN). However, VPN connection problems are an all too common complaint, resulting in frustration and loss of productivity for both users and helpdesk support staff.
- Remote access to company data stored on a third-party cloud-based service
A number of secure cloud-based services are available for storing and retrieving organizational data from outside of the office (e.g., Microsoft OneDrive). However, employees may not always have access to the necessary applications or computing power to work with their files as needed. - Remote assistance solutions
Remote assistance solutions, such as those typically used in tech support, are often mentioned as a possible remote access alternative. Generally speaking, though, remote assistance solutions require the user to grant permission to the remote support person in real-time, and thus may not be a feasible solution for round-the-clock access. - Virtual client computing & remote desktop solutions
Many companies use RDP-based solutions to deliver secure remote access to organizational resources that are physically located in the office (e.g., virtual or remote desktops and published applications). This approach offers both cost savings and improved security, allowing employees to harness the superior capabilities of an office desktop from a simpler device such as a Chromebook or a tablet.
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!
The easier it is for employees to work remotely using IT-sanctioned solutions, the better it will be for organizational productivity AND security.
- A clientless remote access solution that requires no software on the endpoint device makes it easier to let users work on any available device, without exposing your data to needless risk.
- A remote access solution that supports SSO (single sign-on) can further simplify things by streamlining authentication to the user’s remote work environment, while also enhancing remote access security.
Tip: Learn more about the benefits of SSO in our post What Extending Single Sign-On (SSO) to Remote Desktops Means for Cloud Migration.
Conclusion
Following remote access best practices will allow your users to work remotely without frustration, and without compromising the security of your company’s network or data. State of the art remote desktop solutions, such as Ericom Connect, can give users an easy to use remote desktop, at an attractive cost, with a high level of security. Try an online demo now!
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