The expansion of remote work has been tremendously accelerated by the pandemic, and it’s now become apparent that a large distributed workforce will remain a sustained business reality. Recent surveys of hiring managers show that in 2021, many organizations expect to permanently increase their remote workforce to between one-quarter and one-third of workers.

Today, companies have turned their attention from simply ensuring business continuity to strategizing how they can best support remote employees with advanced networking technology—and make their remote workforce a competitive differentiator.

Studies have shown a range of benefits of a distributed workforce. Remote work enables more flexibility and reduced commute time, improving work-life balance and morale, which has a positive influence on productivity and employee retention. Remote work also expands access to a broader talent pool, which levels the geographic advantage of metropolitan talent centers and creates a more inclusive and accessible work culture. Less reliance on centralized office space can also create capital cost savings and reduce corporate environmental impact.

With the right networking technology, companies can set up remote workers with the same reliable, secure access to information and communication tools as office workstations. Glenn Katz, SVP and General Manager of Comcast Business Enterprise Solutions, says that he is “seeing a huge demand spike” from companies moving to a distributed workforce or a hybrid of on-premise and remote work. The company is receiving “more requests to help upgrade aging infrastructure to more advanced, secure high-speed broadband to support the dramatic increase in home workers.”

“For the rank-and-file, they may be using their own equipment, but the company pays for a business line that provides hundreds of megabits per second,” Katz explains. “The mid-level group may require access to secure information and require access to multiple systems within the enterprise. They need the business line, but also a secure network appliance, such as a VPN with Wifi. At the highest levels, a fiber Ethernet connection may be needed for even more reliable, secure service.”

While the technology needed to support enterprise security will need to evolve to support remote work, the human element is still critical. People must continue to exercise vigilance and caution and observe security protocols, whether they are working in an office or remotely on their personal devices. Thus, cybersecurity hygiene and best practices are especially emphasized for the distributed workforce.

“The weakest link in cybersecurity will always be individuals, and someone clicking on an email,” says Katz. “That doesn’t change whether you’re inside the building or you’re on the network with an external appliance. But a vulnerability can be exaggerated when you’re working from home on residential Wifi and you have a weak password. If someone can hack into that home network, then they can splice into your enterprise network. That’s a really big concern, and why it’s so important for companies to provide a computer that is monitored and secured.”