John Hurley, head of product marketing for Notion, explains the company’s approach to collaborative work management… and shares why, as an entrepreneur at heart, he finds personal value in Notion.

Another year, and another Metrigy study on the strategies and technologies companies have put in place around workplace collaboration security and compliance. Sadly, what was then is still very much the case today.

In Metrigy’s Workplace Collaboration and Contact Center Security and Compliance: 2024-25 global research study (available for clients here), only 35% of the 338 participating companies report having a formal workplace collaboration security program in place today. We had expected this percentage to be higher.
In our 2023 study, 37% of companies said they already had a proactive security strategy in place, with another 18.9% having plans to implement by year’s end and 12.3% evaluating doing so. Even accounting for the delays and strategic shifts that often send a company’s best-intentioned plans off track, today’s reality falls far short of the potential, according to our data.

Setting the numbers aside, that companies aren’t establishing stronger security and compliance disciplines for workplace collaboration can be confounding. Not only are employee communications subject to federal compliance orders for data collection, storage, and retrieval, but the applications and services companies use for workplace collaboration are just as vulnerable as the next.

This isn’t to say that companies aren’t doing anything relative to protecting their workplace collaboration environment. We do see positive initiatives. For example, nearly half of organizations in this study require high-level approval—i.e., from the chief information security officer (CISO)—for new application deployment. And most, at 70.6%, assess their communications and collaboration providers’ security capabilities and certifications, with support for multifactor authentication, software development security controls, and third-party certification a must for most of those conducting such evaluations.

Absent a strong security and compliance posture, some companies simply block access to collaboration applications or features. This is the case for 30% of all companies, and higher percentages for those operating in regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, transportation and utilities. What are they blocking? Meeting recording is top of the list, followed by generative AI and meeting transcription.

With these features touted as a means of improving productivity and streamlining onerous work, thus improving the employee experience, companies that haven’t already done so do need to find a way to alleviate their security and compliance concerns such that they can allow use. CISOs or other professionals charged with workplace collaboration security and compliance need to push forward on putting a comprehensive proactive security plan in place, as well as engaging in continuous education to assure employees under their responsibilities per that plan. Technology wise, this plan should include use of a centralized third-party security and compliance platform for enforcing security policies across communications and collaboration apps and unifying incident response.

Let’s see where this gets us in the year ahead.

Companies aren’t adequately prepared for growing security and compliance risks for employee and customer-facing interactions

May 20, 2024 – Research and advisory firm Metrigy has released its Workplace Collaboration and Contact Center Security and Compliance 2024-25 research study, conducted with 338 participating firms in eight countries in 24 vertical industries.

“Despite a 40% increase in the number of companies reporting a security-related incident in the last year, most companies still aren’t adequately taking the steps to protect their applications and data,” says Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst, Metrigy. “Success requires the attention of a chief information security officer (CISO), a formal security plan, appropriate investment in security and compliance monitoring tools, and a proactive approach to protecting against generative AI risks.”

In this global study, Metrigy provides actionable insight for successfully building and evolving workplace collaboration and contact center security and compliance strategies; adapting to emerging technologies, including generative AI and user-generated video; understanding the implications of using data generated by meeting apps; and for funding and managing security programs.

Specific topics include:

Some key findings in this study include:

This study is available for purchase on our website at metrigy.com.

Securing communications and collaboration applications is getting increasingly complex. New features, often based on generative AI are quickly becoming available. At the same time, risks to applications, privacy, and data continue to grow. In this webinar we’ll share the results of our Workplace Collaboration and Contact Center Security and Compliance 2024-25 research study and provide IT, business, and informations security leaders with insights into:

Securing Your Collaboration and Communications Applications

Presented by: Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst, Metrigy

Date: May 23, 2024
Time: 11:00 am ET

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New collaboration applications and features are rapidly transforming employee and customer engagement. But for regulated companies to achieve success, they must ensure that application adoption meets compliance requirements. Hear from Theta Lake, a leader in compliance solutions for emerging collaboration applications, as we discuss what IT, business, and compliance leaders need to do to maximize ROI and productivity.

With fixed-mobile convergence, enterprises might finally have a way to ensure their employees have full access to UC services on their mobile devices.

For years, enterprises have faced a problem with their business phone systems: Employees prefer to make calls on their mobile phones. This creates a number of issues, among them:

Up until recently, unified communications (UC) providers attempted to extend their services to mobile devices by offering a variety of features, including call forwarding of business calls to mobile devices or provisioning of mobile apps to company-owned or personal mobile phones.

These apps are typically optimized for mobile devices but provide users with full access to calling, messaging and even video meeting features. But, for many users, having to open a mobile UC app to place a call is a bridge too far. Instead, individuals find it easier to simply place a call using the native calling app on their mobile devices, creating the concerns listed above. A 2020 Metrigy study of 525 companies, for example, reflected how few employees used mobile UC apps to make calls. Though almost half of companies had deployed mobile apps, fewer than 6% of employees used them for calling.

Erasing the barriers between networks

Continue reading at techtarget.com.

Metrigy’s research finds high adoption of connected workspace apps enabling collaborative work management.

I’ve written previously for WorkSpace Connect about the haziness surrounding the idea of a digital workspace, a term—or its equivalency—that has risen up time and again to signify a multipurpose platform that serves as a home for digital work. Artificial intelligence (AI), automation, integration, and team chat/collaboration are elements turning the digital workspace platforms of old to very real collaborative work management products of today.

Metrigy has adopted “connected workspace” as a label for today’s iteration of such products. “Connected” and “collaborative”—these are important characteristics. These workspaces serve as a connection point not only for the applications that individuals and teams use throughout the workday, but also to each other, so they can work collaboratively on their projects. This isn’t just a personal workspace, although an employee can certainly use a connected workspace application for such a purpose. The ability to work smoothly as a team, without having to jump from one app to another to complete a task or contact a colleague, is all-important.

Essentially, a connected workspace creates one place for accomplishing, communicating about, and managing work. In our Connected Workspace: 2024-25 market overview report, we identify three core purposes:

Continue reading at nojitter.com.

The AI hype must translate into demonstrable business benefits.

At last month’s Enterprise Connect conference in Orlando the AI hype train was steadily moving along the tracks. Virtually every keynote and vendor announcement involved some new AI-based feature to improve customer experience, employee collaboration, security, operational management, and more. AI, specifically generative AI (Gen AI), has received the lion’s share of media attention over the last year as vendors race against each other to differentiate and to accelerate in their use of AI to advance their products. However, the rapid, and accelerating advance of AI, has created challenges for IT and business leaders as they move from hype to adoption. These include measuring ROI, change management, and ensuring security, governance, and compliance.

MEASURING ROI

Continue reading at nojitter.com.

Next Generation 911 has improved calling features compared to Enhanced 911, especially when locating callers. But businesses face some compliance problems.

This year’s Enterprise Connect conference once again featured a panel discussion on 911 communications and technology. The session on 911 requirements was arguably the only topic at Enterprise Connect that had life-or-death implications. Get 911 wrong, and you put health and safety in danger. Without proper 911 administration, anyone who needs assistance may not reach the right emergency services call center, and first responders may not locate callers quickly.

The panel discussion had some key takeaways and action items for anyone responsible for emergency services calling management.

Editor’s note: This article provides no legal guidance. We recommend those responsible for 911 location and call routing management consult with appropriate legal counsel to determine their organization’s risk and potential liability.

Next Generation 911 is ramping up

Continue reading at techtarget.com.