Housing association enables flexible, secure remote working for staff, anywhere, anytime

How a major housing association has enabled flexible, secure remote working for all of its staff, anywhere, anytime Flexibility is the keyword in the housing sector. Concerns over work-life balance, and the need to help field workers and partners to operate effectively when away from the office have made the ability to work flexibly an IT essential.

The potential benefits that can be achieved from providing remote network access are well-documented: improved productivity from employees away from the office; customers who can access services online when they want; and quicker responses from suppliers who can service systems without having to come on-site.

But the problem with such flexible working is control. Giving all these users external access to your network poses a real risk to an organisation’s data, and no-one needs reminding of the consequences of a data breach – especially after the recent high-profile Government data losses. So how do you deliver the services that your users and partners demand whilst also guaranteeing that critical, sensitive information such as customer data will remain as safe as houses?

This was the conundrum faced by a Bradford, Yorkshire-based housing association, Incommunities. Here’s how it was able to balance easy, flexible access with watertight network and data security.

Incommunities in control

Incommunities is a housing association managing over 22,000 homes for customers across the Bradford district. Andrew Bland, Senior Network Administrator for Incommunities, explains how installing a unified access control solution from AppGate Network Security has solved the problem of network security so he and his team can get on with the business of delivering online services.

“We were originally just looking for a replacement for our Citrix Secure Gateway, and a secure Instant Messaging product”, explains Bland. “But AppGate’s approach got us looking at things differently and thinking outside the arena of traditional VPNs. It was clear we could achieve far more. So we changed our plan and made the decision to buy the AppGate solution.”

Central point of control

“Having a single point of control for security is the most important feature for me,” said Bland. “With the new solution I have a single, central point where we can define security policies, and control and monitor access for all users – whether they are tenants, employees or external suppliers.”

Previously network security depended on the security of all point products on the network. “Putting services online used to be a minefield, having to manage the security of applications from multiple vendors. The AppGate server now manages security, providing our first line of defence, and centralised policy control means I no longer have to worry about the security of other vendor applications.”

Bland is also confident that data on the network is better protected. “For our remote workers, especially those who work on temporary sites, such as building projects, we provide virtual PCs which they can now access via Remote Desktop. It’s proved cheaper to operate, and much faster and as a result everyone wants to use it. Which makes me happy because even if the laptop is stolen, data remains onsite and fully secure.”

Bland adds that a further benefit of using Remote Desktop is that users see exactly what they see when working in the office. So no additional training and support is needed – which saves more time for the IT team.

ROI matters

Bland reports that in less than 12 months, the investment in security has resulted in overall cost reductions in a number of areas. Several point products on the network have been made virtually redundant, generating considerable savings on product support, software licenses and training.

And further cost savings have been identified as the team plans to provide wireless access. “Previously this would have required the purchase of an additional dedicated wireless solution, but our solution already supports wireless access so it’s saving us a lot of money. What’s more, we can give secure remote access to any employee or partner from anywhere, not just locations with dedicated VPN links, which is a further cost saving.”

The solution is also helping to improve the productivity of Bland’s team. As well as the time and resources saved from not having to check the security of other vendor applications, new applications developed in-house do not have to be fully secure and online services can be rolled out faster. In addition, the IT team can take advantage of secure remote access from any location so that system support is no longer restricted to a fixed time and location.

* - Article from www.publictechnology.net