For many people, work was redefined in 2021. Whether employees navigated a remote work environment for the first time or managed new tools associated with accelerated digitalization, the way work was accomplished – and what even constitutes work – looks different than it did a year ago, and it will continue to evolve in the year ahead.

As businesses emerge from the recent pandemic, it’s more important than ever that teams be productive, efficient, and engaged. This is especially true as companies make challenging decisions about the future while grappling with the repercussions of the past year. For instance, a Gartner survey of company executives across multiple industries found that 82 percent plan to offer flexible work arrangements moving forward, including remote and hybrid work opportunities. The benefits are evident.

Facebook Twitter Share As companies begin to emerge from the recent pandemic, there is a growing debate about the efficacy of pandemic-inspired work arrangements. Some organizations are committed to continuing workplace flexibility, while others insist on bringing people back to the office. Of course, many are taking a hybrid approach, allowing people to work remotely and on-site.

Continued Coronavirus uncertainty and employee preferences are delaying in-person returns to the office, making long-term workplace disruption an inevitable part of today’s business environment. According to Gartner, 82 percent of company leaders plan to allow people to work remotely at least part of the time moving forward.

Last year’s rapid and sometimes erratic transition to remote work left many businesses looking for new ways to understand employee behavior when working from home. According to a survey of 2,000 employers offering remote or hybrid work, 78 percent deployed employee monitoring software to track worker behavior in the past six months. As businesses emerge from the recent pandemic, it’s clear that some things will not return to business as usual.

As businesses emerge from a pandemic year, cybersecurity concerns are necessarily top of mind . Companies face expansive cybersecurity threats on many fronts, prompting 75 percent of business leaders to view cybersecurity as integral to their organization’s COVID-19 recovery. They undoubtedly face an uphill battle. Surging ransomware attacks and increasingly deceptive phishing scams are attracting national attention, while more than 500,000 cybersecurity jobs remain unfilled in the US alone.

The recent pandemic pushed medical facilities and staff to the brink, taxing resources, exhausting employees, and disrupting decades of norms and protocols. It also accelerated technological trends that were quickly becoming popular, namely the centrality of technology and data in patient care. Today, many medical practices are digital-first operations, embracing telehealth and remote work at far greater levels than before the pandemic.

From healthcare to education to critical infrastructure, nobody seems to be safe from cyber attacks. Not even video game creators. News broke in early June that video game giant Electronic Arts was one of the latest victims of a major breach. At first glance, this is just another story of hackers breaking into a victim and finding their way to a sizable pay day. Nothing new here. Plenty of attacks happen every week, right? However it was the way that the attackers got in that was interesting.

The costs and consequences of a data breach or cybersecurity incident have never been more severe. According to the FBI’s recently released Internet Crime Report 2020, cybercrime resulted in $4 billion in losses last year, a low estimate that still encapsulates the incredible value lost to threats actors. For small businesses, the costs can be catastrophic. As Vox reports, 60% of small businesses will close after a data breach, underscoring the high-stakes bottom-line nature of cybersecurity.

When you think of employee monitoring, your brain may initially jump to large, controlling corporations patrolling their thousands of workers. In reality, this idea is simply a myth, as small businesses can use employee monitoring to build trust amongst their remote teams, boost productivity, increase operational efficiency and benefit employees in multiple ways.