Unify Square Releases Second Wave of Data From Workplace Collaboration 2021 Survey; Highlighting Security and Risk Findings Among Hybrid Enterprise Workers

• Company Launches Collaboration Security Risk Calculator in Tandem With New Powersuite Software Governance Features

Unify Square, a Unisys company and the leading management & security software and services provider for Zoom and Microsoft collaboration and communications platforms, released additional data from its Status Report: Workplace Collaboration 2021 survey. This second wave of data centers on collaboration security and governance findings, and supports the need for better tools to address the challenges enterprises face today in balancing security with productivity.

More than half of survey respondents stated their organizations’ security measures related to unified communication and collaboration (UC&C) have made it harder to do their jobs, and two thirds of those surveyed also reported their companies have increased the number of restrictions or security policies for using UC&C apps since the beginning of the pandemic. The 2021 Unisys Security Index further validates these findings, demonstrating that a lack of cyber threat awareness contributes to the trend of employees bypassing their IT departments. These results pose a stark warning for companies navigating remote and hybrid work environments.

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“We hold a shared vision with Unify Square to empower both workers and organizations implementing the new hybrid work model,” said Tom Patterson, Chief Trust Officer, Unisys. “It’s critical for enterprise organizations to establish systems that not only give their remote employees reliable access to tools and data but also do so securely. Alongside Unify Square, we are filling this gap by providing enterprise-level software and services that offer rich, secure experiences to employees in today’s digital workplace and cloud environments.”

Unify Square has also partnered with Metrigy to launch a new Collaboration Security Risk Calculator to alert organizations to their potential collaboration governance vulnerabilities and the steps they should take to mitigate future risk. Using the calculator, organizations looking to assess their risk level can simply answer a few questions about their current collaboration security and governance behaviors, then receive a score and tailored guidance on how to create a more secure collaboration environment.

“While many organizations have successfully embraced hybrid work, few have prioritized or implemented collaboration security and governance plans proactively or successfully,” said Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst, Metrigy. “It’s critical to understand the strengths and weaknesses of an enterprise’s current work environment, and only from there can they plan an effective – and comprehensive – security strategy. Metrigy is proud to work with Unify Square to bring greater understanding of collaboration security and organizational best practices to enterprises everywhere.”

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Many organizations are in the dark when it comes to their current risk levels. Although collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams (including underlying SharePoint and OneDrive data), Zoom, and Cisco Webex Teams have some foundational features to help IT manage security, these do not provide the full scope of functionality often required by enterprise IT organizations. This void in the native toolsets catalyzed Unify Square to build out a new collaboration security and governance functionality in its PowerSuite platform. Here are a few of the newest collaboration security features setting PowerSuite apart from the off-the-shelf collaboration platform tools, which will be on display at the Microsoft 365 Collaboration Conference taking place this week in Las Vegas:

• Security Analytics: PowerSuite proactively identifies ongoing areas of risk, bringing IT actionable insights to help direct policy creation.
• Flexible Policy Scope & Enforcement: PowerSuite allows for adaptive policies designed for real-world scenarios, because not all policies are “one size fits all.”
• Single Pane of Glass: PowerSuite unifies multiple UC admin centers for centralized governance, with no need for additional licenses or expensive add-ons.
• Governance Consultation: PowerSuite subscriptions include recurring technical reviews to troubleshoot security issues, or to implement new policies to improve governance.
• Data Access Control: PowerSuite supplements basic RBAC (without over-permissioning users) by defining IT’s data access by site, department, or other AD attribute.

Organizations are also challenged with issues like security risk audits, governance design, proactive governance enforcement and collaboration security lifecycle management. In order to meet these governance needs, Unify Square has also expanded both its Consulting Practice and its PowerSuite Cloud Managed Services offering to cover the entire collaboration security landscape. This holistic approach to collaboration security and governance – from policy creation, to change management and real-time, white glove protection and troubleshooting – is what cements Unify Square as a UC&C leader.

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