Security plays a crucial role in enabling the hybrid workplace. IT decision-makers are well-aware of the need for IT Security, as they are confronted with near-daily reports of successful attacks targeting all types of organizations. But the composition of their security architecture has even deeper implications, as it affects four crucial areas:

• Availability: Security breach takes down PCs or applications
• User Experience: Inconsistent access to data or performance degrades employee productivity.
• IT Efficiency: Unacceptable OpEx due to excessive staff requirements or outsourcing costs.
• Risk Management: Potential data loss, brand compromise, or compliance findings or fines.

This makes it clear that security is everyone’s problem, and IT and Security must collaborate to deliver consistent outcomes across all four dimensions. Furthermore, security strategy must be part of the hardware procurement process and lifecycle to optimize outcomes. Simply “bolting on” software solutions to commoditized hardware increases both risk and operational costs.

HP’s perspective is that the endpoint is the one nexus where all four considerations come together. The combination of hybrid work and cloud computing results in a patchwork of systems and connections that make it difficult to apply security policy consistently and efficiently. The endpoint device is the exception: It’s where the data and user meet. And since the PC is always part of the user experience, failure can be catastrophic. For example, a control failure on a cloud application might degrade that one app. But a failure of the user’s PC will prevent them from doing anything at all.