Which challenge do customers face with hybrid work?

The hybrid work model fundamentally relies on employees accessing applications and data from any location. This has accelerated the migration of services to the cloud, resulting in an exponential increase in cloud-based data. This surge presents significant challenges for businesses, particularly in securing this distributed data against threats, ensuring reliable and performant access for all users, and managing the complexity of a sprawling digital environment. These challenges are central to the technical problems that modern IT solutions for hybrid work aim to solve.

A. hot desking: This is an office space management strategy used to accommodate a hybrid workforce, not a fundamental challenge of the hybrid work model itself.

B. collaboration spaces: These are physical or virtual environments designed as a solution to facilitate teamwork in a hybrid model, rather than being an inherent challenge.

D. non-inclusive experiences: While creating an inclusive experience is a critical goal and a potential challenge, it is often a consequence of policy and technology implementation, whereas the data increase is a foundational technical driver.

1. Cisco, "Secure the Hybrid Workplace" Solution Brief. This document outlines the primary challenges of hybrid work, stating, "The attack surface has expanded with more remote users, devices, and cloud applications... IT must secure a distributed workforce that accesses applications and data from anywhere." This directly supports the idea that the increase in cloud data and applications is a core security challenge. (Reference: Cisco Secure the Hybrid Workplace Solution Brief, Page 2, "The Challenge" section).

2. Cisco, "Hybrid Work Index: Key Findings." The report consistently highlights the increased reliance on cloud applications and the corresponding security implications. It notes a surge in cyber threats targeting hybrid workers, which is a direct consequence of more users accessing more cloud data from outside the traditional corporate network. This underscores the challenge posed by the expanded cloud footprint. (Reference: Cisco 2022 Hybrid Work Index, "Security in a Hybrid World" section).

3. Cisco, "What is Hybrid Work? A New Model for the Future of Work." In its official definition and explanation of hybrid work, Cisco identifies cybersecurity as a key challenge. It states, "With employees accessing company networks from various locations and devices, the risk of cyber threats increases." This risk is directly tied to the volume and distribution of data in the cloud. (Reference: Cisco.com, "What is Hybrid Work?" article, "Key challenges of hybrid work" section).