The COVID-19 crisis and the resulting lock-downs across the world forced many organizations to go virtual in an instant. Some of them had sound Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) plans in place. And while they were still interrupted, they were able to move quickly and keep their people working. Others were caught off-guard and are now scrambling to make it all work.
In an industry like healthcare with reams of sensitive data and the regulations that go with it, this breakneck pace creates a ton of risk for organizations going remote. And the risks are exacerbated when they can’t provision hardware for everyone and they let their staff connect via their own devices.
On this episode, we talk with Jonathan Lieberman, CEO and Co-Founder at itopia. He tells us how virtual desktops can be deployed quickly and securely in the cloud, allowing your staff to access critical data and systems from anywhere on any device.
This approach has obvious benefits when you’re faced with the type of crisis we’re in right now, but it goes way beyond that. We’re really talking about sound Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies. If you, as Jonathan puts it, “treat every employee like a remote worker”, then you’ll be ready for whatever comes next.
We cover a lot of strategy, along with the tactics to execute. Key topics include:
- What’s special about remote workers and remote work environments
- On-boarding and decommissioning users in a virtual environment.
- Policies and procedures to ensure security, especially when employees are using their own devices
- Special considerations for remote access to HIPAA-protected information
- Rapidly re-deploying remote desktops infected by ransomware
- Why all of this is really Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) planning
- Why you should continue to treat every employee like a remote employee even after the crisis
- Why there’s no way to create a secure desktop in a physical environment
- What we can learn from the COVID-19 crisis about our ability to innovate quickly.
- Why we should never go back to doing things exactly the way we did before.
Jonathan Lieberman
Jonathan is CEO and Co-Founder at itopia, the leading cloud-native automation and orchestration platform purpose-built for Google Cloud. itopia makes it easy to deliver Desktop as a Service (DaaS) on GCP, enabling enterprises to migrate from legacy VDI on-premises and deploy remote desktops and apps to their workforce on any device on Google Cloud’s global network. As a Google Cloud Premier Partner, itopia’s software empowers organizations to make a quick and cost-effective transition to the cloud and take advantage of the superior performance, security, and scalability offered by GCP.
Prior to itopia, Jonathan was CEO and Co-Founder at IPFone. IPFone pioneered the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) business model to become one of the nation’s foremost cloud-based telecommunications companies. Jonathan was an early evangelist of the cloud communications movement, has served on numerous industry boards, and was a driving force behind the formation of the Cloud Communications Alliance (www.cloudcommunications.com). The CCA is comprised of the nation’s leading cloud communications providers and is recognized as the industry’s strongest advocate.
Jonathan started his career as a corporate attorney with a premier Miami law firm upon graduating from the University of Miami School of Law. A true Florida-native through and though, Jonathan is also an undergraduate alumni of the University of Florida.
itopia
itopia is a cloud-native automation & orchestration platform purpose-built for Google Cloud. itopia makes it easy for enterprises to securely deliver Windows virtual desktops & apps to workers using any device, anywhere. itopia enables enterprises to migrate their complex & costly on-premises VDI to a lightweight Desktop as a Service (DaaS) environment on Google Cloud. With itopia’s simple and intuitive interface, junior-level sysadmins can manage multi-regional deployments and provision their global workforce from a single, unified console in the browser.
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This episode is sponsored by:
Formstack is a workplace productivity platform that simplifies healthcare data processes. Healthcare teams can transform piles of paperwork into automated workflows that are easy to administer and 100% HIPAA compliant. From appointment scheduling to insurance verification, Formstack makes it easy to breeze through administrative tasks, reduce security risks, and improve patient care and satisfaction. Learn more and try Formstack here.
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Music by StudioEtar