Around 75% of companies in a study said that the shift to remote and hybrid working models has magnified IT operational challenges, a study by HP and Forrester to understand how remote work is affecting organisations.

Forrester Consulting’s survey of 312 IT and security decision makers concludes that companies are struggling to balance asset management, user experience assurance, and risk management.

The findings came in new commissioned study, conducted by Forrester Consulting, which was conducted to highlight the need for companies to adopt always-on endpoint management to cater for increasingly dispersed global workforces.

“The flexibility of being able to work and hire employees all over the world is one of the many benefits of living in a digital economy. Yet as the workplace evolves, security must too,” said Dr. Ian Pratt, Global Head of Security for Personal Systems at HP in a statement.

The top challenges companies face when managing remote endpoints are ensuring data security. keeping software on remote devices up to date; and maximising the accuracy of asset databases.

According to the study, just 42% of companies perform firmware updates annually, 23% update every two years or less, and 12% only update “when essential” which puts these companies at risk of security vulnerabilities and compatibility issues.

“To offer secure, efficient, and user-friendly IT experiences in the future, companies will need an always-on endpoint management infrastructure that can support this new way of working,” added Pratt.