The Coronavirus emergency has helped to “clear” Smart Working even in companies that had not yet approached this mode. There are many doubts, especially regarding aspects of cyber security and personal data protection. For Doxee’s Smart Working initiative, we were able to take the right security measures to keep the company’s data safe. We’ll talk about this in our interview with Fabio Cavazzuti, Chief Information Security Officer at Doxee.
1. Smart Working and security: This may be a combination that is not always easy to reconcile. What is your experience in this regard?
Doxee is a Digitally Native company, beyond Marc Prensky’s definition. Smart Working, even before it became fashionable, was something we used to use to provide 24/7 coverage in case of need. Smart Working has always been the working mode foreseen in our Business Continuity Plan to deal with crisis situations related to the unavailability of work areas. Our company-wide adoption of this model from the beginning of the year, (in times not yet dictated by the emergency), has been welcomed by everyone.
Given its genesis, our Smart Working methodology was born with security in mind, ensured by the fact that the same tools are used on our website. As with all tools, they are regularly subjected to security audits, updated, equipped with anti-malware and connected to the company network through a VPN, and all subject to all lawful monitoring processes as with any other company endpoint. The only limitation to the use of Smart Working is that we cannot process paper documents outside the office.
On the other hand, the physical boundary has disappeared for some time now, and these measures have been in place at Doxee for many years. These are considerations that I have found to be widely shared by colleagues, our efficiency of productivity has increased significantly, there are fewer interruptions, and we have better planning, all of which provide immediate benefits, not to mention that it eliminates travel time.
2. Today there is no longer one workplace for life, no single workplace and no fixed timetable. Do you agree with these statements, especially in this emergency period?
I am very lucky that my job is actually my passion, so for me, the line between the two has always been blurred. Now, being able to work at any time, regardless of the physical location, is a huge advantage. More generally, I am convinced that natively digital activities like ours can benefit from being available any time and from anywhere.
3. What are the most important risks, if any, to which you are exposed by adopting an agile and remote working model?
Once the safety aspects have been resolved and, I stress, in a Smart Working context, the only risk can be linked to a level of maturity in its use. Because we’ve been using this method for some time now, this is not an issue for us.
4. Can you tell us how Doxee’s management has embraced and shared this organizational and cultural change internally?
For Doxee it was a painless transition. Once we activated the Operating Continuity Plan on Sunday, March 8, following the convening of the Crisis Committee, of course via Smart Working, 98% of the staff (at the moment we have a minimum of 2 people working at our headquarters), began Smart Working that Monday morning without any technical or cultural problems, and with great satisfaction.
