“When it powers up, it automatically has all of the policies, or a tag of when it automatically has all the policies that any other web system would have,” he said. “That’s dynamic — that’s me not having to go in and manually create these policies every time a new workload or a new portion of this environment gets built.”
He added that the shift toward a more integrated approach has been evolving over time, and this strategy encourages a more integrated approach. That integration is where the benefits lie.
“It’s not about cost savings, it’s about operational ease,” he said. “It’s about being able to deploy it easier. It’s about being able to leverage existing investment. It’s about a short learning curve.”
Securing Infrastructure in a Remote World
Of course, discussions on infrastructure and security have long been a focus of the tech world, including in a remote environment, and the Tech Talk reflected on this with a series of insights from CDW officials at a number of recent events, including a discussion of how remote work changes IT strategies.
“You now have this huge remote workforce, and the majority of them probably haven't ever worked remote before as a full-time position, maybe just logged in to check emails or something very quickly,” said Jeremy Weiss, a CDW cybersecurity practice lead, during one such event. “So taking that step back and making sure that they are aware and educated on how to utilize those new tools, and how to work with IT and be more effective as well, I think will help minimize that risk landscape for our customers.”
The session also included highlights from RSA Conference 2020 in San Francisco — one of the few in-person technology events that took place last year — around the concept of zero trust in cybersecurity and its importance for remote access.
“A lot of vendors, for the wrong reasons, want to take advantage of the hype, but the principles are very, very strong,” said Ash Devata, vice president of products for Cisco Duo Security, at the event.
Follow BizTech’s full coverage of the CDW Tech Talk series here. Insiders can register for the event series here.