Sustainability & Public Good Are Key to Your Brand’s Strategy in the Post-COVID World

The pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities across all industries and forced leaders to re-evaluate the systems they’ve long had in place. Some of the most pertinent issues that have been revealed are the inequities in our healthcare system, the problematic nature of the U.S.’s supply chain across all verticals, and the essential shift to an increasingly virtualized workforce and society. At the individual level, it’s shown an esoteric “bigger picture” and revealed to us what a global disaster looks like.

Back in February, COVID-19 felt like a very distant problem to the U.S. The “new normal” didn’t become a reality until it was too late – national lockdown measures were enforced in late March, but there were already over 189,000 COVID-19 cases in the U.S. as of March 31st. The destructive impact of our delayed response draws an eerie parallel to an issue that’s been left open-ended for decades: climate change.

Scientists have shown that the carbon emissions released today are programming a 2-5 metre sea level rise in 2300, and humanity will be forced to make an inland retreat for hundreds of years to come. We’re also pacing toward extreme heatwaves and droughts, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, declining water supplies and reduced agricultural yields. Yet despite knowing all this, society hasn’t made leaps and bounds to prepare humanity for this climate change crisis, and regrettably, we’re only accelerating down this path while imminently putting hundreds of millions of lives at risk. Unlike the virus, the climate change crisis is something that can’t be contained, and the onset effects could last hundreds, if not thousands of years. This all sounds so fatalist that it’s difficult to imagine that it could even be a reality.

Then COVID-19 happened, and we’re now grievously aware of what a global crisis looks like. Overnight, we were forced to substantially alter our lives for the public good. The government-imposed restrictions that we now refer to as the “new normal” mirrors how we may be forced to respond to a worsening climate change crisis in the coming years. Ironically, an inadvertent effect of these restrictions has led to an 8% drop of global greenhouse gas emissions for 2020, which is the largest drop ever recorded, and Los Angeles has seen its longest stretch of “good” air quality since 1995.

The silver lining we can glean from these times is that we have the unique opportunity to replan and structure for a better future. In a post-COVID world, consumers are going to pay closer attention to what companies are doing for the public good.

Julia Wilson, VP of Global Responsibility & Sustainability at Neilsen tells MarketingDive, “Rarely is there one cause that resonates so deeply with so many people at once […] Brands do have an opportunity here to pivot with purpose and to show how they’re showing up … in their communities and for their consumers.”

This coincides with Accenture’s study showing that consumers are planning to change their purchase behavior for the long term – their survey found that 45% of consumers said they’re making more sustainable choices when shopping and will likely continue to do so.

Accenture’s Managing Director and Head of Global Consumer Goods adds to this, “While we have been seeing these trends for some time, what’s surprising is the scale and pace — compressing into a matter of weeks changes that would likely have taken years. The new consumer behavior and consumption is expected to outlast the pandemic, stretching far beyond 18 months and possibly for much of the current decade. […] The pandemic is likely to produce a more sustainable, healthier era of consumption over the next 10 years, making consumers think more about balancing what they buy and how they spend their time with global issues of sustainability — suggesting a healthier human habitation of the planet.”

You can’t remove COVID-19’s context from our lives, and for that reason, “going back to normal” isn’t a reality. During this crisis, we’ve been a witness to businesses changing their model overnight for the public good. Consumers have seen how vulnerable the world is, and this will dramatically shift their values and behaviors post-pandemic. A value proposition for what a company is doing for this greater good will become a necessity for survival, and many are already taking this in stride.

Unilever’s CEO Alan Jope recently spoke about their Sustainability Living Plan, which is the company’s strategy for minimizing their eco-footprint and reducing their use of virgin plastics by half in 2025. Jope claims, “The pressures on the planet are getting worse, and social inequality has reached a critical point, being made even more severe by the devastating pandemic we’re living through. […] These issues are just as urgent as they were before Covid-19 struck, and—like Covid-19—they will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable. The climate crisis risks adding hundreds of millions more.”

The fashion industry has long been set in their ways, but they’re now forced to restructure their processes. BCG’s research finds that 86% of more than 500 manufacturers surveyed have been severely impacted by canceled or suspended orders and 40% are struggling to pay employees and their suppliers. Now that the fashion industry’s supply chain is brought to a standstill, it’s allowed for industry leaders to re-evaluate their sourcing strategies. Dr. Hakan Karaosman, fashion supply chain and sustainability expert at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe claims that lean, simple, and transparent supply chains are proving the most resilient during this crisis, and brands are likely to favor this strategy as they emerge from this crisis.

Even as CPG companies are fighting for survival, sustainability is proving to be all the more relevant today. Just a matter of weeks ago, H&M Group, Microsoft, Lego, Neste, Ikea & Unilever signed the European alliance for a Green Recovery. The appeal is set to “fight against climate change at the heart of the economic strategy to contribute to the rapid recovery of European economies and societies.”

Peter Vanacker, President and CEO of Neste speaks to this, “The coronavirus pandemic is causing unforeseen consequences to people’s health and the economy. While it is important to tackle the coronavirus, we also need to look for ways to help rebuild the world after the crisis. When we plan our path to that world, we have an opportunity to build a sustainable and resilient economy and society. Now is the time to design that vision,”

For good and bad, COVID-19 has shown us what’s possible in times of tragedy. Psychology Today brought to light Paul Romer’s points on what happens in a crisis, and it hits the nail on the head during these times:

Resources become available
Priorities are clear
Rigid rules and regulations suddenly become pliable
Leaders pay attention and are pliable
Change, even far-reaching change, is possible

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. ”

Over the last decade, sustainability has become a high-growth sector, but it will ultimately become a necessity for survival in the economic and environmental climate we’ll find ourselves in over the coming years. As COVID-19 has brought a life-altering global crisis into reality, consumers will start to value public good, preparedness, and sustainability in a more meaningful way. In light of this, we can expect to see efforts for sustainability expedited in the near future. It’s the companies that understand and invest in this shift early-on that will be the ones that thrive not only in the short-term post-COVID world, but in the long-term direction our society is moving towards.

Calculate Your Personal Volume: The Powerful Geometry of Social Distancing

As originally published by David Sable on Linkedin.

Social Distancing is the dichotomy of our times. It comprises two competing and polar opposite concepts—one existential: social, the DNA-driven need we have as human beings to connect, to see each other face to face, to break bread, share a coffee, to hug. The second is a product of our times, and is very physical, immediate, in the moment: distancing. It is the need, in fact, compulsory government mandate, to stay at least six feet apart from each other to limit the spread of the virus.

However, a new dynamic has emerged from this collision of competing needs, which I’ve named the, “Geometry of Social Distancing.” And, like all good geometry, it’s an axiom based on understanding that the insight its driving could be key to successful marketplace recovery.

The Geometry of Social Distancing begins with a point in space: you, for example. We then add another point…say, me. Six feet separates us in a straight line. Simple. Then, we add a friend, and now we have a triangle—6 feet from point to point to point—equidistant ability to communicate and collaborate.

Another person comes along, and we morph into a square. Perfect! Every which way, we are 6 feet apart from person to person. Equidistant. Each able to communicate and collaborate comfortably.

A fifth comes along, and yet another and another, and then? The model falls apart. We are now separated by space that requires yelling across father distances and competing voices for attention, even if point to point, we maintain the same 6 feet. The implications are clear. As long as we are all in a tribal space created by our geometry of sharing, we can continue meaningful social interaction and powerful collaboration. Grow beyond the four, and we start to fail.

Just think about your ZOOM interactions. As much as we love how efficient it is and how well we use it (sort of), when the crowd gets larger than four, and the boxes of participants get smaller and pushed back, the multiple voices become a cacophony, before we are all inevitably muted by the host. And at that point, we all just listen, rather than contribute or speak. It works yes, but it has its limitations.

The Geometry of Social Distancing is a critical lesson and provides meaningful insight as we struggle to imagine what comes next. We will be left with two competing needs, and even as we contemplate an end—or at least a loosening of the restrictions—the impact of the past couple of months will continue to influence our everyday interactions in many profound ways as we consider returning to to local stores, getting a haircut or manicure, eating in a restaurant, attending a concert or seeing a movie or play, or even playing in a park.

Think about your work team size, your meeting size, your physical office layouts. Reimagine your restaurant space and store aisles for shopping and checkout. Public transportation; sports; leagues and on and on.

Contemplate what defines friendship, and who was alone and who was lonely.

In an unattributed quote I read: “Draw a circle around yourself – invite people in or keep them out. We are the creators of our social geometry. Calculate your volume.”

In contemplating traditional geometry, Leonardo da Vinci proffered something rather profound. Listen:

“Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else”

The Geometry of Social Distancing has created a new axiom of opportunity. My hope is that we leverage it for a new and more meaningful way to make our humanity core to all that we do.

Calculate your volume. We are all connected.

The Advisory Board COVID-19 Virtual Panel Series: Episode 2

The second episode of our Virtual Panel Series is here, and our Advisory Board members have their eyes on the “next normal”. In this week’s episode, our panelists uncover how leaders in healthcare, marketing & cybersecurity will need to pivot their digital transformation strategy in the midst of COVID-19. Our marketing expert Connie Weaver pointed out that understanding your customer has never been so crucial – the ways you targeted audiences may not be relevant anymore, which ultimately means your brand’s messaging will need to fit today’s “next normal” consumer. And with digital media consumption being at an all-time high, it’s all the more imperative that companies have a strong digital presence. Our healthcare expert Samir Batra acknowledged that because of this influx in traffic, there’s so much added pressure on these systems, especially on security.

One of the most pertinent shifts to digital we’re seeing is that of healthcare, Vince Campitelli adds, “Necessity is the motherhood to invention. There’s going to be a boom in telehealth. When objectives were 5 years out, they are now 6 months to a year.”

Listen to our podcast episode here, or check out the video below.

The panel then delves into how sales and security are going to change across industries, and what this means for the “next normal”. In the midst of this disruption, it’s so important for sales and marketing teams to work in synergy. Our marketing expert Cynthia Johnson speaks to this, “Marketing needs to support the sales team. They need to use them as a branding strategy. Salespeople also need to push marketing in certain directions as well.” As for the security side of things, Vince claims, “The people who were in the background have now become the leaders and they have been asked to do something they haven’t ever done. It’s always been there, now it’s just in the spotlight.”

The “Next Normal” Panel

Moderator Samir Batra: Healthcare expert. Founder & CEO of BAHA Enterprises, and healthcare leader with over 17 years of experience with 500+ Providers and Healthcare Organizations and 40+ Health Systems. Mobile healthcare solution innovator revolutionizing communication and collaboration between providers on iOS and Android application platforms.

Panelist Connie Weaver: Marketing expert. Co-Founder & CEO of Tracker Group, and currently holds over 35 years of executive experience in iconic, cross-industry organizations. Prior to her role as an independent advisor, she served as CMO of TIAA, The Hartford Financial Services, BearingPoint, and AT&T—transfqorming brands and customer engagement strategies, advancing digital and data-driven capabilities, and building world-class marketing teams.

Panelist Cynthia Johnson: Marketing expert. Cynthia is an entrepreneur, marketing professional, author and keynote speaker. She is Co-Founder and CEO at Bell + Ivy, a digital marketing and personal branding agency in Santa Monica, CA. She is Founder at CynthiaLIVE, and Co-Founder at PINCH, Sea Salt. Previously, she was Partner & Director of Marketing for RankLab, a digital marketing agency listed in Inc. Magazine’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies in 2015.

Panelist Vince Campitelli: Cybersecurity expert. Enterprise Security Specialist at Cloud Security Alliance, and leader with over 30 years experience in the evolving business areas of Information Technology Risk, Cybersecurity and Third-Party Risk Management. Created, built and operated Professional Service organizational practices with a focus on information security and IT risk management.

What challenges are you facing as a leader? Comment below any questions or topics you would like to hear our panelists discuss in our next episode!

What is Digital Contact Tracing, and is it Secure? Featuring HackerOne

It’s been estimated that 90% of COVID-related deaths could have been prevented if social distancing efforts were put in place just two-weeks earlier. The statistic is painful to hear, but it reinforces the public’s commitment to getting us on the road to recovery. As we’re starting to see the curve flatten, current modeling has shown that social distancing has significantly curbed the spread of COVID-19. Granted, the battle is long from being over. State lockdowns have been enforced for well over 2 months, and L.A.’s stay-at-home orders have just been extended to July. But digital contact tracing could play a major role in speeding up re-openings and getting us out of the virus’ trenches.

Let’s start with the basics. Contact tracing’s purpose is to identify and isolate potential risks of spreading infectious diseases, and it’s been used in past outbreaks like Ebola, SARS, and various STDs. Contact tracings’ MO is much like detective work – tracers work with patients to piece together a list of all the people they’ve been in contact with during the virus’ incubation period (in this case, it’s 2 weeks). Then, contact tracers notify those individuals of the potential risk and advise that they self-isolate and seek-out testing.

As crucial as this system is, it’s nearly impossible to conduct contact tracing at the mass scale that COVID-19 commands. Each infected person can yield around 40 possible transmissions – that’s 40 calls for every single person infected, and in cities like NYC with over 187k known COVID cases, contact tracing can easily exhaust the states’ resources. Dr. Frank Esper from Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital tells Time, “When you get to a point where there are a lot of people who are sickened with a particular disease, it quickly overwhelms the health departments’ response to be able to contact trace all those individuals.”

As healthcare leaders have pointed out, the traditional method for contact tracing isn’t a perfect solution, especially when it comes to tracking transmissions that can spread as rapidly as COVID-19. It goes without saying, a patient’s recollection doesn’t account for all consequential contacts – a fair amount of interactions can be missed, just think of all the people you have airborne contact with on a daily basis, much less over the span of two weeks. There’s also the possibility of spreading the virus from high-touch surfaces like door handles, ATMs or elevators buttons, and at that point, it’s impossible to contact trace everyone. That’s where the digital side comes into play. Apple and Google control nearly 100% of the worldwide mobile market, which is why they’ve come together in partnership to help provide the tools necessary to develop a digital contact tracing app for the masses. This relies on bluetooth technology to track cellphones, with each individual receiving a unique identifier code tied to their device. Using a bluetooth signal, devices will pick up all the unique identifier codes you’ve been in contact with, and keep a rolling 14-day record of those interactions. If someone has tested positive for the virus, testing centers will import this data on the app’s backend. This will set-off a notification to everyone that has a record of being in contact with that individual, and will provide further details on nearby testing and recommendations for self-isolating during the incubation period. Remember when I mentioned earlier that each virus transmission requires tracers to make around 40 calls to notify those at risk? Think of how much more efficiently and effectively we can combat the problem if this process is condensed to an instant push notification.

Digital contact tracing is entirely anonymous, and if you receive a notification, you won’t know the details of where the possible transmission occurred or who it came from. Having a reliable source for this information would give people the confidence to (safely and responsibly) leave their house again. When you’re living with someone that’s at-risk, being a silent carrier is a constant anxiety, and digital contact tracing could ultimately make these people feel safer.

This could be a turning point in re-opening the country, as research shows that nearly 80% of carriers are asymptotic and are unknowingly spreading the virus to others.

Despite the app being opt-in only, modeling shows that at least 60% of the population will need to participate in order to have a significant impact on flattening the curve. But of course, digital contact tracing comes along with its own troubles, with many raising questions over the privacy and security of this data. Especially when it comes to information related to sensitive and private health records, Americans are rightfully wary of opting-into a system that they don’t entirely trust.

And surveys confirm that Americans are split on the matter. When Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a survey on whether they would download an app for contact tracing, 47% of respondents answered that they would not. Knowing who is in control of the data had a massive impact on survey results, with individuals being twice as likely to download a contact tracing app if it was being managed by a local or state department rather than a private technology company.

We reached out to our partner HackerOne to gain insight into the security of this technology. They’re at the forefront of using ethical hacking in tracing vulnerabilities before they become a problem with their bug bounty program, and they’ve recently made waves with their Hack For Good initiative, giving hackers the ability to donate their bounties to WHO’s COVID-19 relief fund.

EF:

Digital Contact Tracing is said to be ready in the coming weeks. We’ve heard a bit about the uncertainty surrounding the security of this technology, especially as it’s being adopted on such a massive scale. Do you think there’s reason for concern here? Do you expect digital contact tracing apps to prompt a rise in attacks using this technology?

HackerOne:

Data that will be used in contact tracing apps is immensely valuable for threat actors; having PII, location data, and medical data belonging to an individual allows cybercriminals to set up elaborate spear-phishing attacks that will be difficult to distinguish from legitimate medical information.

Now is even more so the time to treat your mobile phone as you would treat a laptop or desktop PC. Always install the latest security patches, use secure passcodes to lock your device, and use a device finder tool to locate and/or wipe your phone after losing it. Also, be careful which apps you install and what permissions you give those apps.

Response from Niels Schweisshelm, Technical Program Manager

EF:

Is bluetooth technology particularly susceptible to vulnerabilities? Walk us through how hackers can leverage this technology for an opportunity to attack.

HackerOne:

All of a sudden, bluetooth might be enabled in every mobile device and the increased usage of the bluetooth protocol will result in more attention from threat actors. This is further exacerbated by the increasing price for bluetooth related exploits on the black market due to the heightened demand.

The bluetooth protocol and its implementations have suffered from critical vulnerabilities in the past (see Blueborne, CVE-2017-0781). These vulnerabilities were exploitable by remote attackers and allowed for arbitrary code execution on the affected Android device. These vulnerabilities have now been fixed, but this does not guarantee that bluetooth and its implementations will be free from future vulnerabilities. One should expect a heavy focus on bluetooth security research in the near future, which will result in the disclosure of similar vulnerabilities. Time will tell if these vulnerabilities are responsibly disclosed to the vendors allowing for a timely fix or end up being used for malicious purposes.

Response from Niels Schweisshelm, Technical Program Manager

EF:

There’s also the issue of trust. Of course, there’s room for the possibility that these systems can abuse the data they collect on Americans. What measures do you think need to be made in order to secure the trust of the public?

HackerOne:

The entire attack surface of these contact tracing applications has to be properly investigated. This should include static source code reviews as well as dynamic application testing to discover any vulnerabilities in e.g. the Web API’s. Ideally, this would be done by multiple parties to ensure a baseline level of security using a crowd-sourced approach.

The potential privacy concerns surrounding these contact tracing solutions should remind governments developing them that the security community will scrutinize these apps more than any app in recent years.

Response from Niels Schweisshelm, Technical Program Manager

EF:

Has HackerOne encountered a rise in cybercrime related to COVID-19 scams?

HackerOne:

Yes, absolutely. However, the vulnerabilities remain the same; it’s the volume and packaging that’s evolving.

Email phishing scams using COVID-19 are on the rise. KnowBe4 recently published its Q1 2020 Top-Clicked Phishing Report, confirming that phishing email attacks related to COVID-19 increased by 600% in the first quarter of the year. In the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre asked for the public to report suspicious emails via a newly launched phishing hotline, and a total of 83 coronavirus related phishing and scam websites were taken down in just a single day. Google reports that it is blocking over 280 million daily COVID-19 spam messages and that it has identified more than 18 million Covid-19 daily malware and phishing emails just in one week alone.

The future of work is changing. As the work-from-home model becomes the norm and work becomes more broadly distributed, more applications, systems, and infrastructures are more vulnerable than ever. With employees working from their own home amidst social distancing orders, device sprawl and phishing attempts have become hot topics of discussion for IT and security teams. It’s easy to become too focused on only what is new with these problems, but really what we need to do is focus on the individual issues (i.e. ransomware, phishing). It’s the same threats with new packaging.

Response from Jon Bottarini, Senior Security Solutions Engineer

EF:

In light of all this, what can individuals do to curb the risk of cyber-attacks?

HackerOne:

Aaron Zander, Head of IT, has the following security tips for all employees working remote right now, emphasizing that basic cyber hygiene practices can go a long way in protecting both employees as well as the corporate network.

Invest in a good password manager. Don’t share logins and passwords unless you absolutely have to. If you have to, then it’s time to invest in a password manager for your team or company. Tools like 1Password make sharing large amounts of secure data easy and help secure your teams even more.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Authentication is the process by which a computer validates the identity of a user (i.e. username and password). Two-factor authentication (2FA) commonly combines a password with a phone-based authentication factor. However, there are shortcomings with 2FA, as hackers can bypass wireless carriers, intercept or redirect SMS codes, and easily compromise credentials. Multi-factor authentication is more secure as it adds an additional layer of protection. Instead of just asking for a username and password, MFA requires additional credentials, such as a code from the user’s smartphone, the answer to a security question, a fingerprint, or facial recognition.

Expect criminals to try and take advantage of the increased distances in our workplaces. Often a lot of the checks and balances around things like financial requests and last minute invites to meetings or other services are done in person. Now that they might happen via email be extra diligent about checking who is sending them. Phishers are going to take advantage of the lack of processes that are in place. If you get a request via email or messaging services, always try and verify outside of the initiated chain of request. For example, if you get a request from your CEO to refund a customer to a new bank account, instead of replying to that thread to confirm, message them in a new email, or via a different medium (call/instant messaging, etc) to verify the request. For large transactions, always have another person on your team double-check the request and your work as well for safety. It’s rare that an extra hour will make a difference in the case of a WeTransfer, but the consequences of moving too quickly can be felt for a long time.

Be even more paranoid of phishing and other scams. If something looks suspicious, don’t click or act on it. Email scams related to COVID-19 are already on the rise, and the U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that they have fallen victim to a cyber-attack that involved a COVID-19 misinformation campaign that quickly spread via text, email, and social media. In general, never share personal or financial information via email if you weren’t expecting it. If you get such a request, it’s best to call or video conference the individual directly to confirm.

Stay at home. If you can, work from home, not from a coffee shop, to reduce the chances of (corporate) espionage. It’s preferable to leave the laptop at home (locked) and go out for a break and then return. If you really need to go to the coffee shop, then use a private VPN for any untrusted network or location, like encrypt.me. VPNs aren’t the end-all-be-all for security though.

Disconnect from the company’s VPN when not in use. Leaving your connections open can increase the likelihood that if you’re breached, that extends past your machine and into your corporate network. Also in a time where many more people are connecting via these services, it’ll give your infrastructure team a little more room to breathe.

Secure your home router. It is essential to ensure your home wifi router has a strong password and is up to date. Search the name of your router, and the words “breach” or “security issue” and see if yours is on the list. Most of these can be fixed by doing a simple software update. If your network equipment is no longer being updated by the manufacturer, chances of vulnerabilities increase over time. It is also important to use a strong password. Make sure you’ve modified the default administrator password on your router and other network equipment. Ensure your wireless networks are using WPA2 security or higher. And, separate guest devices onto a separate wireless network isolated from your personal devices if you can.

Don’t use your personal laptop or desktop. Don’t fall prey to the habit of using your personal machine for work. It’s inherently less secure than your work machine. Also, if you install extra tools for work to your home laptop, who knows what access you’re giving to your company. It’s safer to keep them separate.

Avoid installing new apps without permission from IT. Some apps may be harmless, but inviting more apps to your device can raise cause for concern. Employees working from home may create or take into use new software tools and services that won’t be as thoroughly tested and protected as the tools they normally use, posing a great risk for the corporate network.

Don’t mix personal and work-related internet browsing. If you use Chrome, use a personal profile for personal browsing, and a work profile for work browsing. At home, it’s a lot easier to sink into mixing work and personal browning.

Stay connected online. Connect with your co-workers often to help feel like you’re still connected to each other. Security is often tied to visibility, staying connected helps keep you and them visible.

HACK FOR GOOD

Hacking is here for good, for the good of all of us. More Fortune 500 and Forbes Global 1,000 companies trust HackerOne to test and secure the applications they depend on to run their business.

Go here to learn more >>

The Post-COVID World: Remote Work & The Six-Foot Office

The work environment over the last decade quite literally, broke walls. In the 2010’s, office spaces started to emulate modern designs brought forth by Silicon Valley tech companies. Open floor plans were sought out to remove barriers between departments, co-working spaces became the norm, and office supplies became a bit more nuanced – we started to see a lot more beer on tap and ping pong in the office.

Then COVID-19 hit. And 62% of Americans have been working from home in their virtual cubicles ever since. As we’ve been in a national lockdown for over two months, the conversation has shifted toward re-opening, and what the post-COVID world is going to look like. There’s two things we can expect to see in the long-term: a large portion of the workforce pivoting towards remote work, and a huge shift in the workplace’s design & functionality.

The workforce is going to become increasingly virtualized, which isn’t by any means a new trend. In surveys conducted prior to COVID, 80% of employees wanted some degree of work from home, and 36% were willing to take a pay cut in exchange for that flexibility. Many organizations have embraced this shift because of the significant cost savings – thanks to their remote work strategy, IBM saved $50 million on real estate costs and McKesson saved $2 million a year. Other studies show it can save $10,000 per year on every employee that makes the shift to remote. Ultimately, it’s a win-win for employers and employees alike, which is why change in the work structure has grown so dramatically in the years prior to COVID – it grew by 91% in the last 10 years, and 44% in just the last 5 years. Look at it this way, we’ve been aware of many of these pertinent shifts brought on by COVID-19 for a long time, and the pivot towards virtual work isn’t the only one. COVID-19 has ripped off the metaphorical bandaid, and we’re now forced to address many issues that will allow for us to become better equipped for the future ahead of us.

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that remote work, in some capacity, will be a large part of the workforce forever. Global Workplace Analysis estimated that between 25-30% of the workforce will be working remotely by 2021. But in the future, we can expect to see more structure to the system, like better safeguards for cybersecurity, a lot more development in video communication tools and there’s already an increase in companies monitoring productivity by measuring activity logs or keystrokes.

But on-site work won’t become completely eradicated for all office employees. It’s just going to look totally different, and this wouldn’t be the first time an outbreak sparked a change in aesthetics – tuberculosis sanatoriums are said to have influenced much of the minimalist and modern design we see today, and the industrial revolution brought us improvements in indoor and outdoor plumbing in an effort to minimize cholera and typhoid outbreaks. In a strange way, it’s comforting to know that we’ve been here before – we’ve adapted in the past, and we’re surely going to continue to adapt in the midst of this crisis.

Commercial real estate giant Cushman and Wakefield offered a glimpse into what the future workplace might look like with the design concept, “The 6 Feet Office”. This COVID-conscious office concept featured contact-less elevators, 6-foot floor markers, one-way corridors, temperature checkpoints, replaceable desk pads, and a lot of plexiglass. They’re currently implementing these features with their clients in China, where they’ve helped over a million workers get back to the office.

Despina Katsikakis, Head of Occupier Business Performance at Cushman & Wakefield added, “Improved air filtration is probably the single most important lesson learned from China.” Especially given the nature of COVID’s spread, as the virus can travel through the air in respiratory micro-droplets, we can expect to see a new standard for indoor air quality. This is actually something that was foreseen in China several years ago. High-end air filtration systems are already the norm in many office buildings and the country has indoor air certification safety standards – this largely contributed to China’s ability to quickly get their workforce back into the office. Improved indoor air quality standards in the U.S. are long overdue, with pre-COVID research showing that CO2 levels in many office buildings were high enough to impair human health and showed signs of significantly impacting workers’ cognitive functions.

This post-COVID world is going to be mindful of limiting the spread of all infectious diseases, not just COVID-19. 80% of infectious diseases transmitted through touching a contaminated surface, so you can also expect to see an emphasis on contactless pathways in the coming years – like using your smartphone to call down an elevator or get a coffee, and motion-sensored doors inside and outside the office. Ultimately, we’re going to see limiting the spread of germs influence functionality and design in products and spaces in the ongoing future.

Ironically, these critical changes brought about by COVID-19 aren’t just today’s news – many of these topics and issues have been front of mind for several years, leaders just weren’t aware that these systems would need to be built overnight. We’re in the midst of something truly beyond ourselves. It’s somber, nerve-wracking, and we don’t have all the data yet. But I think that the lessons we’ve learned during COVID-19 have shown us something within a realm of possibilities that we never want to see again. The systems we put in place today have the profound ability to save lives down the line for generations to come, so as we trudge through these challenges, let’s make that our silver lining.

InstaMed’s Annual Report & Webinar on Trends in Healthcare Payments

InstaMed’s Annual Trends Report

Get access to exclusive healthcare insights. InstaMed’s Trends in Healthcare Payments Tenth Annual Report is now available for download. The report features trends in healthcare payments that impact industry stakeholders: consumers, providers, and payers. The trends reveal a preference for digital payment options in healthcare, especially for consumers. This demand is set to grow as COVID-19 and social distancing emphasize the limitations of tools that require manual intervention.

Join the Webinar: What Ten Years of Trends Can Tell Us About a Post COVID-19 World

The Webinar is taking place on Thursday, May 14 at 12:00 PM ET. Go here to RSVP!

This report revealed that a high percentage of all stakeholders, especially consumers, are looking for a digital healthcare payments experience. The impact of COVID-19 and long-term precautions around human, manual interactions stand to put even more pressure around these demands.

In this webinar, InstaMed is going to take a deep-dive into all of 2019’s trends and explore how payment interactions between payers, providers and consumers will continue to shift to digital in a post COVID-19 world.

Meet Today’s Healthcare Consumers

Since the first report was published in 2011, the report has tracked the downward trend in the amount payers covered for medical services and a growing portion due to the consumer. In the latest report, consumers owe more for medical services and health plan premiums, and demand for advanced payment technology is growing, too. The data also tells us that demographics, including gender and age, can exacerbate the impacts on individual consumers.

The Pain of Outdated Collections for Providers

Over the years, providers have faced mounting collection challenges with the same tools and processes as they did a decade ago. Paper-based and manual collections clog provider collections that cannot keep up with the changes in consumer payment responsibility. The lack of progress affects provider revenue and loyalty among patients. Digital tools that rely on automated and electronic channels improve payment assurance for providers and meet consumer digital demand for a better overall outlook for provider organizations.

Challenging the Way Payers Do Business

Payers have been thrust into the spotlight in recent years as the healthcare industry looks for ways to manage the growing payments market. Competition from inside and outside the industry has grown fierce with large health systems and tech giants looking for a share of the health plan market. Payers must prioritize the payment experience for members with multiple digital touchpoints to maintain their position in the market. A focus on electronic transactions for providers and payment security is also necessary for the future of payer organizations.

Trends in Healthcare Payments Through the Years

For the past decade, the Trends in Healthcare Payments Annual Report has been published for the purpose of objectively educating the market and promoting awareness, change, and greater efficiency. These trends highlight quantitative data derived from the InstaMed Network and feature qualitative, proprietary, independently gathered survey data from consumers, providers, and payers nationwide. Trusted third party sources are also used to analyze the market from the perspective of all stakeholders – consumers, providers, and payers.

Our Advisory Board’s COVID-19 Virtual Panel Series: Episode 1

Our Virtual Panel Series is here! Over the coming weeks, our industry experts will weigh-in on the evolving challenges that executives are facing amid COVID-19, and together, we’ll create a virtual think tank to tackle these obstacles. This week, our Advisory Board members are covering how COVID-19 has specifically impacted Healthcare, Marketing & Cybersecurity, and how these issues have become intertwined. As Diana Burley puts it, we’ve had a lot of these issues for a while, we just didn’t know we would have to address them today. And with re-opening looming ahead, our panelists discuss how these industries will move forward, the future of work and automation, how we can find equity in healthcare, along with so much more.

Listen to our podcast episode here, or check out the video below.

Leading Effectively Amid COVID-19 Panel

Moderator Pierre Vigilance: Healthcare expert. Founder of HealthUp, Podcast Host of Junctional Thinking & Professor at GW’s Health Policy & Management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Pierre Vigilance is a systems-thinker with extensive experience in operations management, policy, executive education, and establishing strategic partnerships designed to improve population health outcomes.

Panelist Diana Burley: Cybersecurity expert. Executive Director and Chair of the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P) & Professor of Human & Organizational Learning at GW’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development. Prior to GW, she managed a multi-million dollar computer science education and research portfolio for the US National Science Foundation.

Panelist Steve Facini: Marketing expert. CMO & Managing Director at ondemandCMO & Professor at NYU teaching Business Planning & Media Planning & Buying. Innovator and champion for digital initiatives with 20+ years of financial services and marketing experience.

Panelist Craig Richardville: Healthcare & Technology expert. SVP & CIO at SCL Health. Industry leader with a history of advocating on Capitol Hill with legislative and executive branch leaders to create standards and new norms for health information technology.

What challenges are you facing as a leader? Comment below any questions or topics you would like to hear our panelists discuss in our next episode!

Tech Without Technique is Nothing but Bits and Bytes

As originally published by David Sable on Linkedin.

Sadly, the DIGIBABBLE crowd is at it again. The one-note pundits, with nothing new to say, are predicting a world that will only be Tech or Digital. Solutions will be “Big Data” and AI-based only—and nothing else will matter.

Nothing could be further from the truth. And nothing will tank your business as quickly as listening to that endless and meaningless drivel.

Digital is Everything. Get over it. Just about all that we do is linked, in some way, to a digital source/platform/system. And that, by the way, includes a printed newspaper, magazine or book (if you still read any—and it seems that many more are), the TV shows you watch, and the coffee you once bought from the food cart that you paid for through Square or Venmo.

But not Everything is Digital. Many are lost without their live sports, meals in restaurants, Broadway shows, concerts, school…and yes, all of these non-digital experiences are linked to some digital enablement or other. KNEE JERK ALERT.

Digital is Everything…But not Everything is Digital—so I have been writing and speaking about for years, but never has the phrase been truer—and never has the distinction been more important to our future.

To begin with, right now many of the most important people in the world are the people we have tended to ignore. They are the nameless people delivering our food, packing the boxes we order from Amazon, working the fields, and in other ways, keeping us and our economy going.

Sadly, we have allowed an elite, digital-world lexicon, the Gig Economy, to denote the status of people who have no social safety net, no ability to save, and who must to work endless hours just to have a second and often third gig.

Any number of Sci-Fi Apocalyptic-themed movies feature the underground/ behind-the-scenes/rarely seen community of people who keep it all going for the ones on top. The Utopians. In fact, Kara Swisher wrote about this in her latest New York Times column.

Obviously, the incredible healthcare workers who man the front lines daily…with limited supplies, conflicting information, no rest and often little reward, are the Superheroes of our time. The doctors, nurses, aides, technicians, and maintenance crews…sometimes working double shifts…wearing masks that have been washed and recycled, garbage bags over their clothes when proper gear runs out…improvising and rigging and concocting because all the tech if it isn’t there for the people to use.

Another subset of heroes: Parents, at home, sometimes single, working (or not), lacking the devices to share across the family for school, work and just plain sanity…who are creating games, cooking and baking, building all kinds of fantastic projects for their children to partake, maintaining stability in an unstable time.

And, of course, the alone and lonely—the former…those that have, too late, discovered that all the likes, digital social connections and followed influencers amount to nothing. And the latter…those elderly people who are without anything at all. Both the alone and lonely, share the need for common human warmth, a virtual, but no less real hug…both missing human company, someone to bring them their medicine, or a home baked cookie. These folks are our most vulnerable—they are the largest segment of the stricken population to die…and they die alone.

And there is so much more to delve into about the ways our lives have changed in recent months. Funerals and visitations by ZOOM (I use the term generically); great, yet simple acts of kindness everywhere; sharing a drink with a friend remotely and on and on.

I have written about the danger of returning to any kind of normal…new or otherwise…Technology Meeting Faith…and Ingenuity vs. Innovation. Yet, what struck me as I pondered those awaiting the Tech Messiah was the notion of Tech and Technique….and the primal truth that one without the other is doomed.

As I began, “Digital Is Everything…But Not Everything Is Digital.”

All Tech, since the beginnings of humankind, has progressed because of Technique…because we learned how to use the Tech, mold it, evolve it, pivot it…make it transparent, and then, most importantly shared it, and then repeated the process…Technique.

From fashioning spear tips to evolving how we share stories (think cave walls to TikTok), from the first wheel to space exploration, tech advanced because of people and their uses and adaptations of it—not because of the Tech itself.

More importantly when the Tech fails, and it always does in some way or another, or when its limitations become apparent, it is human ingenuity, moxie, perseverance that gets us through. And while I like to reference apocalyptic-themed movies where this is usually the overarching theme, you need look no further than your own locked-down home to see the proof.

How lucky we are to have ZOOM, how blessed we are to have digital connectivity that allows us to really connect. And how fortunate we are that we have not lost our humanity…our primal spirit, because when all else is gone, that is our core. Listen:

“Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit”—Ansel Adams

And there you have it.

If nothing else, let’s emerge from The Plague of 2020 with an optimism based on our humanity and indomitable spirit. If we discount ourselves or throw it away, thinking salvation will come from elsewhere, we have already lost.

See you on ZOOM!!! Stay safe and Stay well.

4 Takeaways on COVID-19’s Impact on Industry & Consumer Behavior

COVID-19 has transformed our day-to-day lives in the here and now, but there’s reason to believe that a number of these lifestyle changes won’t fade away once the storm is behind us. In today’s deep-dive, we’re exploring 4 trends that we believe will have a lasting effect on the future of industry: eCommerce taking over Grocery, the rise of alternative social outlets, telehealth as a dominant force in healthcare, and the yearning for human connection amidst uncertainty.

eCommerce plays a key role in the future of Grocery.

Amid all the panic and uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, nobody wants to line-up outside a grocery store behind a dozen other shoppers wearing face masks, ultimately to find out that the last box of pasta is gluten free. A trip to the store is more like an unpredictable journey — there’s the anxiety of being exposed to the virus, the lack of options can be frustrating, and between all the lines and obsessive hand washing, it’s a long-winded and tedious way to get your groceries.

That’s why online grocery shopping has shown tremendous growth amid COVID-19, with the model seeing a 74% increase in shoppers since March 13th. What’s interesting about this dramatic shift is that 26% of these shoppers are online grocery shopping for the first-time ever, and there’s reason to believe that this shift will have lasting effects once COVID-19 is behind us. Business Insider Intelligence has projected that 49% of U.S. consumers will have used online grocery services by the end of the year, and grocery chains are pressed to adopt digital transformation at a rate much faster than they had ever anticipated. Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon pointed out that hand sanitizer and toilet paper were crucial products in the first wave of panic buying, and this was followed by nonperishable foods and puzzle games. Now that we’re in the midst of the third wave, nearly 2 months into lockdown, McMillon has noticed an influx of customers purchasing personal care products. He noted on the Today show that “People are starting to need a haircut. You see more beard trimmers and hair color, and things like that.” COVID-19 has caused ecommerce to take over all product categories in all aspects of our lives, with consumer demands’ evolving the longer we remain in lockdown.

Alternative Social Outlets are Seeing Record-Breaking Engagement.

At this point, I think we all know somebody that’s boasting about their bread making skills in the midst of quarantine. DIY has become a hot trend in recent weeks, which has prompted record traffic on Pinterest, which is seeing a 26% increase in saves, a 55% increase in searches and triple the amount of video views since 4/6. Trends related to productivity, future planning, and self-care are seeing a strong uptick in activity, with search terms like “exercise routine at home” seeing a 195% increase in traffic.

Gen Z and Millennials are also flocking to TikTok, a more recently emerged social media outlet centered upon sharing and creating 15-second videos, with lip-syncing and dance clips being core content on the outlet. Music Business Worldwide reported an 18% increase in downloads (2,000,000 total) between March 16-22, and the first 23 days of March saw a 27% increase in downloads in comparison to February’s 6.2 million downloads. Most recently, TikTok users have dabbled into home cooking, with a DIY whipped coffee drink originating from Korea, also known as “Dalgona coffee”, sparking viral attention on the social channel,with the #dalgonacoffee tag amassing over 290 million views at the time of writing.

With self isolation being so heavily encouraged, gamers couldn’t ask for a better excuse to pick up the controller. Amazon’s video game streaming website Twitch has surpassed over 3 billion hours watched in Q1 for the first time ever (that’s 17% more than the hours watched from last quarter). This quarter also saw a 33% increase in unique channels, and accounted for 65% of total streaming hours watched this quarter, leading the charge ahead of competitors Youtube, Facebook & Mixer.

Telehealth is here to stay.

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that the US healthcare system is fragile and rife with life-threatening vulnerabilities. This January, only 24% of US healthcare organizations had a virtual care program in place, and I’m willing to bet money that this figure will change dramatically in the coming months, especially given President Trump’s deregulatory healthcare agenda. This implemented Medicare & HSA coverage for telehealth offerings & allowed patients/providers to connect over video platforms such as Skype, Zoom, and FaceTime.

However, the issue still remains for small businesses. Many small physician practices aren’t equipped with a telehealth alternative, and with non-urgent issues falling by the wayside amidst national lockdown, these practices are struggling to stay afloat. Telehealth vendor Amwell is offering a new solution to help these smaller care providers pivot in the midst of COVID-19. They’ve recently launched a telehealth program for small physician practices with less than 100 clinicians, and it provides customizable clinical workflows, e-Prescribing, online physician enrollment, staff training and payment-collection capabilities. Investing in this technology will prove to be crucial in ongoing treatment of patients with non-life threatening ailments, especially amid murmurs that this fall’s flu season will become all the more challenging amid a potential 2nd wave of COVID-19.

Large networks with telehealth offerings have seen a massive uptick in usage, with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts reporting over half a million telehealth visits with patients in the past 6-weeks. Prior to the virus, they averaged only 5,000 visits in that timeframe. Arielle Trzcinski, Senior analyst at Forrester adds,“While the pandemic will prove the value of virtual care in a crisis, it will also demonstrate the effectiveness for ongoing chronic care management. This moment will have a lasting effect on the adoption of virtual care and accelerate the shift from in-person care to virtual first engagement for multiple conditions and use cases.”

People crave human connection, and Zoom leaves us empty-handed.

The word “unprecedented” has become an exhausted cliche, but it’s so difficult to put into words how poignantly the world has been changed. The battle against this virus has resulted in millions of people being separated from their families and loved ones. At the time of this writing, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 65,000 Americans and 30 million people have filed unemployment claims since mid-March in the U.S. During this vulnerable time, people crave human connection. Video conferencing allows us to augment the face-to-face interaction we long for, but studies have shown that it’s taxing the brain, and there’s proven science behind the “Zoom Fatigue” we’re all experiencing. Non-verbal cues are fundamental in how we process communication, and our ability to read these cues via Zoom is nearly impossible. It’s like our brain is trying to put together a puzzle with the wrong pieces, and it leaves us exhausted, drained, and even feeling ostracized from one another. Multi-person Zoom calls exacerbate these effects since users are decoding communication with multiple people at once, and the 1.2 second delay causes users to perceive the responder as less interested or friendly.

Manyu Jiang from BBC claims that the external stressors we’re all subject to can have a massive impact on our ability to truly connect. The self complexity theory suggests that individuals have compartmentalized different aspects in their lives. For instance, the “self” we are with our family, friends, significant others, or work peers are all different. Typically, these connections are carried out in separate spaces, but with people being confined to their homes, all these “separate selves” are boiled down to one. Gianpiero Petriglieri, a professor at Insead tells BBC, “Imagine if you go to a bar, and in the same bar you talk with your professors, meet your parents or date someone, isn’t it weird? That’s what we’re doing now… We are confined in our own space, in the context of a very anxiety-provoking crisis, and our only space for interaction is a computer window.”

Jiang suggests that going the “old-fashioned” route may serve as a comfort to those struggling with video communications. Writing a letter or talking over the phone surely don’t replicate the 1:1 human experience, but it can take out the pressure and anxiety many are feeling while deciphering communication over Zoom. With the market becoming saturated with virtual webinars, and remote workers becoming increasingly overwhelmed with Zoom meetings, it’s safe to say that face-to-face activities and networking will be valued like never before once this generation-defining crisis is behind us.

Drastic WFH Shifts Now Need to Put Security First: Five Steps to Making that Shift

As originally published by Ratinder Ahuja on ShieldX’s blog.

Many enterprises were faced with making a hairpin turn towards a new work from home (WFH) strategy. Corporations scrambled to beef up their remote access infrastructure to mitigate productivity downtime. For network and security teams, this means a dramatic and overnight shift in network topology as the number of VPN connections increased. Network accessibility was and remains the top priority but with it comes increased potential for security risks.  Given the new environment, what are the key infrastructure concerns for security and infrastructure?

Recall, last year’s spike in attacks targeting VPN servers—notably spear headed by nation-state actors–against Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Pulse Secure, and Citrix:

Palo Alto Network Security Advisory PAN-SA-2019-0020, in relation to CVE-2019-1579;
FortiGuard Security Advisories FG-IR-18-389, in relation to CVE-2018-13382; FG-IR-18-388 in relation to CVE-2018-13383; FG-IR-18-384, in relation to CVE-2018-13379;
Pulse Secure Security Advisory SA44101, in relation to CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2019-11508, CVE-2019-11540, CVE-2019-11543, CVE-2019-11541, CVE-2019-11542, CVE-2019-11539, CVE-2019-11538, CVE-2019-11509, https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2019-11507CVE-2019-11507.
Citrix Security Advisory CTX267027, in relation to CVE-2019-19781.

These lead to new ways of bypassing perimeter security controls as attackers get past the VPN and land inside your data center. Need further proof, look no further than aerospace giant Airbus, who was hit by a series of attacks targeting VPNs used by airline suppliers to steal sensitive company data. 

This is further exacerbated by enabling employees to work from home without the right planning cycles to prepare for such a move. Each of these systems should have been patched last year when the vulnerabilities were disclosed, and the first attacks began hitting organizations. However, with more and more companies needing VPN capabilities to allow workers to log into private corporate systems and perform their responsibilities, IT staff responded by putting up more VPN servers to deal with the surging traffic. Here are five recommendations you should follow:

Fast work and complexity lead to misconfigurations and other basic mistakes. Be mindful of the fact when setting up new infrastructure overnight, its possible typical security processes become bypassed in order to just “get it done”. IT staff now needs to reexamine security best practices and pay close attention to the new VPN servers they deployed. Make sure these systems have been patched for vulnerabilities like those listed above, as they are likely to become the most targeted today.
Avoid shared machines or split tunneling to reduce system infiltration. Inspect the configuration of the VPN’s as often times “split tunnels” are established, where traffic from the remote network destined to the data centers and to other destinations on the internet are running on the same machine. Such concurrent tunnels interconnect the world to your data center with a single hop that is outside your network and sometimes even outside the infrastructure teams’ control. 
Prevent perimeter bypassing requires East/West visibility. Interconnectivity of home networks to data centers leads to the risk of bypassing the perimeter. Once this happens, visibility of ongoing progressive penetration deeper into the data center core networks is limited to non-existent. To counter these effects and remain vigilant against attack activities and their progression, utilize segmentation to isolate the systems in your environment where you previously depended on enhanced security controls and hardened perimeters.
Ensure VPN access aligns with policies. Working from home shouldn’t allow for greater access to internal systems. Increase logging and review SOC threat hunting techniques and procedures. Identify abnormalities in connections, pinpointing large data transfers, failed logins, and monitor for disabled accounts especially when reducing the work force.
Review security best practices with everyone. Now would also be a good time to remind employees and third parties who have access to your network about security best practices. Working from home likely means employees are working on unsecured wireless networks, using personal laptops not monitored or secured, and potentially running out-of-date or unpatched software. Many employees may be downloading new applications, zoom backgrounds, and reviewing compromised websites hosting COVID-19 updates. Something as simple as a newsletter related to proper configuration of their wireless routers and the use of WPA or WPA2, the need to ensure anti-malware software remains up-to-date, systems patched routinely and using caution when visiting websites can help.