“Cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated and attacks are increasing daily. Organizations need to find ways to protect their assets and data, while at the same time balancing employee and customer experiences,” said Nathan Rogers, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, SAIC. “All of this needs to be done within tight budgets.”

CISOs and CIOs have to be creative and thoughtful as they tackle cyber security challenges, Rogers continued.  “In 2019, we need to find effective ways to train our employees, implement best of breed tools that incorporate automation and machine learning and partner with organizations that can help implement best practices.”

Just as significantly they need to be hyper aware of the tech challenges involved. “All of the solutions we've been talking about, any kind of workplace solutions technology involves integrating with multiple systems,” said Chris Fine, Senior Strategist Smart Spaces and Iota, Aruba Networks. “It's never just one thing. You also have to think about what data you're collecting, where you're going to keep it, how to avoid collecting personally identifiable information. What are you tracking? What are you expecting people to supply.

“You really don't want to be on the wrong side of cybersecurity.”

CRE-Focused Tech

Of course, the symposium also addressed the vast amounts of technology and information that is solely focused on the commercial estate sector.

“There certainly has been an explosion of new technological capabilities in the workplace, and that's a great thing. To harness these opportunities, executives in technology, facilities, HR and operations, to name a few, need to form strong partnerships to determine where their companies will get the most value from these technologies,” said Brian P. Watson, Author and Vice President, Traction Technology Partners. Then they must develop sophisticated processes for discovering, vetting and sourcing the technologies that will make the biggest impact, he added.

Watson also pointed out the numerous case studies of companies that have improved collaboration, productivity, and employee satisfaction by deploying the right tools. “Given the glut of options available, its not always an easy task thus strong prioritization and evaluation are critical.”