Working from home & personal devices: remote working challenges
Working from home & personal devices: remote working challenges
Working from home (WFH) and hybrid working has become common practice, especially after Covid! As an MSP, it is our goal to ensure that your work devices are secure, efficient, and connected to your work network. However, we often face questions about supporting personal home networks and devices, especially as the lines between work and personal devices are blurred over time.
Can my IT provider support my personal device for remote working?
Well yes and no…
We are always available to run you through any VPN setups or walk through any minor troubleshooting steps however, If we start reconfiguring a client’s home network for example, we then become liable for any unintended issues that arise after.
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 For example, if we make adjustments to ensure your work device functions properly but then your Chromecast or baby monitor stops working, we would then be responsible for fixing that issue which is something we want to avoid as we are a Business IT support provider and not a home network provider.
Many households today rely heavily on their home networks for essential devices, such as smart thermostats, or security cameras. If we interfere with these, it could result in serious consequences. Therefore, it’s important to draw a clear line between what we support and what we don’t.
With this being said each MSP is different and may support your home network but for many MSPs, this is not the case as they are mostly strictly B2B IT support.
Increased Workload Factor
It’s not just about liability! If we were to provide full support for home networks, our workload would increase tenfold. Imagine this:
 For every client, we’d have to troubleshoot Wi-Fi, routers, smart home devices, and a whole range of other non-work-related issues and wow that is a lot of work on top of your work support too!
This would also be putting your support costs up too! (theoretically of course.) Our role is to ensure that your work device functions as expected from your home and not to manage your entire household network that would just be too much of a workload!
How Can Liberate Support You?
When it comes to working from home and connecting your work device to your home Wi-Fi, we can offer advice or guide you through troubleshooting over the phone. However, we cannot directly resolve issues related to your home setup. Our focus remains on your work device and its security.
So, how blurred are the boundaries between work and home devices?
In recent years, research by Aviva has found that 52% of UK employees feel the boundaries between their work and home life have become increasingly blurred. Many home devices now include built-in encryption, making them more secure than ever before. However, there are still critical differences when it comes to managing and securing work devices.
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For instance, work laptops typically come equipped with Windows Pro, which provides advanced features such as BitLocker encryption and the ability to use Mobile Device Management (MDM). Home laptops, on the other hand, often come with Windows Home, which lacks these crucial security features.
To make a home device as secure as a work laptop, you’d need to upgrade to Windows Pro which adds an additional cost of around £100. This is why it is often more cost-effective to simply invest in a dedicated work laptop rather than buying a home version and upgrading it.
Why MDM Matters for Work Devices
MDM plays a vital role in the security and management of work laptops. By using MDM, we can quickly set up and configure your work device, ensuring it automatically joins the work network and meets all security requirements. This not only saves time but also ensures that your device is managed in the safest way possible. Windows Pro supports MDM, whereas Windows Home does not, again a good reason to purchase a dedicated work laptop over Windows Home!
Conclusion
Our focus as an MSP is on securing and supporting your work devices, ensuring they can seamlessly integrate into your working-from-home environment. So can my IT Provider support my device for remote working? Yes if it is a work device we can offer support over the phone for example connecting to a VPN however if it is a home device or network you need assistance with you will have to reach out to your network provider for additional support!