In the shifting paradigm of work, HP offers peace of mind in security and sustainability

• Features like HP Sure Click helps safeguard employees and their devices
• HP Elite Dragonfly contains over 80% recycled material in mechanical parts

According to Gartner, PC shipments for 2020 reached 275 million units – a 4.8% increase from 2019, and the highest growth in ten years. One thing is clear: the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns across the world has made computers more essential than ever.

But what do people look for in their computers? The easy answer is “peace of mind”. For some, it’s the knowledge that their computers are allowing them to work how they want with as little disruption as possible.

For the most part, computers today are definitely up to the task. “Today’s powerful laptops, tablets and phones gives consumers the ability to work anywhere, anytime – cutting the spread of the pandemic through virtual meetings, calls and remote work tasks,” notes Yogesh Bhatia, director of Personal Systems for HP Inc. Singapore and Malaysia.

“As Asian countries confront shrinking, ageing workforces during the global Covid-19 pandemic, virtual work helps organisations increase diversity, promote inclusion and hire staff who do not fit the traditional corporate mould. That includes disabled employees, stay-at-home parents and workers caring for elderly parents.”

But as work radically shifts to a work-from-home (WFH) culture, what constitutes as “peace of mind” is also changing. Computers today need to address two additional concerns: security and sustainability.

For one, WFH and remote working raises different security concerns. Secondly, with the increased number of new devices that organisations have to invest in, it’s also vital – especially for environmentally-conscious companies – to know that they’re not contributing to more waste.

Safeguarding security

“The shift to remote working is a huge change, one not many are prepared for. And security shifts have never been greater – rising cases of cybercrimes marks a norm since the start of the pandemic,” notes Yogesh.

Indeed it is. According to CyberSecurity Malaysia, a total of 7,765 cybercrime cases were recorded in the first eight months of 2020. A majority of them – 5,697 in total – are fraud cases. This is followed by intrusion (933 cases), cyber harassment (409) and malicious codes (351). These are, of course, cases that were actually reported – the number of actual attacks could well be much higher.

WFH and remote working entail different security measures – as Yogesh points out. A worker may have to access their work through unsecured networks, especially when in public spaces like cafes. Awareness and vigilance is definitely important to avoid falling for cyber-attacks, but that may not be enough. 

“Every technology decision counts in the battle to keep businesses and consumers secure,” says Yogesh.

It begins with investing in the right computer. Take the HP Elite c1030 Chromebook Enterprise, for instance. This isn’t just an ultraportable device made for work at home and on-the-go – it also features enterprise-grade security, from a built-in fingerprint sensor to HP’s suite of industry leading security features.

These include the likes of HP Sure Click, a fascinating feature that opens untrusted websites and files in their own isolated virtual containers (called micro-virtual machines, or micro-VM). If there is a malicious code present, these micro-VM trick the malware into thinking it’s running inside your computer, when it’s in fact trapped inside a contained environment, unable to affect your PC and network.

“HP’s innovation of intelligent, proactive, hardware-enforced security ensures every HP device is ready to hold its own against attacks, support the defenses of the network it sits in, and get back to business quickly – straight out of the box,” adds Yogesh. The good news is that these features are also available in HP’s new Probook and Elitebook devices.

Embracing sustainability

Sustainability has increasingly become a significant aspect for organisations and companies (it is, after all, good for business). Sometimes, peace of mind also entails making sustainable decisions when it comes to investing in employee devices. You can, for instance, choose to invest in devices that are constructed from ocean-bound plastic.

The HP Elite Dragonfly, for instance, contains more than 80% recycled material in all its mechanical parts, making it the first notebook with ocean-bound plastic. To date, HP has sourced over 1.7 million pounds of ocean-bound plastics for use in their ink cartridges and hardware, thus keeping this waste out of the ocean.

The thing to note about these devices is that they don’t affect the other significant factors that make them good investments – performance and price. The HP ZBook Studio G7 (part of its Elitebook family), as an example, is a mobile workstation that utilises NVIDIA Quadro graphics and can be fitted with up to 32GB of RAM.

It is also the first mobile workstation with ocean-bound plastics, and is also designed to use less energy without sacrificing performance. 

Yogesh iterates that these devices are still competitively priced. “Consumers don’t have to shell out more for their environmentally-conscious devices.”

Ultimately, HP aims to meet the changing needs of organisations during times of paradigm shifts. “Supporting the business community has always been important to HP, that’s why we have constantly innovated and adapted to the needs of the workforce of the future, with flexibility, security, sustainability and reliability at the core of HP innovation,” Yogesh stresses.

With Malaysia having made a commitment at the 2015 Paris Summit to reduce, by 2030, its CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 45% from the level in 2005, every little action towards sustainability by responsible corporates, helps.

Concludes Yogesh, “HP Malaysia remains a steadfast and long-standing partner with our country to advance digital transformation for a better and stronger Malaysia.”