Hybrid Work: Tackle the Challenge of Secure IT Offboarding

In the face of the Great Resignation and the rise of hybrid work, standardized IT offboarding is a crucial yet largely overlooked process. Only 29% of companies have a formal process in place, resulting in hidden costs that can be astronomical, as demonstrated by the Cisco incident ($2.4 million in damages).

‍

When an employee leaves the company, the news often comes late, putting the IT department (CIO) under pressure. The department must then handle the situation as an emergency: identify which employee devices need to be returned, revoke all of the employee’s software access (systems, applications, servers, email), and retrieve the remote work equipment.

Today's work environment is driving IT to modernize in order to manage the complexity of virtual access and the sheer volume of idle hardware.

‍

1. IT Offboarding: More Than Just a Formality—A Security Issue

‍

IT offboarding refers to the set of HR, IT, and business processes that ensure employees leave the company smoothly and securely. This includes knowledge transfer, the recovery of company assets (enterprise asset management), and, most importantly, the revocation of access rights to prevent data security risks.

The New Challenges Facing IT 

In the age of digital workflows, companies manage an extensive IT infrastructure. An Okta report reveals that companies with more than 2,000 employees manage an average of 175 SaaS applications. This proliferation results in greater responsibilities and complexity for the IT department during the offboarding process.

IT administrators must:

• Determine which devices, software access, and peripherals are assigned to employees.
• Ensure that employee equipment is returned and unused licenses are canceled in a timely manner.
• Manage unreported resources associated with shadow IT, which often fall outside of standard controls.

‍

2. The strategic benefits of proactive IT offboarding 

‍

MakingIT offboarding a crucial part of the overall process delivers direct benefits for the IT department and the company (CFO, HR).

a. Enhancing the employee experience (employer brand)

Proactive IT offboarding helps enhance the employee experience right up until their last day, turning departing employees into brand ambassadors for future hires.

b. Data Security and Compliance (Audit)

Maintaining an accurate inventory of hardware (IT asset management) and software per employee allows us to revoke access and retrieve equipment as soon as an employee leaves, which drastically reduces data security risks and potential data leaks.

• Audit compliance: Rapid IT offboarding reduces audit risk by keeping your inventory of available assets up to date.

"The IT department needs to have a comprehensive overview whenever security and safety issues impact the company and its data flows." — Loic Bournon, Former CIO of Safran - Cyber Expert

c. Financial optimization (ROI)

Hidden costs can be avoided with the right IT offboarding software:

• Loss of expensive computer equipment.
• Late cancellation of unused licenses (recurring costs).
• Economic consequences of intellectual property theft or security breaches.

‍

‍

3. The IT Checklist: From Responsiveness to Automation 

‍

Information

Manual process (time-consuming): waiting for an email from the manager or HR.

Automated action (Pyla): Maintain a centralized record of departure dates populated by the HRIS.

Inventory

Manual process (time-consuming): Use the arrival form or ticketing tool to track equipment and licenses.

Automated process (Pyla): Populate a centralized inventory (enterprise asset management) with all equipment, peripherals, and software licenses for each employee.

Notification

Manual task (time-consuming): manually sending alert emails to resource administrators.

Automated action (Pyla): Send automatic alerts and reminders to all relevant administrators to revoke access on the departure date.

Action & Follow-up

Manual process (time-consuming): manually verify that all access has been revoked and the equipment has been recovered.

Automated workflow (Pyla): Centralize and manage offboarding (including the return of remote work equipment) through a single platform.

‍Reassignment

Manual process (time-consuming): determining who receives the freed-up resources.

Automated action (Pyla): Automatically reassign resources (unused licenses) to new or existing employees.

‍

To move beyond a purely reactive approach and avoid time-consuming tasks, the IT department must structure its approach and transition to automation.

‍

4. Handling offboarding with Pyla: centralized management

‍

Pyla is the IT offboarding software that allows the IT department to focus on value-added projects.

As enterprise IT asset management software, Pyla:

• Centralizes all software and hardware (IT asset management), providing an up-to-date "who-to-what" mapping.
• Synchronizes personnel movement data (hiring, transfers) with the HRIS.
• Automatically sends alerts and reminders to each resource administrator (IT and business) with a detailed list of tasks.

‍

A smooth exit for employees is just as important as a good start. Formalizing theIT offboarding process not only mitigates legal and security risks but also ensures minimal disruption, making it a sound investment in the organization’s growth and security.

‍