Across the Eastern Seaboard, millions of Americans experienced the consequences of compromised cybersecurity. Earlier this month a ransomware attack led to the shutdown of a section of one of the nation’s critical sources of fuel, resulting in gas shortages and panic in one of the most populous regions of the country. This breach is but the latest in a line of malicious activity against both the public and private sector — where bad actors seek to access sensitive information or wreak financial havoc on individuals, businesses, and communities in exchange for monetary gain. But in preventing attacks like these in the future, should baseline security be the only consideration?

Companies across the globe have been quick to respond to the diverse nature of these threats. Forward-thinking CIOs and CISOs have partnered across the C-suite to deploy comprehensive security measures to ensure the digital safety of customers, employees, partners, and stakeholders. Heavily influenced by the growing decentralization of the workplace as a result of COVID-19, security leaders are mindful of the range of endpoint risks, both internally and among partner networks.

For example, early in the security journey, many organizations have found that, in doubling down on security, they’ve sacrificed a seamless end-user experience. The network might be sound, but day-to-day productivity suffers from intrusive and redundant features. But security should not come at the expense of experience and productivity. While it’s increasingly vital to deploy solutions that leverage next-generation technology to intelligently adapt to digital environments, ultimately, it’s imperative that organizations adapt to the Future of Work and provide a positive employee experience.

Balancing best-in-class security with a seamless experience has become a primary consideration among IT managers. In fact, a Citrix Pulse Survey of IT executives and managers in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific found that 97 percent of those surveyed cited employee experience as a key influence on their security strategy going forward. Conversations with Citrix channel partners in my area have even further highlighted just how vital that balance of security and experience has been — and how Citrix has been a critical resource in achieving this goal.

In a recent interview, Canadian partner Third Octet CEO Matt Metelsky explains, “The impact on the end user will determine whether or not a security strategy is sustainable. This is where Citrix’s concept of zero trust takes center stage, especially for a business, like ours, that thrives as part of an ecosystem. From an infrastructure perspective, by not trusting anyone or anything, we create a very secure platform that can only be accessed once someone or something truly proves who or what they say they are.”

The Zero Trust Network Access infrastructure is an intelligently designed deployment model, leveraging machine learning to create individual profiles for users, and, based on their role and activity behaviors, assigns access that can respond to changes in real time. Working in the background, it underpins a powerful set of secure access solutions that offer organizations a secure alternative to traditional VPNs. Deployable even among partner networks, zero trust proactively identifies abnormal behavior and revokes access accordingly, to reduce human error and keep networks safe — all without intruding on the working experience of the employee.

Whether it be in defense of public or private infrastructure, success hinges on security and experience working together, in sync. That, however, is impossible to achieve without a strong partner ecosystem that facilitates the diverse needs of stakeholders. That’s why Citrix approaches its partner model based on shared resources, collaboration, and education. From working with the C-suite to ensure buy-in from leadership to customizing solutions to the unique security and productivity needs of the business, the channel serves a key pillar of support to ensure these needs are met.

For more information on how Citrix partners are transforming the workplace and its approach to security, go to https://www.citrix.com/partners/.