SalesTechStar Interview with Michael Campbell, Head of Federal and Government Business at Privoro

Remote work is a not a new concept anymore, but with the Covid-19 pandemic, the global workforce and many more industries have learnt to adapt to a model that allows a more seamless remote work experience. As Michael Campbell, Head of Federal and Government Business at Privoro says in this chat with SalesTechStar, ‘’Work is not a place, it is an outcome that we all work together to achieve from wherever we are, but in a larger context, it is important to stress balance, so “work from anywhere” does not become “work all the time.” Catch the complete QnA:

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Can you tell us a little about yourself Michael? How has your journey in tech been and what are some of your top workplace/leadership learnings you’d like to share with us today?

 After graduating with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering, I served in the US Army for more than two decades. While serving on the front lines, I witnessed the difference that new technology could make in driving success, and from the enterprise side, I was able to see the multitude of different considerations required to make a large project successful. One of the accomplishments of which I’m most proud was creating a vision document called the “Soldier Story” that simply shared the ever-changing communications landscape of a soldier as they moved from the home office to training to deployments and back again; this document crystallized the ridiculous complexity of the situation and helped spur an effort to simplify and converge the tools used for communicating. The key lesson is that any new technology, program or policy will only be successful as long as the perspective of the end users is taken into account.

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Tell us a little about Privoro and how you’ve observed a changing trend in the way more and more business and individual users have started becoming cautious about privacy..

Privoro is tackling a key problem of our age, which is that organizations and individuals rely heavily on the benefits that mobile devices bring and yet may not fully trust these devices to keep their information safe. The way we solve this problem is by providing hardware-based solutions that give users physical and trusted control, beyond the mobile device itself, over how their information is shared. In just the last couple of years, there’s been a growing awareness that our mobile devices are capable of collecting an unfathomable amount of information about us that corporations and governments alike would want to get their hands on.

What according to you are some of the top privacy norms companies working remote should set as fundamentals in the new normal? What are some of the employee side / corporate side privacy basic best practices you’d advise the growing remote workforce of today to follow.

The great work-from-anywhere experiment of 2020 has meant that employees in many respects are responsible for their own IT. Rather than lamenting this fact, companies should empower their employees to lock down their home networks and keep their devices safe. Critically, companies must educate employees on how to combat fraud and espionage in all its forms, whether it’s an email meant to capture credentials, a text message meant to deliver spyware or a phone call meant to pry information. I would strongly advise employees to mind the many cameras and microphones in their personal devices, especially when in the presence of confidential information.

How do you feel innovations in tech will give rise to more sophisticated hardware / software to help protect device and online privacy – what are your predictions for this space in the near-future?

Enabling the use of the amazing innovations of commercial mobile devices while adding physical, trusted control is the future of protection and privacy. The real definition of “zero trust” will come when everyday digital citizens, realizing that they should no longer blindly trust their devices and that software can only do so much, will demand personal, trusted control. I believe that we’ll see more development of secure hardware that is designed to coexist with existing technology but limit its capacity for data capture, as well as secure hardware enabling its own use cases independently of consumer devices.

 How according to you will the face of the new normal look like for global businesses? Sum up the Future of Business and Work as you see it in 2025!

 In 2025, working from anywhere will not only be the norm but people will also expect the following: a flat organizational structure that brings the inclusivity needed to collaborate, participate, innovate and self-organize; transparency that allows information to flow freely among leaders and employees and then outward to shareholders so that people can access the information they need to perform and innovate in a timely manner; constant 360-degree performance feedback that enables everyone throughout an organization to be as productive as possible; and shared workspaces and team rooms where colleagues can meet, collaborate and bond as needed.

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