Integrated Professional Skills in the Digital Age: Collaboration Tools, Cloud Computing, Data Security, and Russia's Sovereign Internet

This report discusses the significance of collaboration tools during the pandemic, advantages and disadvantages of cloud storage and computing, privacy and security challenges, and benefits and limitations of Russia's sovereign internet. It also covers the major collaboration tools used during the pandemic, such as MS Teams and Zoom, and measures to strengthen data security. The report is relevant to the subject Integrated Professional Skills in the Digital Age (CFPBUS006).

CFPBUS006 INTEGRATED
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Table of Contents.
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Importance of collaboration tool during pandemic......................................................................3
Advantages and disadvantages of cloud storage or computing...................................................5
Identify privacy and security challenges and discuss what possible measures could be taken...7
Benefits and limitations of own internet in Russia......................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
In the modern business world, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is very
significant in the development and performance of an organisation. ICT is an umbrella term,
refers to the different technological tools and resources used to share, store, create, exchange or
transmit information (Bahrini, R. and Qaffas, A. A., 2019). The report will discuss the
importance of collaboration tools which have help the businesses to survive during the Covid-19
pandemic. Further, the report will analyse the advantages, disadvantages, suitability and
application of cloud storage and computing in improving digitalisation. The report will identify
the challenges to the privacy & security and measures to control them which sees a marginal rise
during and after pandemic. Lastly, it will discuss the benefits and limitations of the network
which Russia is trying to develop to disconnect from the global internet due to the Ukraine's
conflict.
Importance of collaboration tool during pandemic
Collaboration tools are the software programmes, apps or platforms which is useful for a
company and its workforce to streamline their work and perform together in an effective and
efficient manner. Before pandemic, many enterprises resisted remote work and collaboration
tools due to afraid of being less productive (Sasangohar, F. and et.al., 2020). But after 2020,
organisations forced operating remotely because of the lockdown and collaboration technology
importance can further be elaborated as:
 Reduced costs: One of the key important justification of the tool is to reduce the cost of
travel for face-to-face conversation. Due to the regional and international restrictions
during pandemic taught companies how they can permanently move to online mode in
regard to certain corporate meetings, conferences and conventions which helps to cut the
cost.
 Greater agility: Another essential importance of the tools are that due to the online
format, performance gets done faster as meetings are conducted more simply and
quickly. Meeting can be scheduled according to everyone's availability from wherever
they are working.
 Boost team morale: It is an important aspect of collaboration tool as each employee's
work is being acknowledged rather than lost in the emails. Due to this, workforce can be
able to generate new ideas and enable them to communicate knowledge which is

comparatively easier to inspire. For example, Shared document comment's which is
visible to others may spark an idea in another.
 Remote collaboration is easier: It is another importance which helps many businesses
to embrace online mode for the very first time. Perhaps, it was easier for them to
communicate with their colleagues globally. One of the best example would be
PleaseReview tool used by WHO's to conduct an assembly during pandemic and it was
attended by hundreds. It was first-ever digital assembly.
 Better customer engagement: This is one more importance of the tool for the
companies. Many organisations started offering channels which includes the texting,
video or calling sessions to deliver the customer care support experience in a better way.
It also helps to keep the check with their competitors.
Covid-19 pandemic has not only affected the working place but has a great impact on
how they work. The companies were able to communicate with their executives and employees
during pandemic with the help of collaboration tools. The major used tools are:
 MS Teams: It is a workplace product that is introduced by Microsoft due to pandemic
which allows virtual working possible. It comprised of various functions like chat &
video conferencing, file storage, file sharing with PowerPoint, Excel, Word and
OneNote (McNett, M., 2020). It offered remote work environment with effective
traditional method of communication while meeting security needs. Further, benefits
which during pandemic for business to keep alive are employees were able to connect
with colleagues through high-quality video and audio facilities which allow an
individual to work in a team. The chat feature allowed employees to be engaged and
connected rather than being felt isolated. Co-authoring supports help to prevent the
employee's from frustration and can perform face-to-face discussion over doubts in
document. Centralized communication, Supporting group formation and recorded
events & meetings are other advantages of using MS Teams which saves the businesses
from drowning.
 Zoom: No industry except pharmaceutical was immune from the pandemic impact and
some were able to survive while other's failed to. Companies who were able to adapt
the change and had opted for collaboration tool may have survived. Zoom, being a
video conferencing service witnessed a sharp rise in the usage. This tool was an

important part of how businesses or individuals communicate following the GitLab's
handbook guidelines. Juicebox chats were another feature which were launched by the
Zoom for virtual coffee meetings for employees (Ittelson, B., 2021). Many businesses
were completely relied on the Zoom for working and because of this they are still able
to continue their business. Education industry is the apt example for this which was
able to pursue because of the video conferencing apps like Zoom.
Advantages and disadvantages of cloud storage or computing.
In order to add value to the company they should accept the digital transformation
process to upgrade. Due to the improved Artificial Intelligence, data analytics, machine learning
etc., firm would require heavy storage space and Cloud Computing is the exact answer to
integrate these technology data (Nayar, K. B. and Kumar, V., 2018). Cloud computing refers to
the process of storing data over an internet based servers while cloud storage is the place on
internet where user can access files remotely without the help of local access systems.
Advantages are:
 Cost: It is one of the biggest reason shifting towards cloud computing as it is cheaper
than on-premise technology. There is no requirement to store data into disks as
storage on cloud is exceptionally low in price.
 Accessibility: It is another benefit of using cloud computing as it gives remote
access to the files which are on storage with the help of internet connection.
 Recovery: It is another advantage when hard drive or other hardware cracks due to
which the access to the files is not possible. In that situation, it acts as a backup
solution by uploading files on cloud and can be accessible globally.
 Updating & syncing: It is one of the automatic function of cloud as whenever an
individual make a change in a file it will be auto-updated and synced.
 Security: It is another benefit of cloud computing as it provides an additional
protective layer due to various files on the cloud storage.
 Parallel collaboration: This benefit allows the company's employees to share or
connect to the workforce of any level and communicate remotely by providing daily
tasks conveniently.
 Unlimited storage capacity: The advantage of the cloud computing is that it comes
with a limitless storage capacity but it can be expanded with a monthly fee charges.

 No hardware required: There is no need of physical storage in regard to cloud
computing as the data is stored on the cloud storage.
Apart from these on-demand self-service, effective virtualization, advanced online
security, pay-per-use, web-based control, multi-tenancy, API access and device independence are
some other merits of the cloud computing.
Disadvantages are:
 Network connectivity dependency: The biggest demerit of the cloud computing is that
it is wholly dependent on the internet to work. Reliable and consistent internet service is
essential to optimum utilize it.
 Downtime: It is another biggest threat while using cloud computing. The users may deal
with technical issues due to loss of power, maintenance of data centers or low internet
connectivity could lead cloud services temporary down.
 Limited control: Cloud users may have minimum control over their files as they are
totally owned by service providers which is not easy for the users to have full control.
 Bandwidth issues: This issue arise when users try to store large files into small data
center due to more cost for large data storage center.
 No support: The another disadvantage of the cloud computing is the lack of support
system to their users and FAQs or online help is the only way to support.
 Attacks: Vulnerability to attacks is the serious challenge while using the cloud
computing facility. Storing data and preventing it from theft is still difficult for the cloud
company's.
 Vendor lock-in: When a user want to migrate its data from one platform to other, due to
differences between vendor platforms they might face support issues, configuration
complexity and huge expenses (Fernandes, G., Hassan, I. and Sridhar, D., 2022).
 No redundancy: It is another disadvantage as cloud server is not backed up or
redundant. There are various plans to protect the data of servers which can be purchased
by an additional expense.
Apart from these limited features before signing up, can't do away with servers
altogether, technical issues, additional charges to advance, vary performance are some other
demerits of the cloud computing. Therefore, The application and suitability of cloud computing

and cloud storage is dependable on the various aspects but helps in collaborating during
pandemic.
Identify privacy and security challenges and discuss what possible measures could be taken
In today's world, the most valuable asset for any business is its data whether financial reports,
business plans, start-up formation, healthcare records of any industry (Alzoubi, Y. I. and et.al., 2021).
With the passing of time, data breach risks are growing despite having proper data protection regulation.
The privacy and security of data is important for the existence and survival of the company.
In spite of regulation, there are some serious challenges regarding the privacy and security are:
 Accidental exposure: This is one of the biggest issue faced by organisations where the sensitive
data is negligently exposed because workforce are not aware of security policies.
 Phishing: It is a common form of social engineering which happens due to messages sent by an
attacker rather than trusted source. Manipulating and tricking people are the activities to extract
information.
 Insider threats: The security of the company's data is threatened by an employee who
intentionally or unintentionally did it. Non-malicious, malicious and compromised are the three
kinds of insider threat.
 SQL injection: It is another challenge of protecting data and a common technique to steal or gain
access to data which is used by the attackers.
 Ransomware and data loss in cloud: Ransomware is a malware that encrypts the company's
data and cannot be operated without decryption key. With organisation using cloud computing
facility increased the risk to protect the data over unsecured network.
There are few methods to strength data security are:
 Identify data security risks: Measuring and analysing the security risk is the first step to
strengthen the data security. Building risk management strategy by assessing and mitigating risks
is important for healthy data security (Tawalbeh, L. A. and et.al., 2020). Figuring out the stale
accounts which are still operating that can be removed to probe the network. Regularly scanning
for unauthorized files can accidentally catch malware.
 Conduct a server inventory: Another step to strengthen data security is by checking operating
systems that are not backed by the vendor. Ensuring to install updated antivirus to avoid the
cyberattack is the first defense. Avoiding unnecessary software on server protect the system
which may manipulate the important data.

 Know your data: This is another measure to strengthen the security of data. With the use data
discovery and classification technology, scanning the data both on cloud and premises to
prioritize the data appropriately.
 Be on the top of suspicious activity: Closely monitoring the activity in IT ecosystem, a
company should be able to know when, where and by whom the data is being accessed. The firm
should always be looking for sudden bursts of activity which must be a reason to investigate. A
company sometimes should check the activity outside normal hours of business.
 Maintain a least-privilege model: This is one of the key step to strengthen the security and
privacy of the data by restricting user's access permissions to the area which is not usable. Due to
this the accidentally or willingly damages caused by an employee can be minimized. For
example, limit the access to financial documents to the sales representative's is how the privilege
can be removed.
Benefits and limitations of own internet in Russia
The conflicts between the Russia and Ukraine is becoming the highly isolated with the
technologies companies reducing the operations including Facebook, Netflix, twitter and
TikTok. After that, Russia is controversy the local operators to disconnect from the global
internet. The internet is changing for the Russian users with the Facebook blocked and twitter as
well as tiktok are not allowing to the Russian user to post and Russian police stopping people to
use phone on the street because the Russians are completely unplugged with the global internet.
The Russia experimenting the splinter net with the sovereign internet. The Russian ISPs were
asked for the effectively configure the internet within the borders (Kriel and Pavliuc, 2019).
The Russian ministry o digital developments isolate the Russians internet services as well as
authorities want to start websites to using the Russian domain name system and it is gracious of
phone-book that allots web addresses which is supported on the numerical internet protocol
address.
The initiative restricting the Russia version of the internet as well as giving control to the
government for what citizens can access. The Russian develop their own internet, disconnecting
from the global network and control their own local network. The Russia create the own internet
version and it is known as the great firewall of china as a domestic internet.
The Russia adopt the long term evolution technology as the local network for the high
speed wireless connection for the data terminals and mobiles devices. It helps in enhance the
capacity and speed by using the different interface for improve the core network in russia.

 Russia increasing the digital isolation: more people of Russia use the internet from the
Ukraine conflicts began. The Russia peoples highly deprived on the online services such
as twitter, Facebook, etc. the Russian have limited sites to use (Bail, 2020). In the
financial applications, the Russian pulled out to apple-pay, google pay and major credit
cards which is impacting the e-commerce. The Russian tolerated free access to services
and contents through the internet. The companies of the Russia gain the access to
enhance the technologies as well as increase the resilience of the services.
 Reduce costs: it helps in reduce the cost because the expenses of increasing through the
global internet as well as Russia have the capability and capacity to deliver the require
resources of local network.
 Improved security: it helps in improve the security of Russia and the data are secured
on the local server as well as guarantee to secure within the border Russia (Lonkila and
Shpakovskaya, 2020).
 Higher data rate: it helps in access the higher data rate because the long term
evaluation help in achieve this isolated network.
 Public safety: the high speed internet technology helps in initiates the public safety. It is
affordable for expanding broadband for getting more people reach and allow safety to
workers as well as provide the emergency services.
 Increase revenues and margins: internet service providers helps in increase the
margins and revenue of the country with the helps of own networks. It can be use at the
business platforms for maximize the performance, security and reliability as well as
increase the sales performance.
 Preventing Russian cyberattacks: it also helps in protecting by the cyber attacks
because the global network are disconnected with the Russia so, the fraud and thefts are
not possible with the Russia and it is great benefits for Russian that their data and
information is secure. The Russia isolated with the cyber criminal gangs and state
sponsored attacks will directly impacts on the domestic control.
 Social media foothold: it is the shocking swifts for the Russia due to the conflicts with
the Ukraine. Te social media are pulled out from the Russia such as Facebook,
Instagram, and twitter as well as the Russian governments are also fitting.

 Growing digital: the growing digital separation for its citizens is immense and it is the
repercussions for the Russians. The nation focus on protecting the digital infrastructure.
By the digital economy reshape tries to increase the threats for the Russian (Budnitsky
and Jia, 2018). The chip shortage impact on the global sanctions because they deliver a
high chips for the cars.
 Technical challenges: the Russia government face the technical issues because they are
trying to control the online as well as isolated the towards the domestic internet
 Repercussions: disconnecting from the internet as well s imposing the censorship is
slow down the democratic progress of the Russia. The country create its own internet
which are difficult and challenging for Russian citizen's to adopt because they were
enjoyed the global internet.
CONCLUSION
As the conclusion, the integrated professional skills and digital age is referred as connecting with
the global networks for sharing the information, knowing the news and getting the ideas about the worlds
developments. This report discussed the collaboration tools which are used for the business to survive in
the post pandemic. The advantages and disadvantages of Cloud computing and cloud storage to improve
the digitalization. This report elaborated the privacy and security challenges as well as benefits and
limitations of Russian own network and disconnecting the global internet.
REFERENCES
Books and journals

Alzoubi, Y. I. and et.al., 2021. Fog computing security and privacy for the Internet of Thing
applications: State‐of‐the‐art. Security and Privacy. 4(2). p.e145.
Bahrini, R. and Qaffas, A. A., 2019. Impact of information and communication technology on
economic growth: Evidence from developing countries. Economies. 7(1). p.21.
Bail, C.A., and et.al., 2020. Assessing the Russian Internet Research Agency’s impact on the
political attitudes and behaviors of American Twitter users in late 2017. Proceedings of
the national academy of sciences.117(1).pp.243-250.
Budnitsky, S. and Jia, L., 2018. Branding Internet sovereignty: Digital media and the Chinese–
Russian cyberalliance. European Journal of Cultural Studies. 21(5). pp.594-613.
Fernandes, G., Hassan, I. and Sridhar, D., 2022. Building resilient health-care supply chains to
manage pandemics in low-and middle-income countries. Bulletin of the World Health
Organization. 100(2). p.174.
Kriel, C. and Pavliuc, A., 2019. Reverse engineering Russian Internet Research Agency tactics
through network analysis. Defence Strategic Communication. 6.pp.199-227.
Lonkila, M., Shpakovskaya, L. and Torchinsky, P., 2020. The occupation of Runet? The
tightening state regulation of the Russian-language section of the Internet. Freedom of
expression in Russia’s new mediasphere. pp.17-38.
Nayar, K. B. and Kumar, V., 2018. Cost benefit analysis of cloud computing in
education. International Journal of Business Information Systems. 27(2). pp.205-221.
Sasangohar, F. and et.al., 2020. Disaster ergonomics: human factors in COVID-19 pandemic
emergency management. Human factors. 62(7). pp.1061-1068.
Tawalbeh, L. A. and et.al., 2020. IoT Privacy and security: Challenges and solutions. Applied
Sciences. 10(12). p.4102.
Online references
Ittelson, B., [A Story of Agility and Innovation: Findings from the Impact of Video
Communications During COVID-19 Report]. 2021 Available through <>
McNett, M., [Coronavirus and Remote Work: How Microsoft Teams Can Keep Your Business
Running]. 2020 Available through <>