Losing the Endpoint Recovery Gap With IGEL

What happens when an organization restores its systems after an incident but employees still cannot connect to them?

In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I speak with Sterling Wilson, Global Field CTO for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery at IGEL, about the endpoint recovery gap. Sterling explains why a laptop that is encrypted, unstable or being preserved for investigation can prevent work from resuming even when applications and infrastructure are available. We discuss why continuity planning needs to account for the device people use to reach those services.

The conversation examines IGEL Emergency Mode, an administrator-led capability for supported IGEL Dual Boot-enabled endpoints. Sterling describes moving those devices into IGEL OS so employees can reach resources IT has approved while security teams continue investigating the Windows environment. He emphasizes that this is an alternative access path, rather than Windows repair, threat detection or a replacement for the wider incident response process.

I ask how organizations should prioritize employees and services during a disruption. Sterling recommends making those decisions around business functions and dependencies rather than seniority, with the priorities established before a crisis. We also discuss who has authority to initiate a transition, whether people can still sign in and reach their applications, and how a team returns devices to its chosen operating state afterward.

Sterling draws a distinction between a recovery time objective and the time it actually takes people to resume work. That brings the discussion back to testing, including scenarios where management systems, connectivity or other dependencies may be unavailable. For leaders assessing business resilience, the conversation offers a way to look beyond infrastructure status and examine whether the organization can deliver its services again. When did your team last test recovery from an employee's perspective, and what did it reveal? Please share your thoughts with me.