With the technologies and support, it doesn’t matter if your staff is stuck at home for the next few days or the next few weeks – they can be just as productive as they are in the office. Do you know how to launch a remote work model for your business?
The spread of coronavirus has caused countless businesses to send their employees home to keep them healthy and prevent further transmission of the virus. These businesses are finding out how easy it can be to launch a remote working model – that is, if they have the right technologies in place.
Do you know how to keep your staff members productive when they can’t come into the office? You need to start migrating to a remote work model right away…
How To Launch Your Remote Work Model
In order to make use of the available remote access technologies, you will need a few key components:
- Reliable IT Support: In a remote work environment, IT support is more important than ever. If you have a tech problem at the office, there’s still likely something your staff can do to stay productive without access to data. But if they’re at home, they’ll be entirely dependent on the reliability of their IT. That’s why you need IT support you can count on.
- A Strong Internet Connection: As you can’t realistically lay cable to connect your employees’ homes all the way to your office servers, they will need a viable Internet connection to access business data and applications.
This really only becomes an issue if your staff members are located in rural or remote areas that still lack a strong Internet option. If that’s the case, then you’re urged to consider investing in mobile hotspots, or reimburse staff for the increased cost of relying on their personal cellular data connection.
- The Right Devices: Your staff will also need the right devices at their homes in order to continue working like they normally would in the office. In this day and age, you could assume that your employees all have laptops or desktops at home, but that may not be the case. You’d be surprised how many people rely on a smartphone or tablet for all their personal computing needs.
What Solutions Should You Look Into?
Both you and your staff need the right tools in order to stay productive. There are a number of consumer and business-class solutions available to you, depending on the size of your organization:
- Keeping In Touch (e.g. VoIP): You, your staff and your clients need to keep in touch. Switching your business communications to you and your team’s personal phones is complicated and expensive. You’d be wise to look into a cloud-based phone solution.
- Working Together (e.g. Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive & Teams): Make sure you have the right solutions in place to allow your team members to collaborate. You should be able to send and receive files, and share desktops in real-time.
- Meeting Regularly (e.g. Microsoft Teams): Lastly, you may want to invest in a way for your staff to meet, both together, and with clients. While an audio-only conference call can suffice, many prefer to use video meeting software. This allows for a more personal and connected experience in meetings.
Don’t Compromise Your Cybersecurity
When businesses start prioritizing remote access to data over the security of that data, they make an easy target for hackers. If it’s easier for your staff to access business data, then it’s easier for cybercriminals to do so as well.
The more people you have accessing your data remotely, the more variables there are in your cybersecurity defense. That’s why you need to take additional steps to secure remote access:
- Deploy a Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution that allows staff members to access business data securely
- Make sure to disable split-tunneling on your VPN so that when employees are connected to business data, they don’t also have an Internet connection open that could compromise security
- Deploy defensive software on employees’ home devices
- Check home Wi-Fi network settings to make sure they are password protected
- Make sure that security systems are up to date
Not too long ago, remote work was just a potential option for some businesses, seen as a way to access talent and reduce in-office costs.
Today, remote work is a necessity for businesses that want to keep operating. If you need help launching your remote work capabilities, get in touch with the NOVA Computer Solutions team.
