With employees around the world confined to their houses, the pandemic completely changed the way we work. But as lockdown restrictions start to ease, many businesses are weighing up whether to continue their home-working experiment – in part or in full – or to rush headlong back to the office.
The answer depends largely on how conducive your industry is to home-working and how well your team have coped with working remotely over the past year – among other factors – but technology also has a big part to play in long term remote working strategies. If the pandemic showed us anything, it’s that remote working only really works if businesses have the telecoms systems and resources in place to facilitate effective co-operation between teams.
Technology-Enabled Connections
The good news is that these technologies are now widely available. The lockdowns demonstrated the extent of what was possible in remote working, particularly in keeping colleagues connected and able to carry out their jobs without face-to-face contact. 2020 saw the prolific rise of video meeting tools, cloud service providers and online learning and well-being apps. But these workarounds aren’t possible without strong, reliable and capable telecoms infrastructure in place. For employees to perform their best work at home, a company must make adequate investment in technology. Whether you are considering making ‘the change’ for your own business, or are an IT or telecoms supplier, long term remote working relies on the following strategies:
Cloud Computing
With employees and supply partners now working from multiple locations, you will need to transfer most business applications to cloud computing if you haven’t already done so. This extends to the way calls are handled, transferred and logged between remote teams. Most modern Private Business Exchanges (PBX) and VoIP services can now be configured to provide secure, remote telecoms access for colleagues working from home, while syncing data exchange with other cloud-based business software.
Invest In Advanced Video Conferencing
Employees working from home can feel isolated without decent technology to connect them to their colleagues. Make sure your company implements intuitive tech that will help employees set up meetings and communicate with colleagues on shared projects through reliable chat, email, phone, and video connections. Don’t be afraid to invest heavily here; the more you can replicate the in-person experience, the more you will aid productivity and motivation - as well as contributing to the mental well-being of your staff.
Tighten Your Online Security
One risk of implementing a remote working policy is IT security being compromised. With employees using their own Internet connections and often their own devices, businesses are exposed to a world of scams and phishing attempts. It is essential to install a security system that can protect users against unsecured network dangers and implement additional controls to what employees can and cannot access via company equipment.
Next Steps
Whether or not remote working becomes ‘the norm’ in the immediate future, it is now an accepted and accessible strategy for a wide range of businesses, and IT and telecoms providers must be able to provide the tools and services to make it work for their customers. To make the right investments in technology, give us a call today. We offer a series of robust telecoms solutions spanning cloud computing, security, and communication - everything you need to create the best remote working environment.
Image source: Pixabay
