Your IT should make the remote and hybrid work easier for you and your employees, not make it more of a challenge! There are plenty of security blankets in the office including security and easy access to your colleagues for project updates. It’s easy to feel like these luxuries are taken away when switching to remote work, but with modern technology, it’s easier than ever.
Keeping communication & collaboration simple
This can be one of the biggest challenges for a business transitioning from the office to home, but it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty of collaborative tools that make working on multiple projects with your colleagues easy, wherever they are.
Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace are two of the most popular options, and there’s a good reason for that! For the apps that are available and the different packages built to suit the need of every business, they offer the perfect solution for just about everyone.
From email to word and excel apps, all the way to collaborative whiteboards and cloud storage the amount covered for the price is a no-brainer. The clever cloud storage means it’s almost impossible to delete files. It also allows your team to all work together on the same project as you can give cloud access to the staff that needs it, ensuring your files are only visible to the people that need them.
Keeping secure at home & in the officeÂ
Your systems and your equipment allow you to stay secure whilst in the office, but that doesn’t mean the same can’t be said for working from home. A VPN can keep your computers secure even when they are not in your office.
How do VPNs work? It stands for virtual private network. In simple terms, it encrypts the data that is sent over the internet. This means your employees can use the WiFi in their homes as well as public WiFi to do their work and not have to worry.
A VPN makes it very difficult for any third party or cyber criminals to track what your users are doing or steal your data.
Antivirus software is also a very reliable way to stop any mishaps, content filtering software can be put in place to make sure you and your employees have no malicious content coming through into your email inbox and avoids the risk of ransomware attacks on your computer.
Still taking your office phone home?
Taking your office handset home is fine, and works well, but for hybrid users, this can be annoying and timely to keep setting up between working spaces. Switching to a more modern and flexible phone system such as VoIP means your staff can set their phone system up on their own personal device and can make and receive work calls from wherever. They can also call other employees’ extension lines from their own personal devices and this truly allows your team to stay connected with ease.
VoIP phones are not only a great alternative to traditional landline phones for remote and hybrid workers but also for office based too. They are scalable and future-proof and run over the internet, making the voice quality great and meaning they will stand the test of time (as we know, landline phones are being fully phased out by 2025).
The bottom line…
There are so many technologies that make working from home easy for both your business and your employees, many of them are inexpensive and easy changes to make.
They not only allow you to see what is happening in your business as you would if everyone were in the office, but they also help to maximise productivity when working from home and to learn more about the latest tech you can implement in your business.
