Following the latest Government guidelines, most businesses will be encouraging their employees to work from home. Supplying your team with a laptop simply is not enough anymore. Therefore, businesses are having to become smarter to remote working in order to support the team. In this article, we will explore how you can empower your remote workforce.
Many businesses have had to quickly adapt to the new way of working over the last 6 months, with many deciding to make it a permanent fixture within their business. However, this presents a series of problems; an example of which is ‘how do you achieve remote working and an empowered workforce, ensuring employees provide the same level of service that they would in the office?
Without the right tools, knowledge, and strategy, working from home can have a negative impact on productivity and the level of service your customers receive. Knowing how to align these elements to suit your business is a critical factor for the success of remote working.
What could go wrong when remote working?
Security breaches – With employees working from home, there are increased risks of security breaches. Implementing multi-factor authentication is an effective way to dramatically reduce this risk.
Not having the right equipment – If employees do not have access to proper laptops, phones, software – even a desk in some cases -then they will not be able to do their job properly, and it will harm productivity.
Data going missing – Not having a cloud-based system could result in data being lost on different devices as employees may find it easier to store critical data locally on their desktop instead of on your infrastructure.
Poor customer service – Mangers cannot visually see their team’s performance when they are working from home so poor customer service could go under the radar.
Solutions for a successful remote workforce
Up to date technology – When thinking about having a permanent remote workforce, you need to ensure you have the appropriate technology in place. A cloud-based phone system is a great place to start. Your employees can operate as they would in the office at home by using an app on their mobile phone or laptop, as well as the ability to take their office work phone home and simply plug it in.
Flexible access to data – Working from a Cloud or Hosted Desktop environment will mean that your employees can log into their office workspace on any device, anywhere. This means they can have their emails, documents and applications wherever they are with an internet connection.
Security – Ensure that you have implemented multi-factor authentication so that you have that extra protection for your data and systems. Make sure that your employees are using passwords with at least 8 characters, a mixture of both uppercase and lower case letters, a mix of letters and numbers and at least one special character e.g. ! @ #. Antivirus & Antispam are a must – as well as training on Phishing and cyberattacks to protect your organisation from cybercriminals.
Communication – It can be hard for people to switch from seeing people in a busy environment every day to seeing no one. Make sure you are actively communicating with your staff and asking if they are coping with the new measures that are in place. Survey them to see how they feel and take action to address the results. Reward them if they are adapting particularly well and the impact on your business is minimal. Microsoft Teams is great for voice calls, video calls and messaging on laptops, as well as mobiles, so you can always stay in touch with your employees. Microsoft Teams with Tailor Made also integrates with our Hosted Telephony, offering you high-performance collaboration tools that communicate with each other.
Homeworking can be a highly valuable asset to offer to both current and future employees, as long as you are in the position to implement it effortlessly, safely, and that you have the knowledge to monitor how effective it has become. Done correctly, you could see higher productivity, improved collaboration, lower risks of security breaches and lower Capital and operational costs (CAPEX and OPEX) and one happy, empowered, collaborative workforce.
Tailor Made can help you with all your technology requirements to ensure you can empower your remote workforce. Email us on enquiries@tmtech.co.uk to book your free consultation with one of our technology experts.
