Online technology, the rise of social media and the round-the-clock demand from customers that it creates means that remote working is becoming increasingly popular for many businesses.
The internet never sleeps and consumers demand instant interaction with brands, meaning businesses are increasingly having to adopt an ‘always on’ way of working. However, for many businesses, allowing staff the option to work from home or away from the office can be a difficult decision to make. Usually, though, it can bring out the best in workers and unlock many business benefits.
From increased productivity to cost savings, greater efficiencies and the ability to offer a more responsive customer service, remote working can make a business more agile, flexible and better able to capitalise on new opportunities.
Remote working can also boost staff morale and well-being, as well as enabling your people to adapt their working patterns to suit their personal circumstances, which can help optimise their performance.
As technology continues to develop, more and more organisations will embrace remote working as a way to futureproof their business.
What are the best remote working solutions?
Allowing your staff to work remotely, either from home or away from the office, requires a number of remote working solutions. You’ll also need solutions in place if your business operates from multiple sites, or if you have staff who spend more time on the road than they do in the office.
There are a host of remote working solutions on the marketplace, which can be tailored according to your needs and budget. However, here are some of the basic essentials you will need to consider when it comes to implementing remote working within your business:
Connectivity
Many organisations conduct their business from more than one location, often with a requirement for staff at these locations to share access to the same systems at the same time.
We have a range of remote working solutions to facilitate this, including a dedicated point-to-point link, a managed site-to-site Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection, or even Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). MPLS is a technology that allows several geographically remote sites to be joined together to form one large network.
We also have relationships with a number of broadband service providers, to give your business the internet connectivity it needs. We specialise in providing improved business-grade internet connectivity in challenging areas and to clients with a history of low speeds, unreliable service, or both.
Online Exchange Email
These days, most businesses use email as their primary method of communication. A service such as Microsoft Office 365 is the perfect solution for remote workers.
It allows staff to send and receive emails via the Microsoft Online Exchange, which offers guaranteed availability to employees. It also includes access to shared calendars and contacts, to ensure your teams have access to the most up-to-date information and availability at all times, regardless of their location. We can also hook you up with add-ons including Skype for Business, to enable unlimited video calls and conferencing online.
IP Telephony
Superfast broadband has made IP-based voice communications an essential and affordable telephony solution for businesses of all sizes.
It allows remote workers to make and receive calls from anywhere, as if they were sat in the office, while missed calls and voicemail messages can be notified via email to make it easier to manage calls.
File and data access
The advent of the Cloud has driven a sea change in the way businesses can store, access and work on documents digitally. Many businesses use Cloud-based CMS and business applications/databases, which can be accessed from anywhere via an online portal.
Solutions like Microsoft OneDrive or SharePoint also allow for shared access and real-time collaboration on commonly-used file types like Word, Excel, PDF and picture files, which work by storing and syncing changes to documents in the Cloud.
If you’re serious about implementing remote working within your business, embracing Cloud technology holds the key to making it a success.
Security
It’s important to make sure all company devices being used by remote workers have up-to-date security software, including a firewall. Using encryption to scramble sensitive data is essential, as this will make it unreadable, even if intercepted. The use of strong passwords is also key.
All your devices should be password-protected and any crucial data should be stored on a central server rather than on individual devices. Staff should also always log out of social media accounts or other apps whenever they are not working. And often, the data on a device is more valuable than the devices itself, so you should always back up your data.
Wytech can provide the best remote working solutions for your business
As a Microsoft Silver Partner for small and midmarket Cloud solutions, Wytech is well-placed to provide a bespoke package of remote working solutions tailored to your exact business needs.
We provide a complete managed IT service, professional services, an IT helpdesk and remote support, Office 365 and online backup to help your business get to grips with remote working and unlock the full benefits it can bring.
To find out more, email contact us or give us a call on 03333 052101.