We’ve been through a period of extreme change — our home and working lives have been turned upside-down and blended together; everything looks very different to how it did two years ago. However, we have also learned a lot — one lesson being that it isn’t entirely necessary to commute to an office each day; remote working has its benefits and for many businesses will continue to be a viable way of working.
But slow broadband and old equipment just won’t cut it — you need employees to continue to be as productive as possible, not easy if faced with a spinning wheel when loading essential software, or repeated wifi drops when on a conference call. Read on for crucial IT considerations for remote working.
Head into the cloud
Being able to share files is paramount and a cloud server is the easiest way to do so. But choose your server carefully — you will need a secure system with adequate storage and collaborative capabilities.
Check network
Consider limitations on your employees’ broadband; they may have usage caps or find it runs slowly when their children are home from school. Consider who will pay for an upgrade to their services if required.
It’s good to talk
How are you going to run your daily/weekly/monthly meetings? You’ll probably use a video conferencing tool, and may well have been doing so over the last year or so, but if you are planning a change this to increase functionality for your more permanent workplace plans, make sure that everyone has access to it and can log in. Plan a test call just to make sure everyone is able to use the software to avoid last minute stresses!
Be a good guide
If you are implementing new software and tools, make sure you provide guides as to how to use them. Employees will also need cyber-security training as their home system will probably not be as robust as an office-based set-up.
Provide equipment
As with the varying quality of broadband services, not everyone will have access to the most efficient computers or devices. Consider providing company equipment to anyone without access to a suitable device.