As businesses across the UK cautiously start to allow the movement of employees back to office and workspaces, many maybe re-assessing how important it is to gather in a single location to carry out tasks, as well as the necessity for face-to-face meetings.
In a bid to get businesses up and running during the initial lock down period, many opted for temporary or emergency technology measures. But as we start to see a shift in how and where employees carry out their tasks, as well as conduct meetings, having the right technology in place has never been more important. Let’s take a look at the areas that should be considered to support these long-term changes;
Mobile Hardware Tools:
Businesses should consider the hardware typically used and accessed in the office, and look to transfer this to a remote setting. This could be anything from laptops, headsets, speakers, webcams, desk phones, conference phones, and Microsoft Teams Rooms Systems, and should come with fast and reliable connections.
Additionally, businesses that deal heavily with printed documents can look to integrate cloud ready mobile printers that allow users to download, share, print, scan, and distribute documents on the go, with additional ‘no touch’ print apps to reduce the level of physical interactions.
Cloud:
With so many people working virtually during COVID-19, a shift to cloud deployments has accelerated. Businesses are seeing cloud infrastructure as a more flexible, secure and cost-effective way to operate their business. It has enabled them to be more agile thanks its scalable model, without the headache of spending money on equipment, infrastructure or maintenance.
Collaboration and communication tools:
Thanks to Unified Communication capabilities, features such as email, text, voice, audio, video conferencing and web collaboration can all be accessed and integrated into one easy to use interface. Whilst collaborative tools such as Microsoft Teams provide a platform where employees can chat, conference, file share and work simultaneously on documents from one location.
Project and document management:
Information Management solutions, provide a secure cloud based environment where employees can store, manage, edit and share data across the business, and can be easily accessed from any location. These solutions often integrate with existing applications such as accounting or CRM systems to allow teams to seamlessly set tasks and goals, track their progress and check off completed work.
Security:
Ensuring employees have access to business infrastructure is essential, and should be met with the same level of security and control as they would see in the office. To overcome this businesses should look to implement a number of measures, including Multi-Factor (MFA), or Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) which requests usernames and passwords instead of immediately granting access. As well as security technology such as virtual private networks (VPN), network data backups and employee monitoring software.
IT Support and Management:
As with the office, remote employees may still be met with the same IT issues which are much harder for in-house IT teams to fix. Remote monitoring and management solutions ensure any IT issues can fixed remotely, whilst providing complete visibility of all networked devices.
EBC Group understand that businesses have a lot to think about when it comes to the digital workplace and their remote workforce. Their award winning services cover all of the key technology needed for home working, including cloud, communications, cyber security and IT support.
For more information on EBC Group’s remote solutions, contact 0121 585 4400 or [email protected] or visit ebcgroup.co.uk.