During this pandemic many companies are sending their staff home to work remotely. While this is a great way to continue business processes and keep the company running, there are a few things to consider:
- How will the team communicate and collaborate while out of the office? There are applications that many firms already own that can be used to facilitate team communication and collaboration. They include chat features and file storage for shared documents and can greatly improve communication while remote. These applications can also be used for online meetings with voice and video. As teams move to remote locations it is important to maintain the same level of teamwork and coordination in different ways.
- How will your phone systems handle call while users are out of the office? Many of today’s phone systems are cloud based. This means that users can have an office phone at home that performs just as if they were at the office. There are also apps that come with these systems that allow a user’s cell phone to become a company extension as well. This way, callers can just dial in on the usual number and calls can be handled as usual. Outbound caller ID is the office number and calls can be transferred just as usual. This prevents customer confusion with multiple cell phone numbers to reach your team.
- How will users get to the files that they need? Modern office software and cloud systems allow accessing corporate data securely from any device anywhere. Security controls on corporate data allow complete control over who can access data and how that data can be used. Any corporate data stored on personal devices can be encrypted and remotely wiped without affecting the user’s personal data on the device. Multiple users can work on files at the same time and see what other team members are doing. This allows collaboration even when separated.
Modern IT is about more than servers and desktops. It’s about people and teams and the most effective way to get the job done no matter the circumstances. The latest systems and methods will let your team work the way that best fits the company’s needs and be flexible enough to handle the occasional pandemic.
We at Kilpatrick IT Solutions are experts in small to medium business IT solutions that can make working remotely a reality.