With many businesses now working from home for a year since lockdown measures were first introduced, Amshire IT advises on ways businesses can adapt their technology should they consider adopting flexible working options beyond the pandemic.
Many of us have been compelled to work at home for almost a year and, having discovered that it’s perfectly feasible to operate effectively and be productive, the chances are that many more of us will be working at home more often in the future.
But although increased home working has clear advantages, it also throws up new challenges. And while you may have found short-term fixes during the Coronavirus pandemic, you’ll want to put more permanent solutions in place to ensure that everyone can be really productive at home.
Here are some of the key areas businesses may want to consider when it comes to looking at their technology for home working long-term:
- Notebooks and laptops – do your staff have systems that enable them to work quickly and effectively? Could current systems be upgraded, or do you need brand new systems?
- Collaboration tools & training – we have all got used to using new tools during the lockdown, but do you have the right tools and licenses, and do your staff know how to get the best out of them?
- Displays, cameras, keyboards, and mice – having the right kit at home make a huge difference to individual workers.
- Cybersecurity – home connections need to be secure, so you should be using a VPN and have a suitable firewall in place to deal with malware and the potential for intrusion.
- Data management – what’s your policy on protecting data as it moves across connections and is stored on PCs and storage devices in the home?
- Connection speed & bandwidth – home workers will need sufficiently fast connections and if they are connecting to on-premises servers, you will also need to make sure you have enough bandwidth at your location.
- Voice services – making sure that everyone can stay in-touch and available at all times on their usual number, will be really useful.