WHAT TOOLS DO I NEED TO POWER A PRODUCTIVE REMOTE TEAM?

The way we think about how an office can operate has been forever changed due in large part to the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses in the Tri-Cities area and the rest of the country had to completely reinvent the way they operate over the last few months because of the shutdown orders.

While companies had to initially send employees home to work out of necessity, many have now found that having employees work from home lowered their costs. They also saw that employees working from home can be just as productive, if not more, than they are when working in an office environment.

This had led many business owners to look for ways to improve the cloud tools that they may have put in place in a hurry at the beginning of the pandemic. They want to power their remote teams permanently and give them the tools they need to be fully optimized.

77% of surveyed businesses say that post-COVID, they will have more employees permanently working from home 3 or more days per week.

What does a remote team optimization look like? It includes migrating all business processes to the cloud, and choosing the right cloud services that streamline virtual workflows.

WHAT YOU NEED TO ALLOW YOUR TEAM TO WORK FROM ANYWHERE

Studies show that companies using remote employees part-time, save an average of $11,000 per employee per year. Cost savings come from multiple areas (office savings, less absenteeism, etc.), with improved productivity being the biggest factor by far.

To gain the full cost saving benefits of better productivity, you need to ensure your remote team has tools that will empower them. Here are the top technologies to put in place.

MICROSOFT OFFICE 365 & AZURE

Use of the cloud is a given when working with a remote team. But you want to make sure you’re not just using a disparate collection of cloud tools, you want to have a unified, streamlined solution.

This is why Microsoft 365 is perfect for remote teams. It packages multiple productivity tools into one connected platform, making it easy for employees to move from one app to another seamlessly.

Beyond the core Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), it includes vital tools for a remote team, including:

• TEAMS (VIDEO, MESSAGING, WIKI, AND MORE)
• ONEDRIVE (CLOUD STORAGE)
• SHAREPOINT (COMPANY INTRANET)

Microsoft Azure gives companies the ability to host all the software they use in a single virtual server environment, giving them more control. Azure also powers Windows Virtual Desktop, which puts an entire workstation in the cloud, making it available from any device.

UD VOICE VOIP PHONE SYSTEMS

Remote teams need to have access to a full featured company phone system. UD Voice VoIP phone system makes it easy for a company to access their calls from anywhere, home office or business office.

Customers receive a consistent calling experience no matter where their call is being answered. Work-from-home employees also aren’t hampered by having only their mobile phone to use for incoming and outgoing calls. UD Voice provides all the capabilities of a full-featured corporate phone system for a fraction of the cost and with anywhere availability.

VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (VPN)

When employees are connecting from multiple home Wi-Fi networks, you need to ensure those connections are secure. The easiest way to do this is by using a virtual private network (VPN).

The VPN creates a secure tunnel that encrypts data connections, no matter what security the Wi-Fi network may have. This is an important safeguard to keep a remote workforce from putting your data security at risk.

VPNs can also keep connections on public Wi-Fis (airports, hotels, etc.) protected, which blocks those dangerous man-in-the-middle attacks that are common on public hotspots. 

REMOTE MANAGED DEVICE SUPPORT

The computers that employees are using to store and connect to business data can leave your business vulnerable if they’re not properly secured. This means using the same types of manage IT support that you may have for office devices.

Beyond security, you’ll also ensure remote employees stay productive and aren’t stuck trying to deal with computer issues on their own without any help.

Below, are some of the protections that using remote managed device support can provide:

• MANAGED ANTIVIRUS & ANTI-MALWARE
• PATCH & UPDATE MANAGEMENT
• HOURLY REPORTING ON DEVICE HEALTH
• SYSTEM MAINTENANCE TO KEEP DEVICES RUNNING FAST
• MANAGED BACKUP
• WEB PROTECTION TO BLOCK MALICIOUS WEBSITES
• REMOTE SUPPORT TO GET USERS HELP FAST WHEN THEY NEED IT

NEED HELP PUTTING YOUR CLOUD ECOSYSTEM IN PLACE?

Strategic use of the cloud is more important now than it ever has been. Unbound Digital can help your Tennessee business keep your remote team powered with effective tools to boost productivity while lowering your overhead.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Call 423-335-2461 or reach us online.