With technology making Remote Working easier than ever, many people are taking advantage of the opportunity. In this post, we will discuss some common issues that arise when employees work remotely. We also see how technology can be used to help curb these problems.
Home network and infrastructure
The devices you work from remotely are not necessarily designed to withstand everything you need to run to carry out your role. Also, your bandwidth, the transmission capacity of your computer network, could be insufficient for the tasks you undertake day-to-day. Combined with other possible limitations and configurations you may need to compute, these could sound like a remote working nightmare.
Luckily for you, we have a solution. With the completion of an IT audit, you know if your and your employee’s personal devices are compliant. This includes with software and other systems you may be required to use as a part of your day-to-day. Additionally, the audit also checks if your device’s hardware is up to date.
Security
Being online is paramount to most of our remote working lives. Whether you’re attending a video call, sending emails, or making work-related purchases, the internet is enabling that. This means extreme importance must be placed on protecting your personal information, passwords, and anti-virus.
As a way of staying safe and secure online, we suggest installing trusted, well-represented anti-virus software and using a VPN. VPN stands for ‘Virtual Private Network’. VPN protects you when using a public network by extending the private network across it. This way you can make connections hazard-free. This is especially important if you have employees who enjoy working in public spaces.
Another great way to ensure your team is safe on the internet is by holding regular training. This could be on recognising and preventing phishing attacks. “Phishing” is the act in which someone emails you pretending to be a reputable company. These companies aim to convince you to tell them personal information. Learn more about protecting your staff from phishing attacks.
Problems with technology or devices
When you are in an office environment, you’ll find your office equipment to be up to date and correctly set up. When working remotely, there is no guarantee that you can say the same about your staff’s remote devices. This can cause a stir and affect the way your employees work.
Thankfully, with the use of Teams or Splashtop, your IT team can access these devices and fix the issues remotely. As well as this, they can also perform a device overview. The overview allows them to check if the device and its functions are up to date and running as they should be.
Communication and lack of access to information
When you are working remotely, communication is key to keeping employees engaged. A solid comms plan helps to ensure that teams are on the same page in regards to targets and tasks. Comms have had to increase and improve over the past 18 months. This is especially true when it comes to bridging the gap that comes with working together while sitting apart. The ability to video call, share documents, screen share and record are just a few things that have made it possible to continue working cohesively.
We recommend Teams as a way to have all these features instead of using multiple software. Teams allows you to connect with colleagues and customers, share documents, create mass calendar events, call requests and even more.
Data loss
Folders, images, documents and various other data types can be misplaced, unsaved, not backed up or accidentally deleted. This can all be very frustrating, especially when what you were working on could prove crucial to your company.
We suggest saving your various data types to a shared folder. Shared folders are great! Firstly they allow other members to see your work by linking it to them – as long as they have permissions to view those specific folders. Secondly, documents can be saved automatically. So once you save a document, all further changes are automatically saved from then on. Cloud solutions, such as MS Teams, is our recommendation for you.
MS teams allow you to share documents and other files instantly, without having to download them first. They also allow for multiple saves. Consequently, should an issue occur or the file become corrupt in some way, there is always a backup safe somewhere online. MS Teams can be accessed via PC/Mac as well as mobile devices which makes this technology fit for all.
How NPIT can help
At No Problem IT, we go above and beyond to keep businesses running smoothly whether in the office or working remotely.
How NPIT can support you.
•Run a complete health check of your systems and devices. We would assess their compatibility for remote working and whether the security and software is up-to-date.
•Provide a check list of what you need to do to set up remote working.
•Install the necessary software to enable remote working.
•If your systems are out-of-date or not compatible with remote working, NPIT can recommend possible alternatives.
From maintaining your IT Infrastructure to helping you stay secure, we have you covered. Let’s get the conversation started! Contact us today.
