Remote Connectivity and WFH Solutions
Those of us following the debate around the COVID-19 pandemic will have watched with an impending sense of doom as Europe plans for its second lockdown.
A news article in Science Mag tells us, “Two months ago, as numbers began to creep up after a blissful summer lull, countries still held out hope that more limited, targeted measures could prevent a second wave. Now, that wave is here, with the force of a tsunami. Europe has surpassed the United States in cases per capita; last week, it accounted for half of the more than 3 million cases reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). “Europe is at the epicentre of this pandemic once again,” WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said on 29 October.”
Global corporate giants have responded to the changing face of the working world. Microsoft, for example, already has most of their employees working from home and are not likely to reopen offices any time before January 2021. A company memo seems to indicate that Microsoft will still allow employees to work from home even once the pandemic is over.
It’s pretty clear that working from home (WFH) is the only option in keeping businesses alive, and if that’s the case, then we’d best do it properly.
Remote Connectivity Requirements
The idea of the remote office was nudging its way into the corporate consciousness long before COVID came along. WFH positions were seen as desirable, affording employees a level of autonomy, cutting out the bore of commuting, and still allowing them to take a couple of hours off for the school gala.
When you have an entire workforce scattered around the province, however, it can be a little tricky to ensure that they’re all doing what they should, when they should.
What do remote workers need?
As a business, if our team is required to work remotely then we must make certain that they have the tools they need in order to do so. Flinging a laptop their way and hoping for the best is simply not enough.
Workspace
An article on the requirements of remote workers goes further saying, “If you’re planning to set up employees to work remotely, you’ll need to provide them with equipment and supplies to be productive.
“They’ll need an actual, physical workspace, so one thing you may want to budget for is a desk and chair that they can purchase and expense or that you can purchase and have shipped to them.
“They will also need a laptop and, in some cases, a phone line or cell phone to get their work done. You can ship them a standard laptop that your IT department has preconfigured with all the necessary applications. As for a phone line or cell phone, you can either send them a company phone or let them expense the cost of a landline or a portion of their cell phone bill.”
Connectivity
Remote teams need to communicate frequently and efficiently; they can’t simply lean over the desk and ask a question anymore. To do this they will need a connectivity solution which is both fast and reliable. Fibre is your best option here, although it may not yet be available in certain areas.
We’ve discussed before how productivity levels plummet when your business suffers from a slow internet connection. Weeks (literally) are wasted as your team sit back and wait for a file to download before they can continue with their project.
However, there is more to this topic than just a fast internet connection.
Multichannel
A piece from Forbes talks about the value of multichannel communication to enable a feeling of connectedness within the team. They say, “Remote workers feel disconnected from their company or boss because they aren’t having the same interactions and communication opportunities.
“To help them feel connected, increase the ways that you communicate with your remote workers — especially with interactive channels such as video calls/team meetings, recording audio messages in lieu of emails and having a fun water cooler chat available.”
Customer engagement
While your team are working remotely it’s far more difficult to ensure superior customer care. What can we do, as a business, to maintain a seamless and outstanding customer service level?
Super Office gives us a few ideas around creating the best space for remote customer service staff. They list the following useful tips:
- Use cloud-based project management tools
- Share information through a knowledge base
- Be clear how to communicate with your particular customer
- Unite your team to encourage collaboration
- Make use of video chat
- Use customer service solutions software
In conclusion
The bottom line is that remote working is not going away any time soon and may well end up being the way of the future. We just don’t know.
What we are certain of, though, is that businesses which plan strategically in terms of scalable, reliable, and fast remote connectivity solutions will still be here next year to see what the future holds.
Will you be there?
