As we discussed in our recent blog, modern technology has made remote working a real and workable possibility for many more Australians. It's become invaluable today in helping to cope with the COVID-19 emergency as many are mandated to work from home (WFH).
However supporting employees to work remotely is not yet universal. Some businesses either resist the move to offer more flexibility, or are having difficulty maintaining productivity as they make the transition because they are yet to tackle the technology, tools, support, and remote workforce needs to maintain work quality, culture, and collaboration outside the office.
Tackling remote working challenges with modern connectivity
With business applications and data stored in the cloud, secure and fast access is more important than ever. Delays in loading pages or lengthy document download times can impinge on productivity, user experience and employee morale. So, it’s essential to have secure, reliable connectivity between your mobile workers and your critical applications.
For areas connected to the NBN, the frustrations of dealing with slow internet connections that frequently drops out is thankfully a thing of the past.
Likewise, the shift from 4G to 5G will change how, where, and when your people work. 5G’s potential for faster speeds and lower latency means your remote workers can experience optimal performance away from the office. This means smooth connectivity using business applications and downloading large files wherever they are.
Tackling remote working challenges with the right tools
To enable knowledge sharing, information gathering and collaboration no matter where your employees are, you need to adopt the right technologies. To get your remote workers collaborating more effectively, unified communication and collaboration tools are essential and include:
- Video conferencing
- Messaging
- IM and presence
- Screenshare
Tackling remote working challenges with end user support
Systems can and do go down. Laptops, mobile devices, and tablets all require troubleshooting and security patches. With your people working remotely, it’s important to give them access to immediate support. As such, remote management is vital and integral to business continuity.
Resolving tickets on the helpdesk quickly and efficiently, without interrupting either the support professional or end user, is crucial to meeting service levels and maintaining a good relationship with your workforce.
Tackling remote working challenges with enhanced security
With your employees accessing corporate information from outside your corporate domain, it’s critical that your remote access system fully secures access to that data. It’s important to identify remote access risks across your organisation and create and enforce remote working security policies.
To mitigate risks, using two-factor authentication is the gold standard for securing remote desktop connections. It keeps data secure by ensuring user authenticity before providing access to remote networks and sensitive data. Likewise, it’s essential to keep on-device software completely up-to-date. Outdated and unpatched remote access devices are vulnerable to attack and can expose your organisation’s data and networks to cyberattacks.
Getting remote working right
Modern technology has made remote working a possibility for many more Australians working across all industries. To make the most of enterprise mobility and remote working across your organisation, talk to imei about enabling mobile workers with resilient, reliable connections, optimised for performance.
