With the recent pressure on staff to work from home, many companies are finding new ways to enable their workforce in remote-working environments. While the reasons for this changing environment are concerning, a positive result of the Covid-19 outbreak may be that it provides the nudge many companies need to embrace greater levels of digitization to thrive in the future.

What you need

For staff to work effectively from home, they need to have company-standard internet service, connections to company resources, and ways to collaborate with colleagues, partners and clients. 

Below is a selection of top technology ideas that can make working from home easier, foster better communications and collaboration, and maintain customer service without compromising privacy or the security of your company data.

Work From Home Solutions

The first challenges that tend to come up in remote working are communications and collaboration. Working from home or offsite presents challenges for any workforce to stay connected and collaborate with each other in real-time. But there are solutions: 

1.    Work-Anywhere Communications Kits enable one phone to work anywhere and help support the true digitalization of communication. By installing a business phone app, staff members can use their own phones to make and receive office calls while only displaying your company’s business number. This maintains the privacy of your staff members while reassuring customers that your company is up and running. Staff can also check company faxes and voicemail to keep in close touch with the business.

You can also host virtual meetings, schedule tasks, access and edit shareable documents, and integrate business applications, so your teams can work productively together from one unified cloud-based platform.

2.    Video and Audio Conferencing Services including cloud-based managed services and end-point devices are available for co-workers to interact through online meetings and maintain real-time “face-to-face” collaboration which fosters swifter decision making. Portable conferencing devices enable personal conferencing anywhere, and offer excellent sound quality.

3.    Virtual Cloud Desktops can be delivered over a network to an endpoint device on demand. This means employees can simply log on to the Cloud to interact with the operating system, and enjoy corporate applications and data from wherever they are at any time and from any device, without the company having to invest in any new hardware. Such services are available on flexible payment terms so companies only pay for the services they actually use. Systems can be scaled up in minutes to cope with higher demand loads, while still keeping data secure.

4.    Pocket Wi-Fi is an internet access tool that allows staff to work off-site in locations where the Wi-Fi signal is weak. The Pocket Wi-Fi connects them quickly to a strong and efficient Wi-Fi signal, with no cables, plug-ins or complicated set-ups. The device itself is small and portable, and guarantees that users can always stay in touch no matter where they are.

Remote Security Solutions

Being able to access business files and documents from anywhere at any time is vital for staff working off site or at home, but there can be some security and privacy issues.

For example, data security could be compromised if staff access corporate information through a public internet connection. But this can be overcome in several ways.

1.    SSL VPN Remote Access Solutions provide secure and reliable direct access to corporate applications and resources such as emails, files, CRM and ERP systems and the company intranet. Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections create private “tunnels” that pass traffic between the remote network and the user. They can be accessed from any location at any time using any web-enabled laptop, smartphone or tablet. Users simply presents their company credentials to authenticate their connection to the SSL VPN gateway and accesses material based on level of access permitted by their credentials. 

2.    Secure File Sharing enables your internal and external teams to share important files in cloud storage safely from any device wherever they are without having to send large email attachments or use thumb drives. You can keep your shared files secure with password access or by setting expiration dates on the sharing link. This helps your team to work online together on all your files without compromising the security of your business data.

Customer Service Continuity 

During uncertain times, your customer service hotlines may have much higher volumes of traffic. Maintaining supportive communication with your customers and ensuring there is no disruption to your business operations is a key priority.

With your customer support teams working remotely, it is essential they are fully equipped to provide the levels of service your customers expect. 

1.    Hotline Continuity Services use a web-based control that can divert all hotline calls to your back-up support teams in less than five minutes. In addition, it provides a virtual “waiting room” that enables incoming-call hunting over a group of staff mobile phones instantly. 

It also secures cloud recordings on a temporary hotline to fulfil corporate governance needs. Altogether, this means that your customers will continue to receive smooth and seamless support regardless of where your staff are based. This will preserve your company’s reputation for reliability and professionalism regardless of the circumstances.

2.    Digital Messaging Platforms can help you keep your customers up to date with important news by sending group messages in real time in SMS or MMS format over a simple-to-use Over The Top (OTT) system.

This allows you to stream content with an ultra-high reach rate regardless of where your customers, or your staff, are. Effective content management and endorsement systems are built into the platform to streamline your workflow and approval process.

While these are difficult times for companies and staff everywhere, they will come to an end, and when they do, it is quite possible that if your company adopts some of these technologies you may be in a stronger and better position to bounce back quickly and grow faster than ever before. 

Scan to learn more about business continuity solutions from HKT Enterprise Solutions