Agile Working Checklist

Working remotely is here to stay. Do you have a working from home policy?

The trend towards remote working has been drastically accelerated and, while unplanned, has proven to be largely successful. Increasingly, more businesses are planning to adapt to a combination of office and remote work for the long haul. Here are some of the key considerations every business should be looking at as part of the process:

1. High Speed Internet

First things first. Have your employees each got an Internet connection at home capable of providing access to your business systems, applications plus voice and video? Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) providing on average 60-70Mbs download and 10-20Mbs upload will do the job where available.

2. Moving Inbound Telephony/Contact Centre to the Cloud

If your business has teams or individuals who manage inbound calls or a contact centre, or even help desks. Then moving this function into the cloud will mean they can operate from anywhere, supporting customers and colleagues.

3. Moving Your Phone System to the Cloud

Via a reputable UC provider for voice, video and messaging, integrated into your critical business applications, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) across the entire organisation, will provide scalable, future-proof business agility.

4. Provide the Right Devices

Employees with the right devices are more productive. Consider: Computer/laptop, smart phone, extra screen, camera, separate keyboard and mouse and headset/microphone.

5. Move Desktop Workspace to the Cloud

Secure your data and enable access to the information your employees need to work, by using either Work Space as-a-Service or Desktop as-a-Service for implementing Active Directory for file sharing policy.

6. Remote File Sharing

Get colleagues collaborating. Consider providing file sharing via MS Office 365 (OneDrive); Google G-Suite (Google Drive); Dropbox; Box.com.

7. Plan for the Longer Term

Think about your core network. In other words, is that office-to-office MPLS network needed if more people are now working remotely and they access their applications via the cloud rather than the back of office server room? Is it time to look at SD-WAN options, network-based security and endpoint protection?

8. Consult Your Trusted Advisor

For speed, and to help you demystify the market and the technologies. Save your time and resources making and implementing your plans to pivot to the cloud and enable an agile workforce.

Summary

In summary, think about planning for permanent remote work for those employees that can and choose to continue working remotely, making sure your employees have the right hardware such as computers and webcams to help them get their work done effectively from anywhere. As part of your move to enabling a new network, provide proper security measures and policies to allow employees to operate safely from home or on networks that may not benefit from the same security policies available internally. Also, permanently adopt cloud applications for all employees as a means to allow them to work from anywhere on any device. Finally, invest in a communications solution that allows your employees to communicate effortlessly with each other and with your customers regardless of location and device.

For help and support with your agile work strategy, wherever you are in the process, give us a call on 0800 368 7358.