Working from home is no longer a theoretical exercise and businesses are looking to make the best use of it.
Remote work helps to recruit and retain talent due to the comfort it provides to the employees. Employers also benefit from a reduction in expenses.
A survey says that 83% of employees believe they don’t need to be in the office to be productive. Also, 89% of workers want flexibility to be their way of work rather than an added benefit.
Workplace disruption can be unavoidable for organizations that are spread across geographies. These companies will need to equip their decentralized workforce with the right tools and technologies to enable remote work.
Though businesses fear that remote work may lead to dips in productivity and collaboration, effective strategizing can prove this wrong.
According to a survey, the preference to work remotely has increased by 44 percent over the last five years.
Here are a few factors to consider when setting up a remote office in Denver, Colorado.
1. Assess Organizational Requirements and Plan Your Move
Analyze and gather information about specific organizational requirements in terms of technological infrastructure to equip your remote workforce. You may need to purchase/rent laptops and software for employees who lack sufficient resources. If employees are allowed to work from their home computers, you will need to take charge of data security as sensitive data will be exposed to an open network.
In these cases, the organization will have to set standards on how employees should handle official data when working from a remote environment. This should include restrictions on downloading apps, clicking on unknown links, maintaining strong passwords, and logging off when away from devices.
Furthermore, assess other organizations that have already made the transition. Observing their plan will provide inputs to switch to a fully remote model.
Evaluate business workflows and make a note of processes and routines that need to be particularly handled from office. Also, note changes that will need to be reinforced to accomplish these tasks from a remote setup.
This will be especially helpful in case of an emergency like the current COVID-19 pandemic wherein employees are not able to work from the office.
2. Centralize Your System
A remote working environment demands centralized access to information. This arrangement is especially necessary when the majority of your workforce operates remotely.
For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced employees of almost all organizations around the world to work from home. If remote employees are not able to connect with their team members for crucial project-related information, they can simply access the required information from the centralized repository.
Organizations may consider a transition to the cloud. Cloud-hosted software ensures round-the-clock accessibility and seamless operability of business processes.
This change will help remote workers to access and work on important files and data independently.
3. Configure VPNs
Virtual Private Network (VPN) is used to ensure that data transferred over a public internet connection is encrypted. It authenticates the information sent with the network firewall in place and makes sure that sensitive business information is transferred securely.
Configuration of a VPN is the most important step for setting up a conducive environment for remote work in Denver, Colorado. It must be ensured that the remote workforce has a corporate VPN installed and is adequately trained to use it.
In the absence of a VPN connection, data becomes vulnerable to hackers as employees send and receive information over public networks that may be prone to attacks.
4. Work on a Business Continuity Disaster Recovery Plan
The primary goal of having a BCDR plan is to tackle challenges like ransomware attacks and sudden network outages when working in a remote environment. This recovery plan can help manage lengthy downtime by ensuring that business data is backed up as often as possible.
Further, it is important to automate processes and have them running without human intervention. For example, if your business suffers due to a network outage, an effective BCDR plan will ensure that all your critical information is restored to all the devices to the most recent backup.
Furthermore, executives and IT staff should be trained to effectively respond to downtime situations. This will help your team stay proactive while having the entire organization on the same page.
5. Establish a Communication Plan
Establishing a structured communication system is the key to the success of a remote team. Your remote team will need more than just emails to collaborate.
Maintain a unified communication platform that comes with instant messaging and virtual conferencing. Plan for remote meetings at regular intervals of time. Initiate video and phone conferences to have a connected team.
Video conferencing or virtual meetings will help in seamlessly integrating the team. Share knowledge and feedback over digital platforms. Ensure clarity on the responsibilities of the team members and encourage transparency within the team.
6. Conduct a Remote Test Run
Make sure that you test run your office environment remotely before making the final transition. Begin by asking a few of the employees to work from home and monitor if things are going as planned.
Check if they can access their systems without any issues and if data security has been taken charge of without any bottlenecks.
Another important aspect is to check if the connection gets overloaded due to the sudden influx of employees accessing the network. If you find the network overloaded, get a more suitable plan with the help of your internet service provider.
Additionally, check your Business Continuity Disaster Recovery plan to ensure that it operates as planned during downtime or a cyberattack.
Wrap Up
A remote workforce can be a competitive advantage. However, it is important to establish appropriate strategies for streamlined operations. The above-mentioned factors will provide organizations with a sneak peek into critical aspects like infrastructure, data security, and backup plans to be considered when setting up a remote office.
