Hybrid working where people split their time between their home and the office looks like it’s going to become the new normal. With that comes issues that companies need to address to make sure that the process of working in the office and home is seamless (apart from making cups of coffee for all the other employees). Homeworking also comes with online security risks that could affect your company. We feel that this is an issue that isn’t thought through enough by companies but it’s one that could have a massive effect on everything if an employee’s computer is hacked. What if your employee is working on an unsecured network? This is just one of the many issues we will look at in the following article.
1. Make use of the cloud
The cloud is getting bigger each year with both personal and commercial businesses and that trend looks set to carry on in 2022. I think years ago companies were a bit unsure about it and always wanted their data stored on their local network but that’s just not possible with people working from home. Using the cloud just makes sense and offers employees and organizations to be more flexible and agile which in turn keeps them fast-paced and ahead of their competition. Just in case you don’t know what the cloud is, it just means that all your files are stored centrally online somewhere rather than on individual machines. Therefore, they can be accessed anywhere, anytime. If an employee is off sick and their files are saved in the cloud then it’s no issue for other employees to pick up where they left off without having to physically go to their house to get the files etc. The cloud is here to stay and is perfect for hybrid working.
2. Update your telephones
VoIP is amazing and allows users at home to have an office phone. If someone calls reception and needs to be put through to an employee on the other side of the world they can do that with the press of a button and the person on the other end would have no idea that they are based 100’s of miles away and not in the same office as they just called. The only small downside to this is that the internet is prone to go down more than a standard phone line but apart from that it’s something every hybrid office needs.
3. Collaboration software
There are so many tools out there to collaborate. Zoom has become the norm for video calls and slack has become the norm for employees to chat and help each other. If you are a company that doesn’t have either of these pieces of software then where have you been?
4. Cyber security
As we touched upon at the start, cyber security is something that needs to be taken more important than ever with employees all using different machines remotely all over the world. Cyber security can often be tricky and expensive for a small company to handle. That’s why we recommend you look at an external IT Support Company to outsource this to. They have all the expertise and software ready to go which gives you more time to focus on your core business.