According to an article published by Forbes, while 2020 may be considered the year of remote work, it is just the beginning. The piece suggests that throughout 2021 and beyond, the hybrid model, which involves a combination of both working inside an office and at home, will continue to gain popularity. It predicts that by 2025, an estimated 70% of the workforce will be working remotely at least five days a month.
Future-proofing with the Right Techology
By now, over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, most companies have figured out a way to get by with a remote workforce. But there’s a difference between getting by and thriving. The right IT investments can actually serve as a competitive advantage, benefiting both the company and its employees.
There are three primary factors to consider when choosing the technology that will future-proof your business in a hybrid remote work model.
1. Security First
Securing a remote workforce requires a stringent mindset that needs to be instilled throughout the entire company, starting at top. This goes beyond how your data is stored to every interaction between employees, vendors, and customers. From emailing to file sharing to video conferencing, every tool you utilize should have security as a core design principle. Highly regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and government contracting need to be especially aware of the third-party tools that have been introduced to their company to bridge the remote work gap over the past year.
The CompleteCloud platform, for example, uses sophisticated automation, monitoring, and provisioning systems to ensure consistency and compliance. These systems are all internally developed and linked into Avatara’s private infrastructure. There are no “off the shelf” management platforms employed, and any third-party product components are engaged via secure API and not incorporated into the core system.
2. Effective Collaboration Tools
Any employer would agree that investing in the right tools to ensure their employees are just as productive from home as they are from the office is worth it. While the security first mindset is critical, there is always a balance between security and usability. The key to a successful hybrid work environment is encouraging virtual workers to collaborate with their colleagues just as much as those in the office are collaborating. That means ease of use is critical. When considering which of the many video conferencing collaboration tool options on the market is best for your company, usability indicators to look for include:
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- Accessibility from any device
- Meeting lock and knock function
- In meeting controls
- Dependability and 24/7 customer support
- User centric design
CompleteCloud’s native audio/video conferencing tool, Meet, offers all of this within the most secure platform on the market.
3. A New Kind of Performance Management
Forbes also predicted that organizations will increasingly focus on work done instead of hours worked—making tools to help manage remote employee performance more essential. To maximize employee efficiency, visibility is paramount. CompleteCloud, for example, provides managers with a productivity report on each of their employees that shows not only when they are logged into the platform, but for how long they are active versus idle on their computers and which applications they are using. In addition, all employees are able to see which of their colleagues are logged on at any given moment, and whether they are in office or remote. This sort of transparency helps keep everyone accountable and working together. According to Forbes, “rethinking how goals are set and identifying key performance metrics will be critical to managing remote workers in the new normal.”
Interested in assessing your IT infrastructure to make sure your business is set up to thrive today and in the future? Let’s talk.
