There are few businesses that should in good conscious be operating from the office as per usual. Depending on your state, you may have to follow guidelines that shut your premises down for the foreseeable and, like many others, you may instead be looking at working remotely. However, to ensure you do that, you’re going to need an infrastructure that supports remote working. Here are a few parts of that infrastructure that you need in place.
A hosted platform the team can work with
Your team will likely still need some kind of access to both the tools and data that help them do their job and, to that end, the Cloud may offer the solutions that you need. Cloud servers, for instance, will allow them to access shared data that is hosted online. Cloud software, on the other hand, such as the Office 365 package, can allow them to access all of the software tools they would regularly use for work, but from the safety and comfort of their home.
A secure connection to your resources
Of course, you may ask how safe is it really for your team to connect to sensitive data and other assets that you may be hosting online. You can set security guidelines they must follow, but it’s best to take the step of securing their connection as well. A VPN, or virtual private network, allows you to do that by encrypting all of the data sent to and from their computer. As such, even if a hacker did think and manage to “eavesdrop” on their connection, they would be unable to understand any of the data being sent.
An IT team that can work remotely
Your business is going to be formed by a bunch of remote computers that are accessing your network and your resources, so you need to make sure you still have the ability to control different applications, allowing different permissions for files and so on. Talk to your IT team about using tools like Superputty that can act as terminal emulators, and allow them and you some degree of oversight and control over the connected workstations. This way they can manage risk and provide help much more easily.
A better way to communicate
Your team still needs an easy way to keep in touch and to communicate efficiently in order to cooperate effectively. Many teams are looking to collaborative software such as Slack that allows them to track and manage multiple conversations with different groups, overseeing each project that affects them. Otherwise, you may also look into using a VoIP (or Voice over Internet Protocol) system that allows you to emulate the internal phone system of the office, solely by using the net to connect everyone with a headset and internet access.
The needs of your business when it comes to working remotely will depend largely on what your business is and what processes your team needs to complete. Hopefully, the tips above help you identify some of the more specific solutions you can use.
