The business world is beginning to reopen, which means many employees either have or soon will be returning to an onsite office setting. Countless companies plan to institute a hybrid office model, which means some employees will be onsite while others will continue to work remotely either as a permanent setup or for the foreseeable future.
The hybrid office model will have a different look depending on the organization. Some companies will keep client-facing employees onsite and others at home. Others will alternate who is in the office on different days of the workweek to maintain safe social distancing during the pandemic.
The right answer to the hybrid office model is the solution that best fits your company’s needs. Here are some IT infrastructure solutions you’ll need to consider to keep employees productive no matter where they’re working:
Cloud technology – Cloud computing – especially something as versatile as Microsoft Azure hybrid cloud – allows you to recreate your work environment in a virtual space, meaning your employees can access their work from wherever they are and whatever device they are using.
Project management tools – These tools assign team members to tasks, set due dates and update progress to ensure employees have complete visibility of their work.
Hardware – You could let your employees use their personal devices for their remote work, but that exposes your corporate IT infrastructure to numerous security risks. The safer – albeit costlier – route is to outfit your employees with laptops and desktops they can use for remote work. This plan may be a large upfront investment, but a cyberattack could potentially lead to bigger problems in the long run.
Video conferencing solution – Zoom may have taken the business world by storm at the onset of the pandemic, but security concerns – remember Zoom bombing, anyone? — have forced organizations to look for alternatives. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we rely on Microsoft Teams as an organization and encourage our clients to use it, as well.
Cybersecurity tools – To ensure your remote employees and your company data are protected, make sure your remote workers are set up with a virtual private network (VPN), antivirus software and two-factor authentication at the very least.
If you need guidance on work-from-home policies, or if you need help ensuring you have the proper technology tools in place, give us a call today. 2W Tech is a technology service provider specializing in technology for the manufacturing industry. We are an Epicor Gold Partner as well as a Microsoft Gold partner.
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