While there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy to building the most productive team for the new age of work, it’s hard to overlook the value of remote working opportunities. According to some studies, around 90% of remote workers say they’re either just as productive or more productive working remotely compared to when they’re in the office.
What’s more, around 84% of remote team members feel working remotely helps to preserve good mental health – to the point many would even take a pay cut to work from home.
However, for companies and individual employees to unlock the benefits of remote work, they need access to the right technology. Specifically, remote teams need software and hardware-focused on boosting the employee experience.
With so many vendors available to provide home-working opportunities this day, it can be difficult to know where you should get started. That’s why we’re here to help.
Step 1: Make a List of Your Home-Working Requirements
Empowering today’s remote workers requires an investment in various pieces of technology. You’ll need networking tools, like SBCs and SD-WAN connectivity, to ensure your team members can securely and efficiently access your communication tools and software wherever they are. You’ll also need to think about things like hardware, software, and specialist services.
To start comparing vendors, you’ll need to think about all the different kinds of tools you’ll need, including:
- Software: Software for remote employees can include everything from as-a-service tools like UCaaS and CCaaS, to integrated software like CRM systems, workforce management tools, and video conferencing apps.
- Hardware: What kind of hardware will your employees need to stay productive wherever they are? Do they need a dedicated desk phone, a mobile device, or just a webcam and headphone set they can plug into their computer?
- Services: Do you need to consider investing in additional services, like service management from companies who can help manage your UCaaS solutions in a flexible environment?
Once you know what your work-from-home strategy requires to empower your teams, ask yourself whether you want a company capable of offering you an all-in-one package or whether you want to mix-and-match solutions from different vendors.
Step 2: Look at Existing Investments
When deciding what kind of vendor, you need to work with for your work-from-home technology, it’s worth looking at the investments you’ve already made into your communication stack. For instance, what kind of software are your employees already comfortable using?
If your team members were already using Microsoft productivity tools before they went remote, or they have a long history with Cisco technology, it makes sense to look at work from home technology from Microsoft or Cisco. The less work your employees need to do to get used to new tools and complete new forms of training, the better your adoption rate will be.
If you want your team members to be able to take the desk phones, webcams, and other devices they’ve used in the office home with them, you’ll also need to ensure any new software you’re investing in will work well with this existing hardware.
Step 3: Focus on Improving Employee Experience
Remote employees and work-from-home staff members won’t have access to the same in-house IT support and guidance most traditional employees expect. With that in mind, it’s particularly important to ensure your vendor will help you to put employee experience first.
When looking for the best vendor for work-from-home tech, consider the preferences of your employees, as well as how easy it might be for them to adopt and start using this new technology. Do the vendors you’re thinking of working with offer things like training sessions for team members who might need help getting started with a new tool or UC system?
If you’re investing in new hardware, how easy is everything to use? Can your employees join a meeting at the touch of a button, or start a conversation with a voice command powered by an AI smart assistant? The more streamlined the whole experience can be, the more likely your teams are to be as productive as possible when working remotely.
Step 4: Don’t Forget Security and Performance Basics
When you’re shopping for technology to support a remote team, it’s important to remember the basics of keeping your team secure and streamlined. Speak to your vendor about the kind of support they can implement to keep your team members safe when they’re connecting to cloud technologies from a distance. Are communications naturally encrypted from end to end?
Your vendor should be able to give you the peace of mind that comes with knowing all of your communication solutions are compliant with the standards relevant to your industry. At the same time, they may even be able to offer extra tools and features to protect your home workers. For instance, two-factor authentication can be extremely useful for team members who want to ensure other people can’t access their accounts on a shared computer.
If your teams are going to be logging into private environments and dealing with customer or business data from a distance, you may also need to look into things like Session Border Controllers, or SASE technology for securing connections on the “edge” of your network. At the same time, make sure you can control elements of your communication strategy remotely with comprehensive administrative access controls based in the cloud.
Step 5: Find a Vendor That Evolves With You
Currently, many companies are still in the initial stages of transitioning to a new age of remote work. This means you may need to make several changes to your strategy over the years. Some companies will end up having their entire team go fully remote, while others will need to build a more flexible hybrid environment for communications.
No matter how your landscape changes, your vendor should be able to scale and adapt with you to suit your evolving needs. This also means it’s worth working with a vendor capable of helping your business to innovate over time too.
For instance, does your current UCaaS solution provider offer access to VR and XR connectivity if you want to host meetings in a virtual world for future team members? What kind of tools do they offer when it comes to connecting mobile devices with 5G, empowering staff with AI assistants, or connecting IoT devices?
