Preparing for coronavirus: are you ready for remote working?
Is your business ready for remote working? In light of concerns about the spread of coronavirus, Google, Twitter and JPMorgan Chase have this week instructed thousands of employees to work from home, in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus and to test-drive remote-working contingency plans.
Prepare for the unexpected
Good IT systems can help you minimise disruption when staff working from home becomes essential. The current COVID-19 outbreak is not the only reason you should be prepared for remote working: extreme weather conditions like flooding or snow, public transport disruption and strikes can all prevent staff from getting into work. Setting up your systems so that your team can work wherever they are means better productivity, less downtime and happy clients when your business is faced with unexpected challenges.
How we can help
Here at Piran our job is to help you plan for the future and prepare against any eventuality. Here’s how we can help you maintain business continuity:
Cloud-based storage means staff can work from anywhere with an internet connection, with full access to digital assets like Word documents, spreadsheets and photos
Cloud email lets your team share calendars and contacts – as well as reducing server costs, minimising reliance on internal storage hardware as well as improving security
Cloud based phone systems from 3CX mean you can place and answer calls to office numbers anywhere in the world from your laptop, desk phone or mobile
Collaborative working tools like SharePoint allow staff to work together on collaborative projects wherever they are in the world
Intranet and video software to allow your staff to stay connected via video conferencing, bringing remote-working employees or international clients into meetings
Secure networking across multiple sites to support large teams split across several locations
Read our case study with WWA to find out more about how we can help you set up secure remote working options. You can also find details of the cloud solutions we offer on our Services page.
The benefits of remote working
Remote working is also becoming more popular as a choice: the UK workforce is seeing a trend towards a more flexible approach, with more employees than ever working from home or working flexible hours. A survey from the Office for National Statistics has shown that the number of people working remotely in the UK has almost doubled – from 884,000 to 1.54million – in the last 10 years.
Offering employees flexible remote working options can see real benefits for your business: many remote workers report increased productivity and morale, which means better staff retention and a happier team. Employing remote workers allows you to widen your talent pool and reach the best candidates for the job – and a partly-remote workforce can reduce office costs and lessen your business’s environmental impact by reducing staff travel to and from work.
Get in touch
We’ll work with you to help you plan for the future: we can help you move to the cloud, set up secure remote networks and advise on software and other services. If you’ve got questions about what your business needs to be prepared for remote working, or any of our other services, feel free to get in touch for a no-obligation chat.
