Since COVID-19 has forced businesses and their clients to begin working remotely, enabling and optimizing a remote workforce is essential to ensuring employees stay engaged and productive. Working remotely has become the new norm and without the advances in modern technology that we have access to would be impossible in this situation.
How your South Florida business leverages technology in this new environment becomes crucial to maintaining order, productivity and ultimately to the survival of your business. Without the proper setup of your technology network your business is exposed to a variety of disorders and wasted resources, cutting into already diminished profits as a result of the Coronavirus.
Enabling and Optimizing Your Remote Workforce
In a recent Gartner study more than half of all HR Managers cited technology and infrastructure for remote workers as the main obstacle to being effective in working remotely. In fact, the overwhelming majority of businesses are not prepared to run their businesses efficiently from remote locations and virtually all companies don’t believe they can carry on as usual during the COVID-19 epidemic. And according to a recent Linked In survey, 44% of senior leaders are likely to make remote work policies permanent moving forward.
By a CoinDesk analysis, approximately 48% of the $17.8 trillion of U.S. national income in 2019 came from industries where many jobs can be done remotely. It is estimated that 34% of all jobs can be done at home representing 44% of all U.S. income earnings. Perhaps this may be the new normal moving forward.
What To Make Of This Data
Here are 4 things a business can do to prepare themselves to be as efficient and productive as possible in this new remote working environment.
- Set Up and Offer Remote Workforce Solutions
It is key for employees to have access to their tools from home. This means proper internet access, up to date and optimized laptops and desktops, internet-based phone services and proper and secure remote access tools and configurations for access to applications, servers and equipment still located within the office environment.
- Creating Solutions to Optimize Processes for Employees and Clients
Efficiency of time and ease of use is necessary for solutions to be leveraged to their maximum benefit to your organization and that of your team and clients. Make sure that the solutions you pick are user friendly, cost effective and allow for fast connections. These tools should allow your staff to complete their day-to-day tasks easily. They should also maintain levels of accountability for employees working remotely and supply leadership with the ability to have visibility into the workforce and the data they need to make critical decisions quickly based on good information.
- Make Adjustments for the Long Term and Stay Prepared
Having the right tools in place to run your business efficiently is key but you need to stay on top of all business aspects of your operation as well while you transition to working remotely. Managing cash flow, seeking lines of credit, evaluating expenses and “trimming fat” have become absolutely essential for economic survival during the Coronavirus epidemic. Be sure to not lose sight of contingency planning, hoping for the best but also preparing for less rosy scenarios should they come to pass. No one knows the future of this virus and the long term survival of your business is the most important thing for you, your employees and your clients. Deal with present realities as they come but do not forget to look down to the road to see what may be coming ahead.
- Adjust Your Culture and Stay Connected
This is a huge adjustment for all of us. Not only are you and your employees dealing with working from home but we’re all dealing with a very scary pandemic at the same time. Be sensitive to the emotional context of the event for your employees and clients and be sure to maintain the culture and connection to them that you have been used to. Letting employees and clients know that you value them and their importance to the health and survival of your organization will endear them to you and enlist their support. Ask them how you can assist them whether it be from a work-related standpoint or just as someone who cares. These gestures will go a long way in maintaining a vibrant energy and spirit within your business and potentially well down the line on both a business and interpersonal level.
If you are a South Florida business struggling with the new challenges of working remotely or would like a No Cost Consultation on how best to set up and manage your technology infrastructure to maximize efficiency, contact User Friendly Technology, South Florida’s choice for small business IT solutions.
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