How to Create a Secure Remote Office Environment
You probably know the advantages of having your staff work remotely. A 2016 study published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that 38% of employees in the management, financial operations, business and other related professions performed at least some of their work from home leading to greater productivity and overall cost savings. With this in mind, you may be eager to make the transition yourself. However, the first step is to invest in the right office software, hardware, and collaboration tools to ensure success. Here’s where to start.
Server Organization
Your main server houses every piece of data that your business creates and uses. But have you taken a good look at your file structure lately? Most think they’re doing a good job just remembering to save their work to the server rather than the desktop. However, making sure your file and folder structure is well-organized and consistent will help your remote workers find what they need to do their job. This is especially important when your staff grows from maybe just a handful who work offsite to a remote workforce of dozens. In this case, you’ll want to make sure you structure and label your folders folders for easy management.
Centralized Backup Server
Once you’ve organized your folders, you don’t want to lose any of that data. A backup server is common in physical offices, but especially important in a virtual office environment. Having one when transitioning to a remote office is essential. And making sure your remote workers understand the importance of backing up their files will also help prevent data loss.
Cloud Integration
Cloud integration is especially important for a remote office. And it’s more than just cloud storage as some often think. Creating a cloud-based environment that suits your office setup takes a lot of planning. But when executed properly, it could help your team transition to remote work successfully. Having a team of IT experts helping you with cloud integration ensures that you’ll have the best work environment for your remote staff.
Remote Access VPNs
A remote access Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows remote users to connect to a private network while accessing your company’s online resources. It’s a secure way to access company information and keep your data safe from hacking, viruses, and malware. However, it is not without its downsides. If you constantly need to re-verify your VPN certificate, or if a poor connection frequently causes you to have to relaunch your VPN, then it may be time to switch to a less troublesome solution.
Remote Desktop
Having your employees log in to a remote desktop can be provide the security of a VPN without additional stability. Because the remote desktop environment lays the corporate resources over your existing system, your employees don’t need separate corporate computers for their work. Data stays on the corporate server rather than saving to the local machine, meaning that a breach of the private computer won’t compromise the company.
Team Management Tools
Digital collaboration is the backbone of any virtual office. When you have employees working in different locations, and in some cases different time zones, investing in a team collaboration tool will help your remote staff stay on top of assigned tasks and keep you informed of their progress.
You have a lot of options for team collaboration tools. Some are quite sophisticated and can include automation, but there are also free apps that are great for small teams. When choosing office software for remote collaboration, make sure that your employees receive some type of training to help them learn how to use the tool effectively.
Investing in Employee Training
Remote work will require some extra training, not just in office protocol but in security as well. You’ll need to focus more attention on communicating with remote employees, particularly across time zones, so that you can manage important tasks and answer mission-critical questions during your respective work days. And just because they’re in a different office doesn’t mean they won’t still need the same proprietary software—and the wherewithal to use it—as your local staff.
It’s also important to realize that any worker who accesses company data in a public place needs to follow certain procedures. A coffee shop may seem like an innocuous work environment, but if you’re handling or discussing sensitive corporate information where another visitor could eavesdrop on your conversation or look over your shoulder to see what’s on your screen, you could be putting your company and your clients at risk.
If you are interested in integrating some of these remote work solutions for your business, contact us for an assessment. We would be happy to evaluate your existing system and work with you to implement them with your remote employees.
