Our reliance on digital technology has never been greater, and this has created a situation in which remote working is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Whether you’re running a fully remote company or simply want to give your staff more flexibility, you need to have the right IT solutions in place if they’re going to stay productive, secure and in touch with colleagues and clients alike.
Communication and Collaboration Platforms
Remote teams rely on communication to thrive. They don’t have the benefit of face-to-face interactions, so they need tools that help them bridge the distance and work collaboratively towards a common objective. Popular solutions include:
- Slack & Microsoft Teams
Give your teams one place to share information, have conversations, and integrate with other apps.
- Zoom & Google Meet
Hold meetings virtually with HD video and screen sharing; record and store them automatically so team members can refer back later.
Network Security and Proxy Solutions
Employees often need to access company information from many different places. To ensure that this access is both safe and efficient, organisations use a range of security technologies, including VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), firewalls and proxies.
A proxy server can provide an additional layer of protection for the company network while also improving performance. SimplyNode at https://www.simplynode.io/ offers fast and secure proxy solutions which enable teams working remotely to access the resources they need safely and efficiently, without disrupting the flow of work.
Other essential network tools include:
- VPN Services: Encrypt internet traffic to protect sensitive data from potential cyber threats, especially on public Wi-Fi.
- Cloud Security Platforms: Offer centralized management for access controls, threat detection, and compliance monitoring.
Cloud-Based Productivity Suites
Cloud services have transformed how teams collaborate and work together. With Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, colleagues can now edit documents in real time, share files and store them safely online – all from different locations. Furthermore, these cloud services include tools for managing tasks and calendar integration; this means less time spent on administration.
Admin tasks such as setting up user accounts and controlling access to information are now much simpler with a cloud-based system than they used to be, when everything was done manually or via on-premises software.
Project Management Tools
When you’re managing a team from afar, it’s harder to keep tabs on what everyone is doing (and whether they’re getting it done on time). This is why remote teams rely on tools like Asana, Trello, and Jira to stay organized.
These platforms let you assign tasks to specific workers, monitor progress in real-time, and create a sense of responsibility among the team members – things that might otherwise fall through the cracks when the staff works out of the office.
Endpoint and Device Management
Remote work involves using different devices, many of which are personally owned. This can create a challenge for IT departments, who need to ensure all endpoints are secure and running the latest software. To meet this need, endpoint management tools have been developed. Such solutions give IT teams the ability to remotely push security updates and software patches to all endpoints, as well as monitor them for any suspicious activity.
Final Thoughts
It is essential that you have the right IT solutions in place to ensure your remote teams stay both secure and productive. By providing employees with communication tools, cloud services, security safeguards, and device management options, you create an environment in which they can thrive – even when working from home. Having the right tools is essential for both productivity and security.
