The recent pandemic forced many businesses to close their office doors and required their staff to work from home. Thanks to its success over the past 12 months, remote and hybrid work is here to stay.
There are important considerations to make sure it’s a success, especially around security and best practice. That’s why you need to create and deploy a robust IT plan for your remote workers.
Work with your IT team to create a policy
Whether it’s an on-site IT department or your third-party provider, it’s important that you sit down with your team to work out a comprehensive policy for managing remote employees.
There will be a number of key considerations, such as:
- How will digital security be managed, particularly for organisations that deal with sensitive customer information, like accountants and financial services. Should staff be directed to always use a VPN when connecting to their work systems from home? Will they need a password manager?
- Who will be the point of contact for technology issues? There will need to be a clear hierarchy for staff to go to when they have issues.
- Who will pay for your employees’ home set-up? Is that an expense the employee should bear, or will you need to provide an amount to cover the basics? And will they be able to take any equipment from the office home with them?
Once the policy is created, make sure to share it with your staff and stakeholders, and deliver any necessary support or training.
Set parameters around how devices are used
Arguably the most important step for ongoing security is setting parameters around how devices are used for business purposes outside of the office. Outline whether your team will be able to use business-owned devices in their home, and if not, do you have a separate bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy in place?
Also consider how these devices are connected. Using personal networks opens up the risk of data and security breaches.
Does everyone have the right tools?
Finally, you need to make sure every member of your team has the right tools to do their job effectively remotely. Think about the physical peripherals like their keyboard and mouse, screens, printers, docks, cables and their work device itself.
You will also need to ensure they have the appropriate power needs to do their jobs, as well as a solid internet connection that will allow them to videoconference into team meetings and speak to clients with minimal network interruptions.
It may be appropriate to work with each individual to find out what their current home-office environment looks like. You can then make an assessment of their set-up and provide recommendations based on their specific needs. As experts in multi-disciplinary technology solutions, Entire Tech know exactly what to look for to ensure a workplace has everything it needs to run securely and efficiently.
Ready to embrace the remote-working revolution? Contact Entire Tech today to learn how we can help you develop an IT plan that matches your specific business needs.
