A survey of 1,000 U.S. adults found 39% would consider quitting if their employers were not flexible about remote work. Among millennials and Gen Z, the figure was 49%. [Bloomberg Wealth]
Remote and hybrid work are here to stay. People simply don’t miss the long commutes or crowded trains and congested city traffic. According to another survey of 2,100 people released in April, more than a third of the respondents said they save at least $5,000 per year by working remotely. [FlexJobs]
What Technology Do You Need to Support Remote Workers?
Organizations are opting to use managed IT services as a fast and affordable path in adopting a remote workforce model. Here are five essentials you need to get started.
Cloud Environment – The cloud is the lifeline for remote workers to connect through the internet and access what they want, when they want it. No matter where they are located, the cloud provides the immediacy of on-demand services and functionality that users expect. It is what makes online collaboration possible and can be scaled easily to accommodate growth. Managed cloud hosting enables organizations to gain better visibility and control over their cloud environment and ensures data is secure and complies with strict government and industry regulations.
Reliable Connectivity – Quality bandwidth for video streaming, voice and collaboration tools can be demanding on network performance if not designed for today’s remote and multi-site workforce. Nothing is more annoying than frequent jitter or slow network performance. Managed SD-WAN capabilities provide active monitoring and real-time traffic orchestration to ensure high availability of quality bandwidth and reliable connectivity.
Anywhere, Anytime Collaboration – To get work done with a geographically dispersed workforce, managed unified communications are essential to connect teams and branch offices in real-time around the country or the world. UC integrates phone, instant messaging, video conferencing and voicemail applications together onto a unified, cloud platform. This way, a large mobile workforce can stay connected and meet with customers and employees where they want to be met … through an app, mobile device or other online channels.
Protection from Cyber Attacks – With onsite and remote workers connecting both inside and outside of an organization’s protective firewalls, hidden security gaps within endpoints are prime entry points for cybercriminals to target your organization. Without proper protection, cyber thieves can execute malicious ransomware and malware attacks through those unsecured endpoints. Managed endpoint security enables real-time prevention and early detection and response to safeguard endpoints from cyberattacks and data breaches.
Preparing for Worst-Case Scenario – Disasters occur in many forms – power outages, natural disasters, data breaches, equipment failure or even human error. Often, they happen without warning. That is why it is important to ensure you are prepared for the unexpected. Managed data backup and disaster recovery safeguards an organization’s critical data in a secure, cloud data center disconnected from the network. In the event of a crippling data breach or disaster, a team of experts can restore an entire IT environment or specific virtual machines in minutes or hours, depending on predetermined Recovery Point Objectives and Recovery Time Objectives.
