With the right solutions, you can navigate the challenges that arose when businesses across Minnesota and the country quickly switched to remote work in the middle of a pandemic. You can arm your team with the right tools and education so cybercriminals don’t take advantage.
Here are 5 suggestions to upgrade your home office and maintain productivity and communication. Together, these small changes can improve security and help workers stay in regular contact and on track.
5 Ways You can Improve Remote Team Communication and Security
The hurried move to remote work may have left gaps in your security system and communications. These vulnerabilities should be secured immediately to protect important information and critical systems from hackers. Not only does this shield employees and clients, it also ensures you’re maintaining the necessary compliance standards for your industry.
These quick home office ideas will help boost the security and productivity of your remote workforce, leading to healthier, happier employees.
- Evaluate and update security
The first thing you should do when you’ve decided to go remote is evaluate your company’s security system. Without a good understanding of your current status and vulnerabilities, it’s difficult to know how to proceed. Some companies over-estimate their current network security and inadvertently put their business at risk.
Deerwood Technologies’ GUARDIAN Managed IT service begins with a comprehensive security assessment, so we can fully understand your needs. Then, we work closely with you to update your security systems, ensuring compliance with best practices and industry requirements.
- Assess your VPN
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a fantastic tool for remote work. It safeguards privacy and allows staff to easily connect to secure, in-office servers and networks. With a properly configured VPN, and staff working at home can connect easily without having to compromise security and performance. If your company doesn’t already have a VPN setup, now is the perfect time to get it going. Let us know how we can help.
- Set up an ergonomic workspace
What is an ergonomic workspace? One that allows for neutral posture, voluntary motion and rest time. Many people forget that working from home is still, well – work. It’s a treat to work in pajamas from the couch for a few days but, after a while, it affects both posture and productivity. You can’t dictate how employees work. But by offering them resources on ergonomics, you can help them improve their own at-home workspaces. These home office ideas aren’t revolutionary, but you’d be surprised how big a difference improving posture, motion and flexibility can make to morale.
- Set up multi-factor authentication
Another way you can help employees and boost security is by setting up multi-factor authentication on company devices and systems. Don’t put the onus on employees who will likely set up simple, easy-to-remember passwords. Instead, take the time to educate employees on passphrases – a more secure alternative to the single password. With just a few more clicks, you can instantly boost your security and make it much harder for hackers to access your system.
- Improve remote-team collaboration
There are a few team-collaboration systems that can improve communication across your organization. If you weren’t using them before, now is a good time to get familiar with a tool like Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Mitel Connect. They can instantly connect team members, host company-wide meetings and provide a quick and easy way to access information.
If you don’t have the right team-communication tools yet, we can evaluate your needs and recommend one that will be a good fit. Having a dedicated IT security team handling setup and deployment gives you the freedom to focus on your business.
New to Remote Work? Deerwood Technologies Can Help
If you’re being challenged by remote work, you’re not alone. Fortunately, with just a few quick fixes to your home-office setup, you can improve security and productivity at every level of your organization.
We’d love to talk to you about your team’s ongoing security or efficiency challenges. You don’t have to do IT alone. Reach out to us today, and we can help improve your workspaces with simple solutions that will make a big difference.