Make - Tech

by Blake Cormier
Content Manager, E-N Computers

Working from home isn’t as simple as plugging in a computer and getting to work. As you’ve likely discovered over the past year, there are many moving parts in an office environment that we take for granted. From water-cooler chats to access to business-grade printers and copiers, it’s not always easy to go directly from the office to working from home.

At E-N Computers, we faced these same challenges. Though we gradually expanded to include remote offices in Washington, D.C., Richmond, Harrisonburg, and elsewhere, our core operations were still based out of our main office in Waynesboro. When the pandemic hit, we had to make some shifts to keep things running while working from home. And we had to help many of our clients to get ready to work from home as well.

While we already had many systems and tools in place to facilitate this, there were still a number of things we learned along the way – things we want to share with you now.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the technologies and tools that can help your business to build a successful work-from-home environment. You’re probably already using some of them, like email and online meeting platforms – and you’re familiar with the challenges that come with them. But a few tweaks and optimizations can transform those tools into WFH stars. How so?

Keep reading to find out.

Like any business tool, the use of work-from-home technology should address the needs of your organization without creating unnecessary complications. Below are a few common business considerations that come up during the shift to work-from-home. Keeping them in mind as you evaluate WFH tools and tech can help you to evaluate the options you have and make better decisions for your business.

One of the main drivers of WFH tech adoption should be your business’s workflow. What steps do your employees need to take to get work done, and what obstacles does working from home present to those steps? In some cases, the workflow itself needs to be modified. For example, can you move some things from a paper-based workflow to a paperless one?

Another consideration is compliance. If your company is subject to regulations like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, CMMC/NIST 800-171, or GLBA , how will your work-from-home tools affect your compliance? And even if you’re not under a specific regulation, cybersecurity should still be top-of-mind when making technology decisions. This will influence, for example, whether you allow bring-your-own-device (BYOD), or mandate that all work must be done on a company-owned device.

Finally, you need to consider training and policy – both for new employees and current ones. How do you onboard new employees? Where can current ones go to find out your policies and procedures if they need a refresher? And what ongoing training do you provide your employees to help them to stay current with their skills? Choosing the right WFH tools will make these things much easier, leading to higher employee satisfaction and retention.

Another major concern that comes with work-from-home is how to ensure that your employees are remaining productive and are working when they say they are. Trust is a major factor here, but in many areas metrics and time accountability are important to maintain productivity and customer satisfaction. For example, as a managed services provider (MSP) , we need to track how much time each engineer spends on each ticket, so we use tools that make it easy to do that as part of our workflow.

Being able to communicate freely and openly is an important part of innovation and problem solving. If your business depends on collaboration, then you’ll want to choose tools that make it easy to do without introducing unneeded distractions.

For example, we use an instant messaging platform for both group collaboration and one-on-one. We also use videoconferencing to hold a quick daily “huddle” where each team shares what they’re working on for the day and can ask for input from the rest of the company as…