4 Ways Your Business Can Prepare for Hybrid or Remote Operations

The future can be unpredictable at best, especially in today’s times. You never know when your company will suffer from circumstances beyond your control, whether it’s a disaster that uproots your office or a pandemic that forces your entire workforce to transition to remote operations. Thankfully, even in today’s trying times, technology presents opportunities to overcome these challenges.

Let’s examine some technology solutions that will help you stay successful both now and in the future, even if you have to transition to hybrid or remote business operations.

Hardware Solutions

In order to prepare yourself for remote or hybrid operations, consider equipping your staff with hardware that allows them to get their work done even when outside of the office. You probably won’t want to give them full workstations, but you can provide laptops and smartphones to help them stay connected to the workplace even when out of it. If you need a hand with procurement, we would be happy to recommend some of the best deals and solutions out there.

Cloud Computing

With access to hardware out of the way, you will need access to data and software to utilize that data with. The cloud is a perfect solution for this, as the applications and data essentially live in an online environment where it can be accessed as needed. There are many cloud-based solutions to consider, but we recommend a unified communications solution, a data storage solution, and a productivity suite as the absolute bare minimum for any organization hoping to keep operations running while remote. Of course, your needs are different from most other businesses, so it’s best to speak to us about them so we can give you a better idea of what you might consider for your company.

Unified Communications

Your team will need access to various solutions that allow them to stay in touch with each other while out of the office. Unified communications solutions offer a centralized location for employees to access the plethora of services that you might implement, including email, instant messaging, video chat, conference calling, and your voice-over IP solution. Unified communications is an incredibly effective solution for any company that anticipates remote or hybrid operations in the near future.

Infrastructure Access Technology

Finally, we come to arguably the most important aspect of all—security. You want to ensure that only your employees have access to your network infrastructure while out of the office. You can accomplish this through the use of a virtual private network and remote desktop access applications, both of which allow your employees to access files on the company network or their own work desktops remotely through the cloud. Furthermore, you will want to ensure that your company-owned devices are kept secure with unified threat management tools to keep them safe, no matter the type of connection they use for wireless access.

OnSite I.T. can help you prepare for a future when your organization’s operations may be disrupted due to circumstances beyond your control. To learn more about the technology that makes remote or hybrid operations possible, reach out to us at (403) 210-2927.