Equip your staff with the right tools to productively meet their targets and company goals.

Effective work from home (WFH) strategies start with the right resources. Your staff can productively meet deadlines, sow new ideas with fruitful outcomes and communicate with each other quickly, clearly and securely whether via voice, video or email. All from the comfort of their homes. But only with the right tools.

“The quick shift in the workspace has been tricky to navigate but, with a continually growing list of available resources, employees and businesses are finding ways to make it work,” says John Rampton founder of the productivity tool, Calendar.

Here are some of the key factors to consider when gearing your workforce up to work remotely.

Security

In 2019, 94% of businesses experienced phishing attacks, according to Mimecast. And it isn’t just the big enterprises at risk – 70% of SMEs who give into ransomware demands close their doors within six months of a breach.

Security risks increase when instead of everyone accessing company information form one secure location, employees have access from their various locations. WFH means a possible dramatic increase in unsecured remote device usage, phishing and malware attacks, along with and the threat of internal data leaks.

A fully managed solution

There’s never been a more critical time to have a holistic and 360-degree IT security plan in place.

Regardless of your IT budget or the complexity of your IT environment, Vox has the solution set, and the skilled and experienced teams to assist in securing your business from cyber criminals.

We provide our customers all the essential components of effective IT security, either as part of an affordable comprehensive bundle or standalone critical element or as part of a fully managed solution:

  • Firewall as a first line of defence against cyberattacks
  • Anti-virus software to detect and remove virus/malware from endpoints and servers
  • Email security which provides an essential layer of protection against cyberattacks
  • Managed Services to ensure remote workers VPN connections are secure
  • Vox managed Backup for safe record of your data that can be implemented for continuity.

Related: Protect your business with this cybersecurity toolbox

Communication

Virtual collaboration tools are essential to make remote working and virtual teams a reality, according to Tahira Nagdee, Manager at PwC Research Services South Africa.

In addition to compromised security, some of the greatest challenges of working remotely include the inability to collaborate face-to-face and not having immediate access to documents requiring co-working.

Choosing the right channel is especially vital in a fully remote working environment. While your employees may be accustomed to switching between digital non-digital communications at the office, WFH calls for a new set of rules, says Ryan Jenkins speaker, author, co-founder of SyncLX.com.

“When communicating with remote workers, ensure your intended message aligns with the appropriate channel,” he explains.

Phone and video calls are best suited for long, detailed, difficult, feedback-rich or emotional conversations, while chat works better when making general announcements, brainstorming and socialising.

Collaboration is key

Vox has a dedicated Microsoft consulting division which assists our customers with licensing, implementation and training for MS Teams so your staff can benefit from presence, chat, video and audio conferencing, document sharing and meeting recording, among other market leading features.

For customers whose requirements are limited to bringing people together via video and or audio-conferencing Vox Air cost effectively enables multi-point conferencing and eliminates software/hardware compatibility/interoperability restrictions without expensive infrastructure requirements

Microsoft Teams and Vox Air assist in overcoming the challenges of WFH for your newly remote workforce.

Related: Video conferencing is easy with Vox Air

Connectivity

From a practical perspective, the lockdown has highlighted the importance of adopting a Cloud-first mindset when it comes to business operations.

Uncapped voice options and continuous Internet access are the future of remote working. Vox is uniquely positioned to integrate your business connectivity infrastructure with your employees working from home.

Voice of the future, today

Keep your costs under control, while experiencing seamless integration between your business PBX and remote workers’ mobile handsets with Vox’s Cloud hosted PBX. Employees’ mobile handsets become their extension when they are working remotely, like your remote workforce is still at the office!

Here’s how it works: inbound calls are received as if in-office, using data connectivity, and outbound calls incur your Vox VoIP charges rather than significantly higher GSM mobile rates. You have the option of metering, recording and monitoring calls for phone management reports or to gauge employee productivity, where applicable.

Related: Now is the time to go the Cloud-based PBX route

“It is all about thinking differently and identifying innovative ways of leveraging technology to empower employees to remain productive,” says Natalie van der Merwe, Senior product manager for PBX at Vox.

But if the past few weeks has shown us anything, then it is the need to move away from a ‘business as usual’ approach into one more reflective of the digital age.”