Global Work from Home Day is observed worldwide on April 10 each year. According to the latest research from BrandMapp, more than a third of SA’s middle-class now split work between home and office. For businesses, the remote/hybrid work model has proven to yield many benefits, from cost savings to increased employee productivity, and better work-life balance.
There are however challenges with having employees work from home, and most of it has to do with communication and collaboration. And of course, in South Africa, there’s the added challenge of loadshedding. But with some careful planning and the use of smart tech, businesses can make the work-from-home model a seamless process for their employees.
“With so much research telling us that employees prefer a flexible model, with some even refusing to consider a position if there is no hybrid offering, businesses who wish to attract and retain top talent need to ensure this way of working is built into their employee value proposition. Further to this, they need to furnish them with the right remote working tools and equipment to perform at their best,” says Damian Michael, CEO of ICT company, Innovo Networks.
Below, Michael shares the top 6 technologies that businesses can consider utilising to support remote employees:
1. Mobile Tools – remote employees are frequently working on the go and rely heavily on mobile devices and laptops, so businesses should be making mobile a key part of the workflow strategy. Employers can offer remote workers portable WIFI devices to ensure connection at all times. They can also provide VPN remote access to enable workers to securely access information from the companies’ central data centre. Further to this, making use of mobile-based business apps like project management plug-ins, can go a long way in improving communication and give remote employees the same level of access that in-house workers enjoy.
2. Employee productivity monitoring software – often misconstrued as ‘spyware’ software, productivity monitoring tools actually work to assist remote employees with their time management and capacity, as well as give employers peace of mind as to how work time is being spent. Tools like WorkStatz can provide real-time employee performance tracking, eliminating the tendency of managers to constantly be ‘checking-in’ and overcommunicating.
3. VoIP—Voice over Internet Protocol – not only does VoIP cut costs, but it also enables employees to access work/office phone calls from any location. They can also forward calls to their mobile phone, teleconference with colleagues and clients, as well as send instant messages.
4. Inverter or UPS? –there’s been a lot of debate around the better power solution for remote employees during power cuts. The two main options are either a UPS system or an inverter. Typically, the UPS provides up to 45 minutes of power, and it’s usually cheaper than an inverter. Its main function is not to last for an entire loadshedding outage but to rather prevent data loss by giving employees time to save their work. An inverter, on the other hand, is designed to last much longer, easily the time of a full loadshedding session. It does however have a bigger battery than a UPS which requires a lot of power and time to charge.
5. Video Conferencing –according to a 2023 meetings statics report by TeamStage, companies cite an 89% increase in productivity with video calls. Remote workers struggle to feel engaged in audio-only meetings, which is mainly due to the absence of body language and visual cues. The obvious go-to video tools are things like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, but for further efficiency and cost saving, you can invest in applications like a hosted video PBX system which integrates a variety of video-based systems into one app. These applications can be accessed from any device, and it doesn’t require multiple licenses and subscription fees.
6. Cloud computing and cloud-based business apps – the cloud is the perfect tool to give remote workers access to the virtual working environment. Remote workers find cloud-based systems most useful for collaborative file sharing, and they can use a single sign-in from anywhere on any device. To further improve your cloud-based systems, integrate the use of cloud-based business apps that can make things even more streamlined. Some of the free apps include Slack, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Hubspot, and Chrome Remote Desktop.
