Having the right policies and technology in place will be the difference between your business thriving or simply surviving through COVID and beyond. For most small businesses, remote work life has been a huge shift on many levels. A couple of months in and leaders and employees are starting to find their new way of doing business, but many still with hopes that we’ll be back in the office soon. The reality is that it could be a while, and it’s likely your business will have to adjust to remote work being here to stay. But how do you make remote work an advantage for your business rather than a source of risk and lost productivity/profit?
Here are 3 steps your small business can take to remain safe, productive, and thriving:
- Develop a remote workforce plan and policy for your unique business
Remote work was likely a huge shift for operations for your company. Keeping your staff productive and your business competitive will depend on a clear plan and communication. Create a plan and policy that will clearly guide your employees on how to stay connected, supported, and safe from their remote workplace. The plan should include implementing the right technology to keep your business productive and secure. The policy should include guidelines and tips for employee communication best practices, how to use tools you’ve implemented for more streamlined remote work, how to do their part for creating and maintaining a secure workspace, incident handling and response, and additional security tips on awareness around phishing scams and cyber safety.
- Work with your trusted IT partner to implement the right technology
As businesses rushed to move to remote work and provide remote access for all employees, many have lost connectivity to servers, phones, and one another, and also created a hole in their cybersecurity. Having the right technology in place to keep operations flowing is key. If you don’t have one already, seek a technology partner than can make sure you have the right tools in place to allow your business to operate as normally and securely as possible. This may include having installing softphones, selecting the right secure remote access, implementing device management policies, and even considering a move to cloud services to enable a more fluid and secure work environment for the long term.
- Monitor all environments to keep security vulnerabilities mitigated
With employees working remotely, a window of opportunity has opened for cyber attackers to take advantage of the lack of security created by people now working from home. Make sure your systems and all devices are monitored and protected, password protections are in place, and that your staff is trained to be vigilant of phishing scams. Your company’s security policy now has to cover every remote worker in their home.
While this is a stressful time for business owners and employees alike, putting the right plan, policies and technology in place will keep your teams and business moving forward, and even position it for growth, with more peace of mind and less potential roadblocks to doing business.
If you need help taking the above steps to fortify your business, we’d love to get introduced and discuss how we can team up to optimize you IT to help your employees and business not only survive but thrive during COVID times and beyond. We even have a remote work policy template, employee guide, and security checklist we’d be happy to share. Request a free consultation and let’s talk!
Request a free Xperts consultation HERE or call 424-835-2964