GUIDE

How to prepare your IT team to work from home.

The world is changing. Companies are beginning to realise that work is no longer defined by where you are, but by what you do. A report by Condeco into changing workplace culture found that two-fifths of organisations in the US, UK, France, Germany, Australia and Singapore now offer employees the freedom to choose between working from home, the office or Anywhere.

It’s easy to see why. A two-year study by Stanford University discovered that productivity among home-based workers was equal to a full day’s work each week. It also increases employee retention and reduces the number of employee sick days. Employees seem to love it too – in the 2019 Buffer report into Anywhere employee attitudes, 99% said they would like to work Anywhere at least some of the time for the rest of their careers.

Moving to a flexible-work model can bring dramatic changes to a business. But a successful transition is only possible when you minimise disruption and encourage team engagement. Before choosing the best IT solutions for working from home, you must develop solid, scalable processes.

Your IT team will be on the frontline of this transition. They are vital to managing the new communication technologies and to maintain cohesion between team members. So how exactly do you prepare your IT team for the shift to distributed or Anywhere working?

Man writing IT security plan to work from home

LAY STRONG SECURITY FOUNDATIONS

Before beginning the move to an Anywhere work model, consider the impact it will have on each aspect of your business. That means talking with team leaders, a lot. Discuss their current objectives, challenges and the areas in which they want to grow. How will a shift to Anywhere work impact these?

Above all, it’s the responsibility of IT to educate others on the best working from home IT security practices. 38% of flexible workers and 15% of remote managers received no training on how to work remotely. Sri Bandaru, IT Manager at AnywhereWorks’ Chennai branch offers some simple steps to limit potential security risks when working from home:

“It’s important to ensure your team keeps all hardware and software up-to-date, with verified antivirus protection enabled at all times. Likewise, your team should be aware of best practices for spotting spam emails and other malicious communications. They should understand their personal responsibility when using unsecured WiFi networks and working through personal devices. Vigilance starts with knowledge, so it’s your job to give your team that knowledge.”

Some simple steps to limit potential security risks when working from home:

Encourage everyone to update their hardware, software and antivirus protection – including verifying your router has encryption (WPA2 or WPA3) switched on.
Share regular updates on best practices for spotting spam emails and other malicious communications, using unsecured WiFi networks and personal devices.
Ensure people only use approved secure platforms and cloud services
Centralise all relevant support materials in a secure location
Conduct a security audit (passwords, software and hardware) and update your existing data security measures regularly

Man typing on laptop waiting for IT support from home

PREPARE YOUR ONBOARDING PROCESS

A recent survey by CareerBuilder suggests 36% of businesses neglect to implement a structured onboarding process for new employees. To give new arrivals the best start, configure processes with specific roles in mind.

Consider the scalability of your current onboarding process. How manageable is the current clock-in system? How do you verify overtime? Every element of your business will be impacted by the move to Anywhere; identifying and accounting for these changes will enable a smoother transition and set you up for future growth.

To effectively onboard future team members, you must place yourself in their shoes. Test each stage of the onboarding process with people not familiar with your company’s usual processes. Consider each current touchpoint with your team – how can you replicate them from home, the office, or Anywhere without disrupting processes?

These processes will evolve as you grow, but establishing a strong onboarding framework from the get-go is crucial to ensure future scalability. It’s also important to give new team members the best introduction to your company. An inefficient and stressful start to a new job sets a precedent that could put off new employees.

As Senthil Balakrishnan, IT Analyst for AnywhereWorks explains: “Our onboarding process is unique. We have to cover employees across three continents. We have to ensure the onboarding is 1:1 so that the new employee is comfortable and no check goes missed. We start with the basics of their connectivity, introduce them to the tools and applications they’ll be using and cover how to troubleshoot basic issues manually.”

The easiest way to improve your team’s ability to collaborate when you’re working Anywhere is by using the right tools.

INTEGRATE THE RIGHT TOOLS TO WORK FROM HOME

In a recent report by Google, entitled, “Working Together When We’re Not Together,” the company found that effectiveness and productivity as a whole were not impacted by distributed work. However, there are multiple factors to consider before making the move to working from home, and chief among them is the software you use.

To effectively manage your team when they work from home, you need a robust set of team collaboration tools. That means having the means to schedule appointments, clock-in to work, share video calls and communicate with everyone. On that final point, deciding which team collaboration software to use for internal comms will have a major impact on your operations. Your internal comms tool must be flexible, easy to navigate and robust enough to handle a team of 20 or 2000.

Each department comes with its own unique requirements. That means some teams will require access to virtual office software that others don’t. As the IT lead, it’s your duty to clarify which tools each team needs, and the level of access each person within that team requires. These can be adjusted over time, but establishing clear boundaries between roles now avoids confusion in the future.

Man waiting for help from IT team working from home

Mohan, Sr. System Engineer for AnywhereWorks, explains: “Every organisation requires tools that fit their business model. There are times when organisations require tools when they implement processes to improve productivity. We faced the same challenge when we started using online productivity tools like Trello to track team collaboration better. Sometimes when teams do not have a solution in hand, the IT team should step up to bring the best solution that can help teams work better.

When choosing a solution, make sure the tools:

Are secure, are available on the devices your team use and have a simple UX
Come with proper role-assignment functions
Consume minimal space on devices
Are licensed solutions from a reliable provider

TEST NEW FEATURES, SCALE AS YOU GROW

If you’re a small company, the shift to a flexible working model could take place over just a few weeks. Substantial changes to business processes are easier for small companies because they are more nimble by nature.

The same goes for your IT team – adapting to a new model will be easier if you trial it with a small test unit. See how your test team responds to the change in working practices and integrate those findings into the next trial. If you notice a particular member of your test team performed well in the trial, ask them to mentor and support future teams.

For larger companies, the transition process could take longer. Jacob Morgan, an expert on the future of work, suggests that “larger companies take a phased approach to implement flexible work across the company.”

Larger teams have to coordinate projects around more people, and, if they’re spread across different continents, contend with a broader range of time zones. Starting on a small scale gives your IT team a test-bed on which to perfect processes before rolling them out across the company.

It’s important to keep one eye on the future at all times – how will this work as your teams expand? Do your processes allow for the integration of new technologies? By trialling new features, tools and practices in small groups, your IT team can identify issues disrupting the entire company.

Young millennial enjoying flexible work

GET FEEDBACK TO ADAPT PROCESSES

One of the best ways to improve processes is to ask for honest feedback. That goes for the entire company, but it’s particularly true for your IT team. Conducting weekly, monthly and annual reviews of the system across departments will enable you to identify issues and track how they’re resolved.

While it’s important your teams follow protocol, it’s also vital you keep an open mind to improvements. Teams and sub-teams will develop their own processes for working overtime. Some of these custom processes will provide invaluable insights into how different teams operate.

Consider why they’ve adopted these new processes. By taking their suggestions on board, you can integrate new actions that respond to their needs. Being open to revisions could lead to more practical working models. Just as importantly, it shows you’re listening to their needs and value their input.

It’s not just your IT team who might want to give feedback. Offer new team members the opportunity to provide feedback on the onboarding process. Request feedback through a rating scale (ie rate each stage of the process on a scale of one to ten) to quantify the feedback and identify areas for improvement more easily.

ENSURE YOUR OFFICE DETAILS HAVE BEEN CHANGED

This is often one of the last things businesses consider when transitioning to a work from home model. but it’s also essential to ensure a smooth transition for employees and clients alike.

Explain what you need from your IT team. Even if it’s just to transfer calls to the respective departments, they will need a map of where to direct callers.

With some (or all) of your team out of the office, callers will have to be directed somewhere.

You might choose to set-up a Voice over IP system. Unless you want your customer support team to answer through their personal devices (clue, you don’t want that), they’ll need a way to answer calls to your business line even if they’re not in the office. Your IT team will need to understand exactly how you want your system to work to avoid confusion.

Alternatively, you could hire a virtual receptionist team to field your calls. With all calls directed through a professional call answering team, you can focus on helping your team adapt to their new work model. Best of all, you can do it without losing clients or risking your reputation.

SUMMARY

Clarify your approach in advance – A successful transition to working from home is only possible with minimised disruption and team engagement.
Consider security first – Ensure your team keeps all hardware and software up-to-date, with verified antivirus protection enabled at all times.
Prepare for the future with a robust onboarding process – Give new arrivals the best start by configuring processes with specific roles in mind.
Integrate the right tools – To effectively manage your team when they work from home, you need a robust set of team collaboration tools.
Test working from home with small groups – Trial your new working model with test groups and integrate feedback into future tests.
Have your IT team set up a call answering system – Establish your call-handling process or hire a call answering team to cover your calls.

DISCOVER ANYWHERE

Looking to take your business Anywhere, manage projects from home or just keep your team motivated? Check out our suite of Tools and discover a new way to work.