Businesses everywhere are feeling the positive impact of the world becoming a smaller
place in terms of mobile communication but what are the most important things to consider if you are thinking of employing a remote worker policy in your organisation and how do
you deploy the best telecommunications system that is right for your business?
To help you work out the questions you need to be asking and the issues you need to think
about, we have put together some key considerations and facts about remote working
technology.
Benefits Of Remote Working
Many
companies who have employed a mobile or remote worker policy have seen travel
and time costs greatly reduced; an increase in employee contentment and an
ultimate rise in profits. The extension of the ‘office’ has allowed small to
medium sized firms to share a multitude of online resources such as databases
and file transfer sites. Virtual teams have cut down on meeting times by
utilising video conferencing and companies have successfully maintained their
corporate identity by working with shared technology.
Some small
companies have also reported that they are able to choose from some of the best
people in the industry, as they are not restricted by geographical location
when it comes to recruitment.
Do I Need An IT Strategy To Support My Remote Worker Policy?
Because technology is the main enabler of remote
working, you will need to have a firm strategy in place to get things right
from the start. According to a white paper written by growth partnership
organisation, Frost and Sullivan, ‘Mobile Collaboration and the Small and
Midsize Market’: “ IT Managers must implement an enterprise mobility
solution in order to stay competitive in a world in which business gets done
24/7 from any location and on a growing number of devices.”
Your Company’s Mobile
Phone Policy
The paper
also reports that because there has been mass consumerisation of IT in recent
years, particularly with the advent of Smart Phones, many people integrate their
own personal mobile devices with business.
It advises that while this can save costs for businesses it is important
to remember that it does not offer any security or safety measures. It
recommends that businesses should undertake an assessment of all mobile
workers’ technology needs to develop a clear mobile
device strategy.
What Is
Unified Communications?
Unified Communication systems allow workers to
communicate on a number of different mediums e.g. if you send a voicemail to a
colleague he/she has the option of picking this up on an email. The idea behind
Unified Communications is to allow users to correspond in the best medium for
any given piece of information and get answers as quickly as possible.
Unified
communications uses the following different types of real-time communications
services:
Instant
messaging
Presence
information
IP
Telephony
Speech recognition
Video conferencing
Interactive whiteboards
Finding The
Right Remote Worker Technology With Plum
Communications
If you are
considering employing people who need remote access then
Plum
Communications can provide you with the right solution. The
Plum
Homeworker is a popular product as it affordable, reliable and efficient. We
are also accredited to sell and install the following products and solutions:
AVAYA
Cisco
SonicWall
Microsoft
Nokia
HP
Netgear
We supply services from a range of suppliers including BT
Openreach, Talk Talk Business, Vodafone, Enta, Gamma, O2, EE, 3, Microsoft, Cisco, Avaya.
If you would like more information and advice
on any of our telecoms
solutions then please
get in touch with us on 0161 622 3500.
Sources
http://plumcom.com/pdfs/frostsullivanmobilecollaborationsmallmidsizemarket
http://www.plumcom.co.uk/line_rental.php?page=line_rental
http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/powwownow-partner-zone/using-technology-flexible-working
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_communications
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