Plum Blog: Remote Working And Technology: What You Need To Know

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

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