Why is Remote Working becoming more common?
Remote working as a form of professional working is fast becoming a new normal in our daily life. When referring to the term “Remote Worker” it is meant for boundless working environments including working from home, hotel, or just about anywhere with an Internet connection using smartphones, laptops or desktops that can provide information technology aided working.
Remote working allows employees to take advantage of more flexible time and work wherever they want, which can be a great motivator for people who are tired of the monotony and repetitive office life. It helps to maintain continuity of work even when it is inevitable to go to a designated office due to special circumstances such as childcare, business trips and disasters.
OWL Labs said 62% of respondents use Remote Workers and 48% of them do it at least once a week in its 2019 State of Remote Workers report. Also, Deloitte’s 2018 Millennials study found that 50% of millennials consider the flexibility of location where they work and hours to be very important when choosing whether to work for an organization or not.
With the development of technology for communication, such as mobile and wireless Internet, and the emergence of a variety of mobile devices represented by smartphones, Remote Working is now recognized as a common way of working.
Below are the benefits expected from Remote Workers.
- Flexible working environment can provide free from time and location.
- Work continues even in times of emergencies.
- Helps to balance the work and life.
- Cost savings for office management and commuting.
- Work satisfaction rates of employee can be improved.
At the heart of successfully settling the remote work culture, lies ‘communication’.
Nonetheless, remote working does not always solely bring benefits. There can be the difficulties when the work is being done outside of the office?
FYI said that according to ‘The Remote Work Report’, communications (27%), social isolation (16%), and loneliness (13%) are to the most difficult things to deal with when working remotely from the office. Another research also pointed out ‘collaboration and communications’, ‘work life balance’, ‘isolation and loneness’ can be some of the hardest difficulties to overcome that need special attention.
As mentioned above, we now have an improved IT infrastructure and communication means, and we have a variety of devices and applications for communication. Yet so many people are still talking about communication as the most difficult thing about remote work? That’s probably because the various communications tools and devices you’re using are not managed in an integrated way, and they’re being used individually for each purpose.
Companies should consider introducing a unified communications solution to improve communication difficulties and facilitate efficient collaboration. Unified Communications (UC) refers to utilizing of e-mail, voice messaging as well as video conferencing etc. by combining all the possible solutions into a unified platform for maximum efficiency in operation and management of the solutions.
So, what needs to be considered when introducing UC for remote working?
For successful adoption of a UC solution that will make remote working smooth and seamless, the below aspects should be considered.
1. Presence
Presence is the crux feature of UC that shows the status of a user available for collaboration. Therefore, the more details of the co-worker’s presence that are shared, the more fluent communication becomes. Not only if they are available but whether they are in a meeting, busy or in some other status that needs to be shown and the solution of your choice should provide these features.
2. Supports diverse means of communication
To support whenever and wherever availability for hassle free communication, your best options will be with a single platform, unifying phone calls, e-mails, messages, and more by means of a communications solution that supports diverse technologies and devices like smart phones and tablets. One important aspect to consider is that all the means must be made manageable in a single platform.
3. Security features that are highly accountable
It’s easy to have only the UC part, but if security and stability are not guaranteed is it easy? Some solutions over emphasis the easy part over security and that often fails to deliver the most important aspect of the professional arena, the “IT security”. Especially when you are outside the physical office, a solution must provide for the businesses safety and security which could unintentionally shift the entities’ fate. The need to communicate in an encrypted manor means other data protection features must also be secure for critical business information under the IT security control.
4. Robust collaboration tools
Multi-lateral video conferencing as well as file sharing, program sharing, remote monitoring, voice and video recording should all be supported without issue. Presentation mode, white board mode or like detailed features during multi-lateral conferencing can be very effective in delivering information for professional collaboration which must be reviewed not only for the variety of collaboration tools but also for the quality of the tools.
5. Mobile Client
When on the move or at a remote site, a mobile client is a must have component to achieve seamless communications. The availability to support mobility and mobile clients must be considered when looking for a UC solution. A mobile client that is compatible on a variety of operating systems? Does the UC solution provide a mobile client? Is the interface or UI built for convenience? There are many areas of UC that need double checking but please let the lists of considerations have mobility as a priority for your UC consideration.
Ericsson-LG Enterprise provides diverse solutions for easier and more effective remote working. Click here for more information.
