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Some of us have been working remotely for years. For others, working from home has recently become our “new normal.” Instead of grabbing the car keys and running out the door to commute to the office, we’re grabbing a cup of coffee and walking across the hall to our home office.
While the commute is probably easier, working from home has its challenges. Namely, staying connected and collaborative with coworkers. Sitting in a home office when you’re used to working in an office, co-working space, or even a coffee shop, can leave you feeling disconnected.
When you’re used to waving hello, shaking hands, and catching up over the water cooler, how can you make sure you stay connected when working remotely? Technology is an excellent resource for businesses looking to communicate and collaborate when working in a remote environment. Using technology, you can continue face-to-face collaboration, enable business communications, and enrich your existing software tools and workflows.
As a technology partner, High Touch helps businesses enable their workforce with Remote Workplace Solutions. Learn more about comprehensive technology services High Touch offers for remote workplaces.
Adopt New Collaboration Tools
Working from home doesn’t have to mean working alone. Instead of feeling siloed, businesses can adopt virtual collaboration tools as a platform to enable digital co-working.
Virtual collaboration tools, like Microsoft Teams, empower groups to work together, side-by-side, in a digital environment. Using Teams, you can share, co-edit, and store files, send instant messages, share screens, hold video conferences and one-on-one meetings, and host virtual events like company-wide happy hours with up to 240 people. Basically, you can complete the same co-working tasks you would typically do in the office, but from anywhere through a digital screen.
Think of it this way. Instead of using Outlook for email, Skype for instant messaging, a network drive to store files, and a conference room to have a focused conversation, Microsoft Teams gives you a virtual platform to work collaboratively in one place from anywhere on any device.
Employ Video Conferencing
We all know that sometimes, the quality you experience when video conferencing can be lackluster. Pixelated video. Poor sound quality. Clunky desktop applications. When you’re working in a professional environment, you need a professional solution. Not a free fly-by-night video app.
With HD video conferencing, you can create instant one-on-one calls or host a 4k video conference in any sized space. Additionally, with Lifesize HD video conferencing, you can choose to bundle all the hardware you need for conferencing in your monthly package. Lifesize also relies on secure data centers with advanced security measures in place.
Deploy a VoIP Telephone System
You don’t need to drive to the office to have access to a business phone number. In fact, you don’t even need to be in the office to have a phone system installed company-wide.
VoIP phone systems are internet and network-based. A VoIP phone system can either be an on-premise system that you own on your internal network or a cloud-based system that is hosted off-site at a data center. Cloud-based phone systems only require an internet connection for users to make and receive calls. Deploying a VoIP phone system, whether it’s on-premise or cloud-based, allows your workforce the flexibility of working from anywhere that has an internet or data connection.
In choosing a phone system, some businesses prefer an up-front capital expense and minimal ongoing costs. Others prefer to distribute the cost of the phone system as an ongoing monthly operational expense. High Touch can help you determine the right phone system for your budget.
Are you concerned about losing your traditional digital PBX system’s features when you migrate to a cloud-based or VoIP phone system? Don’t fret. Modern cloud-based and VoIP phone systems have very similar feature sets to PBX phone systems, adding new features to enable your business to work remotely, including:
- Audio, web, and video conferencing
- Desktop and web collaboration applications
- Integrated instant messaging
- Mobile phone call forwarding
- Desktop and mobile softphone
We Help Improve Communications.
As a technology partner, High Touch helps remote, on-premise, and hybrid businesses stay connected. Are you interested in learning more about collaboration tools, video conferencing, and cloud-based phone systems for your business? Contact High Touch today to learn more.