Do not panic. There are some very simple things you can and should do.
You have a receptionist or guard watching the front door, an alarm system at night, antivirus software that protects your computers, and a firewall that protects your servers. Everything is fine except for one thing. You just feel like your staff is working from home. You cannot allow your business information, including some data with compliance requirements that must be protected, to be exposed to the Internet. If you’ve suddenly found yourself in this position, consider providing your employees with these basic tools so they can work from home safely.
We live in a time where the risk level of our confidential information grows every day. The need to safeguard digital communications places an enormous burden on a business and requires constant diligence to mitigate these ever-evolving risks. During a Black-Swan event like the spread of COVID-19, where you are forced to make a critical decision like sending your staff home with only days notice, it is critical that you do not let your guard down. Using a secure encrypted email application is the first line of risk prevention for your business.
Email encryption is a must
You need an app that your entire team can use safely, easily, and affordably. You don’t have time for long training sessions or figuring out who has what ability at home. You need a product that is easy to install, easy to use, and highly flexible, including a compatible mobile app. If you’re going to send secure emails to customers, vendors, or others outside of your business, you’ll need an app that allows you to send encrypted email to recipients in order to purchase the app and receive secure email.
See Send_It_Secure from Protected Trust https://envoy.protectedtrust.com/ Your free trial will be extended to 30 days during this crisis with no further financial commitment required. Group rates are available if you decide to continue using them in the future.
team communications
Communicating with your team of employees in the easiest and most transparent way possible helps keep your team focused and motivated, even when working remotely. There are several products on the market that provide text messaging and group chats, video conferencing, scheduling and conducting team meetings online, and file sharing and collaboration. To keep things as simple as possible for employees getting used to working remotely, combining these capabilities into a single, easy-to-use app will eliminate a lot of headaches and get your team back to work quickly. The Microsoft Teams app is a good way to accomplish this. There are some minimal fees up front, but they’re small if you can keep your employees productive.
See https://www.protectedtrust.com/ They specialize in setting up virtual machines.
culture change
Employees like to work from home and see the possibility of doing it at any time as a benefit. No traffic, no gas, and work in your pajamas if you want. Then they finish their first day of remote work and soon add that their list may change. No quiet office, no escaping from the kids, no business lunches, loss of contact with your co-workers, and delays in getting your work done because you can’t just walk down the hall to ask the boss a question. Let’s face it, people have plenty of reasons to enjoy working from the office, too. Your employees may be in culture shock. Some can handle it and will see it as a benefit, and some can’t.
Working with remote employees is also a culture change for managers. Can you run a business without the ability to see your employees’ fingers running across the keyboard? Many managers are “old school” and have a bigger problem with culture change than their employees. Much of the change is in the mindset of the manager. https://paulemcmahon.wordpress.com/2020/03/15/6-tips-in-10-minutes-for-working-from-home-with-success/
I recommend a book called “Virtual Project Management” by Paul McMahon. It was written for software administrators but has wide application in any virtual environment. www.pemsystems.com
There is every reason to believe that the days of working in tall office towers are over. What 9/11 did not accomplish, the 2020 pandemic can accomplish. Of course, I recognize that there are jobs that cannot be done remotely… but many of them can. The overhead to run most offices – rent, electricity, cleaning, insurance – disappears when you close the doors and allow your employees to work from home. Reducing overhead costs is often a good trade-off for a perceived lack of control over your employees. Use the current situation to test remote work with your team of employees. You may be pleasantly surprised.
