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Working from home is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity for businesses to survive amidst the COVID-19 times. Many organizations by now have designed a remote work strategy. However, some are still learning through trial and error. Experts suggest that by choosing the right tech stack, you can turn the odds in your favor and make your remote team more productive. What makes an ideal tech toolkit for a remote workforce, you ask?
Here is a list of all the best tools:
1: Beef Up Your Internet Speed
To stay productive, continue doing your job, the first and foremost thing required is a fast and reliable Internet connection. I am a huge admirer of the Cox Internet Ultimate plan but pick any plan that you like. It must be capable of meeting your bandwidth needs. For a writer, the Internet might only be required to do research but for a telesales person who uses a virtual VOIP, a stable connection is required at all times since they have to make calls.
2: Use Communication and Collaboration Tools
Communication is the key to success and in a remote environment, a lot of times, messages can be interrupted wrongly. To prevent that from happening, apart from exchanging emails, use IMs and even video conferencing tools to lighten up the mood is recommended.
Here is a list of tools best for smooth communication and collaboration:
- Slack: It’s perfect for sending files through the drag and drop operation, IMs, creating a separate channel for each department, pining documents, and even bookmarking messages.
- Zoom: Zoom is a wonderful video conferencing tool that lets you share screen, content, and record meetings.
- Skype for Businesses: It’s perfect for sending instant messages, sharing files, audio, and video calls.
- Microsoft Teams: Teams also let you send messages, create groups, share files, and organize video and audio calls.
3: Make File Sharing Easy With Cloud Storage
For an uninterrupted remote collaboration, cloud storage is absolutely necessary. This way, teams can access and share files regardless of their location. Google Drive and Dropbox are two of the most popular cloud storage apps. Both are easy to use and both have their free versions available. If your storage needs are extensive, you can always switch to the premium versions.
4: Keep Track of All Projects
Creating task lists is a great way to capture information about a project but what about things such as knowing the progress of the task, staying on top of deadlines, and managing the workflow? Here, a project management software comes to the rescue.
These tools let you manage workflow, track deadlines, and create everything in order and make sure everyone’s on the same page. Some of the best project management apps include Jira, Airtable, Trello, and Asana. Choose the one that works best for you based on your team’s needs and type of project.
5: Be Extra Cautious About Security
Since employees are out of the secured intranet or network of the corporate environment, security likes in each employee’s hand. By using security tools, security can be maximized.
File and Disk Encryption
Encryption tools scramble data to ensure that even if it lands in the hands of a thief, they won’t be able to read anything without an encryption key. You can even encrypt the hard drive by using tools such as BitLocker or FileVault. An encrypted disk keeps all the sensitive information on your PC secure.
Online Backup
Telling your workforce to make their password strong is not enough. But to make it right, online backup tools are mandatory. The best ones include Backblaze. It lets you take unlimited backup.
Password Manager
The importance of choosing a strong password and updating it regularly cannot be stressed enough. To make sure your remote team isn’t taking their passwords lightly, make it mandatory for everyone to use a password manager. LastPass is among the best ones. It keeps all your passwords in one place, helps generate strong passwords, and facilitates password sharing.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
2FA adds an additional layer of security to an account. It keeps an unauthorized user from accessing your account. Turning on two-factor authentication generates a random code and sends it to your phone number in the form of an SMS every time you log into your account.
VPN
The use of a VPN is recommended whenever you are using an insecure network such as a public Wi-Fi. The VPN creates an encrypted tunnel for sending and receiving data. It also masks your location and spoofs your online activities so that no unauthorized user can interfere.
Conclusion
Apart from using these tools, make sure remote support is available for your workforce for hardware and software failures as well as technical issues. If possible, have a dedicated IT support line that performs the same function Cox customer care phone number performs i.e. to offer remote assistance.
