Modern businesses are more likely today than ever before to have a remote work policy. These can include a flexible day per week that allows team members to work from home up to even having some portion of their employees working remotely exclusively. While the frequency and circumstances of who works remotely and how often will vary widely from company to company, the consistent need is for all of them to have the right tools in place for their employees to excel at both the physical and the mobile office. At one time, the mobile office may not have consisted of much more than an employee using his or her home phone for the day. The modern mobile office, however, has a variety of tools that allow for a more complete, more private, and more effective way to work away from the main office.
A Good Mobile Office Replicates Without Compromise
Remote working policies can be limited for a variety of factors, but often they stem from a discomfort with having employees not in the office during regular office hours. Simply ensuring that a remote worker’s mobile office is a complete facsimile of the real thing is more than adequate to immediately dispel any concerns a company may have. To accomplish that, however, a business needs to ensure that the tools it uses to recreate the office experience don’t leave room for compromise. This includes providing access to the systems that an employee would typically rely on to get work done but while also not compromising his or her private information. Having employees use home phones may allow them to dial-in to conference calls, but it also requires inbound callers to have access to their home telephone number. A truly modern mobile office needs to address the connectivity needs of an employee while at the same time respecting that employee’s privacy, as well. To build a fully functional mobile office for you and your employees to use, it’s ideal to include the following essentials-
- VPN A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, is a way for employees to log into a company’s secure network when they are away from the office. This is generally the only way for satellite employees to get into shared files that are behind firewalls. A VPN allows for continuation of projects that would otherwise rely on a physical presence to contribute to.
- Collaborative Software I’m a big fan of Google Drive and the suite of shareable software that comes along with it. In addition to the huge amount of storage that is available to individual users, the software interface ensures that any employee who is even remotely familiar with Microsoft Office will be able to navigate Google Drive at the drop of a hat. There are other options out there that focus on project management, industry-specific needs, and file-sharing, but the point is choosing a collaborative, cloud-based that works for your team.
- Virtual Telephone Service Virtual telephone service can refer to a few different specific configurations, but for the sake of argument, the best bet is to shop for a VoIP provider for your business. Dash VoIP from VirtualPBX completely replicate an office number, including masking outbound calls as originating from the business number, from any wi-fi enabled or data connected device. Furthermore, the advanced routing and forwarding options of a hosted telephone service can be executed to landlines, as well. This means that an employee working from home can place, receive, and even transfer calls all from the comfort of his or her home the same way it would be done from their desk at work.
Modernize Your Own Mobile Office
More than likely, many of your employees already have access to or familiarity with the Google suite of products, and many other shared software platforms are easily found. A VPN for business will have a cost associated with it but, considering that it is a vital step in preserving the cyber security of your company, it should be an acceptable expense at that. For VoIP, much like a business VPN, the value of the service is so essential to the function of a business, that the best options will certainly not be free. Many companies prohibit sample cases of their platform prior to use, but VirtualPBX will gladly lead you through a personalized Free Demo so you can see everything our phone plans offer. For more information on the best tips for working remotely, building a strong company culture across digital channels, or just the latest telecom and technology news, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook, too.
