Today, many employees work from home. This number has increased exponentially due to health concerns relating to the spread of the coronavirus. Even after that health scare has passed, it is still likely that a large percentage of the workforce will telecommute.
However, many business owners may worry that their IT services may suffer as a result. With that in mind, below are a few strategies to use to ensure that your IT services run smoothly even while your employees are not in the office.
Run Your Network Through the Cloud
One excellent choice to deal with such a situation is to move your network to the cloud. In this scenario, your network would no longer be dependent on local hardware and software located in your own offices. Instead, that network infrastructure would be moved to a third-party cloud services provider. This means that things that go wrong on your side are unlikely to affect the availability of the network and related services.
Outsource IT Services
However, beyond that, you should also consider outsourcing your IT services entirely. The use of a managed IT service provider would remove the need to have IT professionals on staff. This will help to slash costs and will solve the problem of what to do when you want to move your workforce to a telecommuting business model. All your IT problems will be handled by this third-party provider.
Invest in Cyber Security
Some of the biggest IT issues companies face don’t originate from issues within their own company. Instead, they are the result of threats from the outside. These threats include things like hackers, digital spies, cyber criminals, malware, viruses, trojans and more. The only way to protect against these threats is to make a substantive and ongoing investment into cyber security software and services.
Train Employees on How to Telecommute Safely
You should also keep in mind that many security breaches occur due to the actions and mistakes of employees. This threat is increased several times over when employees work from home and access the company network through their own computers and devices. Overall, you need to invest in a stringent training program to show employees how to telecommute safely and not put the company’s network and data at risk.
Today, more employees than ever before are telecommuting. Do what you can to ensure this work done from home is done in a way that does not negatively affect your IT services. This often requires investing in different services and providing new training for your employees.