Thinking Of Working From Home Permanently
Having experimented with home working as a necessity as a result of Covid-19 and organisations are looking at changing how they and their staff will work going forward. For some of us it was something we were already used to - I work predominantly from home either in the UK or Spain.
Many large companies have already announced either a permanent switch to home working or allowing staff to choose where they work from. This will be especially true of companies with leases that end in the next 12 months should be evaluating the options before they commit to keeping the same larger space. A key element to successful home working is having the right communications in place and not relying on make do and amend options such as forwarding to mobiles, struggling with broadband that families are using to stream Netflix over and a bewildering choice of conferencing products.
If you are thinking of making this change here are some key questions you should be considering
1. Does my existing phone solution let me move my desk phone to home?
2. Do I want to have hot desking in the office so that when people come in they can make any phone theirs to use with their number?
3. Will my broadband at home support the phone as a number of domestic provider block voice calls – watch out for SIP ALG?
4. Should I look at a separate business broadband at home that is secure and is dedicated to work?
5. Do I need a physical phone at all or could I use an app on my mobile or laptop as my office phone?
6. Is my wifi router adequate – did you know wifi slows to the speed of the slowest device connected to it and things such as Christmas lights interfere with it?
7. Should I integrate conferencing with the phone system or keep it separate?
8. What type of conference calls will I have with my customers - it needs to be simple for them to use?
9. If people are working from home more do we need to reduce the amount of minutes and data on their mobiles as they can use wifi?
10. When does my existing phone contract end – don’t let it roll over whilst considering your options?
We can help you understand the options. If you would like a free discussion over a virtual coffee please get in touch.