Working from Home Learnings

Top Tech Learnings in Working From Home

We thought that we would share with you some of what we're learning from the different clients and prospective clients that are struggling with this extended work from home situation. We want you to know that you are not alone. Our team has been working tirelessly to not only transition companies to work from home (WFH) but also train on how to best function to be as efficient and customer centric as possible under these circumstances. Traditionally, for example, you had a main phone number at your office, clinic, etc., where you controlled the flow, messaging, and status. Now, in some cases the main number isn't being answered, or you have those numbers forwarded to a personal number that if voicemail picks up, well, it doesn't sound professional. Below are items that we are hearing the most questions about (in no particular order). If you have questions about these and how to maximize your WFH efficiencies, please don't hesitate to reach us at 720.650.4144 or teamlogicit.com.

• File sharing. Many companies still have onsite file shares that you VPN into your company's network to use if working from home. Others are moving to Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. If you are making this move during the crisis, please be careful. Understanding permissions, group permissions, easiest way to move files from place A to B is essential when using these powerful tools. We had one prospective client this week that when we evaluated their setup of OneDrive, had all company access turned on for a sensitive Finance folder.
• Voice/ video interaction. This one has been interesting to see how people manage their Teams, Zoom, etc meetings. In one instance, someone tried to share their screen and ended up showing an email about an employee termination. Once again, powerful tools, but please receive the proper training before using them with 3rd parties. One of the exercises that we facilitate (but you can do on your own) is internal rehearsals with team members. This applies to most of these WFH learnings as well.
• Personal devices. Many businesses have told us that they are having their employees work from home on their own PCs/ Macs. I'll be blunt here- this is scary for a myriad of reasons. There is a right way to do this but please do seek guidance to ensure the work is secure and the setup is not compromising intellectual property concerns or other potential security and privacy issues.
• Security. Whether personal laptop being used for company business or business laptop being used on a home network, there is a lot to this bullet. Suggest that you have your IT department or outsourced provider send you a written security policy that is validated by a 3rd party. Reason for this is hackers typically direct their penetration attempts to businesses, however with this crisis, they are now probing home networks as well. We all need to have a heightened security awareness. Hopefully your company has a thorough security policy that you can review while working from home.
• Speed. This one is close to the top of the list that we're receiving calls about. Unfortunately, Internet at home is different than at the office. When working, especially with audio/ video conferencing, if you're having quality issues, ensure that the kids, other family members are not streaming additional content that is using your Internet capacity. There are also other ways of prioritizing Internet traffic for certain devices and adjusting your video bandwidth, and other settings. Typically, you will be able to see, hear the other party(ies) fine but because of limited upstream bandwidth, your client or other viewer may not see or hear you properly.
• Phones. This one has surprised us. Simply forwarding phones is not the answer for business continuity (except for maybe 1-5 person offices). Surprising how many main numbers of businesses are not being answered. With newer phone systems, especially voice over IP technology, it should be business as normal. You can literally unplug the phone from the office and take it home and work just like you are at the office. These newer technologies include apps for your phone and laptop to essentially be connected to the company anywhere. For this one, you will need a firm like TeamLogic IT to recommend a now solution, then possibly a long-term solution later.

In addition to the above, we are receiving calls around Microsoft Teams, Office 365, G Suite, Zoom, and others. I would suggest you become as familiar as you can with these tools. We are conducting regular seminars about these topics and others to assist in this transition the best we can.

We will all get through this together and learn a lot of new things. Just as a side note, in the spirit of community, we are continuing to invest in people, our business, and the community. If you know of public organizations that could use our services, please let us know.

Additionally, if you or your company needs assistance with any of the above, we are here to help. I have never been so proud of our team, their dedication, and ability to not only setup the appropriate technology, but train and support our clients during this time.

Finally, from our family to yours, we wish you the very best during this time. While this is an adjustment for everyone, it's also quite the learning experience. Take care and please do let us know if we can assist in any way.

Jared Bowen - Owner TeamLogic IT | Partner Visco Ventures, llc