The world today is no stranger to remote work, therefore the newest technological advancements are working on making this process as easy as possible.
But never before have we seen remote work to such a high degree. This means that businesses that haven’t even considered migrating to virtual platforms yet need to face this challenge.
Similarly, people who aren’t technologically gifted, or don’t even care about the virtual world have no choice but to learn and adapt. This makes today’s situation even harder.
Thankfully, new innovations have created online platforms that make the virtual office feel familiar, so even the most technologically challenged people can quickly learn the ins and outs of the new office.
As an employer, it is your job to find the right software, and create a new business plan that incorporates this new lifestyle. Businesses everywhere are turning belly up because of disorganization in these structures.
This shows that being confident in your decision and seeing through the tasks is the most crucial step when migrating to online platforms and dealing with upcoming challenges. Of which the most important challenge is the well-being of your employees, which translates to the reinvention of administration, communication, and organization.
The reason why the well-being of your workforce would be the main priority is that these changes can result in the loss of motivation and productivity and even depression. And if you don’t keep an eye on these symptoms, not only does your business suffer, but so do your employees.
It is very important to create an online platform that is easy to learn, and user-friendly. It doesn’t have to be state-of-the-art, as long as it gets the job done, and people enjoy working with it.
Reinforcing trust in your decisions, and introducing servers that are easy to learn and use could be the answer to how to get employees motivated.
But what exactly changes in the process of administration when you migrate to online platforms as a company?
Administration
A big part of the administration work in a company is the onboarding, evaluation and monitoring of employees. Out of these two, the latter is largely affected by this change, as if something is wrong or out of place, you won’t realize it instantly. As well as, successful remote onboarding requires time, effort, and patience.
This is why constant and clear communication should be encouraged in everyone at the company. Some even send out weekly or monthly surveys and hold meetings where they only talk about workplace politics and the well-being of each other.
Employees must be encouraged to turn to someone when anything is wrong because, in a situation where people are working from home, even the slightest change in their personal lives can affect their work directly.
For example, when someone goes into the office in the morning, they learn to leave their personal lives at home. They sit in their office, do their work, and deal with personal issues when they arrive back home.
But when the home is the office, and the school, and everything at once, personal matters are bound to weasel their way into office life. This is why it’s important to know when someone is having personal issues, because then you’ll be able to prepare for the loss of productivity, and you’ll be able to help them.
Communication
Every company needs a space for communication that can be abstracted from everyone’s personal lives and is great for productive professional communication. This means that you need a space where you can chat, call each other, or start a video conference easily, and also be able to share large documents.
The most widely used app for communication today is Slack. This app allows people to work in groups, talk individually, create projects, and more.
It also allows everyone to show through their status when they’re away from the phone, making it easier to disassociate yourself from work when you’re on a break, or it’s after hours.
Organization
Perhaps the most important part of remote work is accessing the database you worked on within the office. A lot of firms still work with paper and organize everything on shelves. Most people have gotten used to organizing with their hands and knowing each drawer in the office by name.
People who have gotten used to their system over years can find it hard to adapt to something completely new. And companies who are still using papers and folders can find it hard to move all of this data onto virtual software.
At the end of the day, the most important thing is to create a platform where everyone can access the information they need in order to get their job done. Valuable hours can be thrown out the window when trying to access an inaccessible file or trying to find something in a sea of folders.
How to Create the Foundation for Efficient File Management (Demonstrated Through Zoho Workplace)
Most companies have started using cloud-based sharing as their number one way of keeping files in order and allowing access to employees. These platforms are a godsend for remote workers, as they are accessible by any smartphone, computer, or tablet from anywhere.
However, when an entire company starts working remotely, the ability to collaborate, share and communicate becomes more complicated and more crucial. It’s very important to find software that can do everything you need, and that is compatible with any type of device.
This is important because you don’t want to have to register to (or even pay for) multiple apps and software, and have your employees get used to each and every one of them. This becomes very complicated, and when issues occur, it takes much longer to resolve.
Furthermore, you need a platform that is compatible with everyone. For example, if you use Google’s cloud-based server, everyone, including the entire company needs to have a Google account to access anything.
Additionally, documents saved and shared on Excel, Word, or Powerpoint must be converted to Numbers, Pages and Keynote is being sent to an Apple device using iWork.
You need to ensure that the entire company uses one server in order to minimize difficulties and misunderstandings in the future. This also minimizes technical difficulties, but if any occur, it’s easier to fix when you’re all working on one server.
A server called Zoho Workplace has been made to resolve all of these issues. And while there are other great alternatives, this one is most beloved today. It consists of three elements: Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet, and Zoho Show.
In theory, it’s a lot like Google Drive, but it’s much more versatile. Sharing is possible to Google Drive, iCloud, DropBox, and even WordPress. Regarding use, it’s very similar to Microsoft applications, but it allows collaboration on pieces just like Google.
Presentations through this server are a no-brainer even remotely, as it allows users to publish and broadcast presentations in real-time, and can be made accessible to anyone.
Lastly, you can create amazing spreadsheets, as Zoho Sheet can retrieve data from basically anything, from the mail, to other apps. Also, it can automatically create pie charts and other graphics from any data.
Zoho Workplace demonstrates everything that is needed for amazing collaboration remotely. Easy use, transparency, shareability, collaboration, and broadcasting abilities all in one server minimizing risks. This ensures that you not only eliminate long-term issues but also reduce the risks of getting hacked.
People are drawn to servers such as this, and it’s shown that companies who have a solid plan for this migration process show almost no drop in productivity, while others who experiment, use more than 2 servers, or just can’t find the right path lose the momentum that is hard to retrieve.
Keeping these issues, factors, and tips in mind, it’s easy to create the foundation for your remote servers. All you need to do now is create the workspace, and help your employees master it.
