Over the past few years we have spent a lot of time helping clients “work from anywhere”.
Octagon first learnt how to work from anywhere because we had given up our office and had to develop policies and procedures to support this new remote working. In 2007 the tools were not as good as they are today but we worked through that and as cloud technology has advanced we have been early adopters, particularly when it enhances our security, accountability and governance.
The high security stance Octagon Technology adopted, added to our technical expertise, meant we made no critical errors as our team embraced and then enjoyed remote working.
Here are some of our top tips for working from home:
1. To work effectively as a team use tools that easily enable collaboration. Too many unconnected systems will make it difficult for your people. Look for integrated solutions.
2. You need to be able to share documents when working from anywhere – the cloud is the obvious solution – but whatever you use make sure it has:
Authentication – Authorisation – Accountability
These are the cornerstones of good governance for a responsible company.
3. Have written policies and procedures. This is not an exhaustive list but for instance:
- BYOD
- Home router set up
- Printing
- Lone worker policy with reporting
- Sharing of information
- VPN
- Café working
- Working time
- Use of company equipment
4. Equipment – yours or theirs? Working from anywhere is not just a cheap option for the company. For the best governance and accountability the company should provide the laptop or desktop. Smartphones and tablets are more of a challenge as it has become the norm for employees to use their personal devices for business. This is where your policies and procedures and the security functions of the tools you use become very important.
5. This is my personal tip. Make sure you have a power bank and lead with you always to charge your phone and tablet. The batteries can run down really fast when working (I have typed this article using Microsoft 365 on my iPhone and the power has dropped to less than 10%). I have just bought a new laptop and one of the options I got for it was a laptop power bank with a USB port – so I now have a second portable battery for the laptop that will also charge all my other devices.
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
Octagon Technology works with the wide range of technologies clients use for remote working – and we ensure things are secure. However if you ask our advice, we recommend Microsoft 365 as it ticks all the boxes – and many clients have agreed with us and changed.
Would you like more details on Microsoft 365 and how easy it is for your people to change to “work from anywhere” and how our expertise will make the system secure and compliant for your organisation – be that organisation a business or not-for-profit, or employing one person or many all over the country or world?
Photo © Clive Catton www.clivecatton.co.uk
