The new reality of remote working
The last 12 months have redefined how most businesses operate. For many organisations, remote working solutions went from ‘nice-to-have’ to ‘adapt-or-perish.’ But even as the world begins to return to some kind of normality, the benefits of having a more remote workforce remain very real. As a result, the vast majority of employers are considering a hybrid of working from home and the office.
And it’s no wonder. Because with a properly optimised remote working model, employers can:
- Increase productivity by up to 40%;
- Reduce absenteeism by 40%;
- Decrease employee turnover by up to 15%;
- Cut costs by more than 20% on real estate and resources.
Of course, Zoom fatigue is still very much a thing. And no one is suggesting that businesses need to switch to a completely remote workforce. But the reason these numbers are so strong is that many employees say the option of working from home helps them:
- Achieve a better work-life balance;
- Reduce stress thanks to removing the commute;
- Save money on petrol and parking;
- Work more comfortably;
- Improve productivity;
- And find a happier, more healthy work-life balance.
So how can you help your employees (and your business) thrive in a more normalised remote working future?
Protect your business with a hosted desktop
As an employer, you need to accept the fact that remote employees will connect to your business via a much less secure means. Whether it’s via an unsecured Wi-Fi network or a personal laptop, the risk of a cyberattack can significantly increase. So allowing direct remote access to your server is a big no-no.
A cloud-based hosted desktop service such as Citrix offers a secure virtual environment that your company has full control over. Employees can log in from any device on any network, but all activity is hosted, monitored and limited to the cloud. No data can be viewed or transferred to the physical device, and access comes with powerful encryption and a secure login feature.
These are essential for things like GDPR compliance. So you can reassure both your customers and the Information Commissioner’s Office that your sensitive data is secure.
Improve your resilience and disaster recovery
In addition to improving your resilience to cyberattack, a cloud-hosted desktop is important for maintaining business continuity. It means everything is hosted away from your physical location. So if your office goes offline for any reason, like a power outage or flood, your employees can switch to remote working.
And if a security incident does happen – you have the ability to bounce back quickly. Few SMEs have the kind of failover and redundancy capabilities offered by cloud-hosted services. These terms refer to the amount of equipment that backs up the smooth running of your service. Simply put: if something fails or is subject to a cyberattack, you can get back online with minimal time and effort.
Remote working solutions to cut costs and grow flexibility
When delivered as a managed service, hosted desktops like Citrix can significantly improve your experience as a remote employer. Apart from the obvious cost savings in terms of real estate, heating and consumables, it can help in other ways.
By removing the need for a physical office, you have a wider talent pool to recruit from. This is useful if you’re based in London. There, hiring someone with the same skills could cost around 40% more than in the rest of the country.
But it’s also possible to integrate features like VoIP and call recording into your Citrix environment, so employees can still use their office phones. As part of a managed service, you can get access to a free firewall, antivirus and monitoring software. And it can ensure your employees’ devices are more secure by forcing Windows updates.
Learn more about how you can make the most of cloud services to support, enhance or protect your IT infrastructure. Contact us for a free trial or demonstration.
