The number of people working from home is going to rise significantly during the COVID-19 outbreak. With many organisations unused to this way of working advice is needed.
Chamber member, Abbey Telecom, has provided the following information on your telecoms and IT:
Many businesses have fully embraced remote working because it works for them and supports how the business operates. For most organisations it is not something they need for their business outside of a mobile phone. With the uncertainties associated with Covid-19 more and more organisations are looking to implement remote or home working. The best advice is contact your Telecoms and IT provider who will happily run through your options many of which can be achieved simply and generally without significant costs.
Most telephone systems and hosted solutions installed over the last few years do allow remote working. Options include remote VoIP handset connected to the system, remote softphones connected via a PC or laptop and mobile Apps for Android and IOS devices. The facility may not be enabled currently on your system however through software licenses and in some cases hardware additions these changes can be made quickly and quite often remotely. These features can simply be used for voice calls however video, collaboration, presence and chat is also possible linking with services such as Office 365.
Many companies have already switched to cloud based services for email etc typically via the Microsoft Office 365 solution something which can be enabled to allow remote and mobile access if required. If this is not the case or current business policy doesn’t allow various access options can be configured e.g. VPN’s (Virtual Private Networks) enabling secure connectivity for remote and home workers.
The requirement for these solutions usually is a broadband connection something the majority of households have. For voice services high bandwidth is not required however more may be required for some IT services such as email, collaboration, file sharing etc.
If you have a telecoms or an IT services provider contact them and discuss your options.
