Using Tech to Help Your Business During COVID-19
For most of us, we are transitioning the bulk of our work from the office to home. Here are a few tech suggestions that can help make your remote work set-up a more comfortable transition.
It’s a great idea to have the right hardware ready.
Now that you’re working from home you will find yourself on a considerable number of video conference calls. Here at OITC, we like to see each other when we collaborate, so having a great webcam and headset will make for a more efficient and quality experience. Of course, using your built-in webcam and primary headphones will work well enough, but if you want to enhance your practice, quickly invest in a quality webcam or headset. On top of this, if you’re working from a laptop, make sure your charger is working.
Get yourself extra storage space.
If you find yourself using large amounts of storage when in the office and you’ve transitioned to a laptop while working from home, make sure you have a solid USB or external hard drive or alternately save everything to the Cloud. ( A reminder: Cloud storage provides less control over data security compared to physical storage devices)
Make sure your wifi is working
There’s no denying that working from home will depend a lot on your Wi-Fi performance. If you’ve had the same router for a number of years, it might be time for an upgrade.
If you’re not going to invest in a new router, make time to go into the router’s management software and make sure it’s working with the most up to date firmware (some devices have a dedicated section in the administrative console that lets you apply a firmware update.)
Confirm which conferencing software your team will be using
Now that you’re spending most of your time video chatting, discuss with your team which tech software you all want to use. i.e. Zoom, Skype, and GoTo Meeting are all popular options.
Use technology to stay connected
Working from home can make some of us feel cut off and isolated. So make sure you are continually using your Instant messaging, Direct messaging and videoconferencing tools to check in with your coworkers and clients.
Create ONE central platform to keep staff updated on the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the pandemic unfolds globally at an accelerated pace, the current business and social landscape are changing on a daily if not hourly basis. To keep your team up-to-date on the pandemic and to reduce their overall worry and anxiety, we strongly believe its sensible idea to have ONE platform, whether that’s a Google Doc, Quip doc or Slack group, or private FB group, where the correct and current information on how the pandemic is affecting workplaces is shared. This also provides a safe space for staff to ask questions and get accurate answers.
The team here at OITC are always here for our community, so please feel free to reach out at any time, and if you have a bit more spare time on your hands, head over to our Youtube page or listen to our podcasts – we have over 12 hours of content ready and waiting!
