Smart working – or agile work – has been under discussion for several years now, with this phenomenon having never deeply rooted.
Recently, due to the crisis triggered by the coronavirus, many companies have been forced to adopt – massively and from scratch – remote working formulas, which represent only the most visible part of the far more complex concept of smart working.
The remote working mode offers benefits to both businesses and employees and can help companies facing moments of reduced mobility, just like the one we are experiencing now. It is not by chance that it is also considered as an excellent tool to reduce travel and, consequently, pollution.
To successfully start a smart working program you need to make sure that your employees are equipped with the appropriate tools to create the right conditions suitable for agile work. Hence, here are some useful tools for smart workers and companies.
Devices
Can employees use their own computer, tablet and/or smartphone to work?
It depends. It is in necessary that the device used by the employee supports the software required to work and that it is not compromised by computer viruses, which can also cause damage to the company. It is therefore recommended that they are equipped with a different device from the one they use for their private activities.
Management Systems
In order to continue to perform their duties easily, employees will need all the technology they usually have available in the office. Therefore they will need to have access to management software, CRM, HR platforms and all the cloud business applications that allow them to share important data and documents.
If you are not already using them, you can also consider project management programs such as Asana and Trello. Thanks to these cloud solutions, employees will be able to collaborate in real time on their projects, making remote working processes as fluid as those in person.
Communication tools
To preserve the quality of the work, colleagues will need to be able to communicate easily despite the distance. Again technology comes in handy with a large number of applications to manage not only chats and calls, but also video conferences, streaming and webinar.
There is no shortage of software to experiment with, including Microsoft Teams, Skype, Zoom, Slack, GoToMeeting, Wirecast and many others.
Virtual attendance systems
Those who work in smart working mode run the risk of seeing the separation between the time dedicated to work and that dedicated to private life vanish.
For this and other reasons – for example the calculation of overtime or the allocation of orders – one of the indispensable tools for remote work is an attendance detection software that supports virtual clocking in and out, via smartphone or computer.
In this way the time dedicated to work will continue to be tracked, respecting the recent European legislation on time control.
Cybersecurity
Cyber security is fundamental for every company and public body, whose employees work both in classic and in smart work mode.
As already mentioned, companies and employees must act according to some basic rules of cybersecurity:
- Secure and unique passwords for each account
- Antivirus and firewall active on each device
- Data Loss Prevention procedures established by managers and procedures for corporate data security
- Activation of a virtual private network. What is a VPN? It is a system capable of encrypting the communication network between us and the server, thus making us invisible to third parties.
Making the right tools for remote work available to employees is just a small – but significant – step in the adoption of an effective smart working program.
It is up to Human Resources and Management to go one step further and trigger a Copernican change in the company that allows you to reap all the benefits of this new way of working.
Written by Stefania Grosso, TechWarn
Copyright: ©Pixabay
