How Technology is enabling Work From Home?

The outbreak of Covid-19 has brought changes to lives across the globe. Personal as well as professional lives, both have come to a standstill. Economies are getting impacted and businesses are undergoing losses. However, technology should be perceived as a beacon of hope in this situation.

As social distancing is becoming a norm in all spheres of life, one of the critical changes that have been introduced to professional lives include remote work or work from home. The industrial revolution 4.0, also known as the technological revolution, has a huge role to play here. Had we not embarked on the journey of digital transformation; the businesses might have suffered much more than now.

As we were hit by this crisis, the first response was to ensure safety. However, it has been four months since we underwent the lockdown and the situation persists. The experts believe this is the new normal and we have to live with it till we restore to normal. From a business standpoint, the pandemic could be seen as another disruptor which is likely to make changes for the future of work.

One of the major changes that we foresee is- wider adoption of work from home or remote work model. The organizations are likely to turn their employees’ houses into their office places. Since it is going to become a cult, we must know more about it.

Facets of Work from Home Model

● Virtual Desktop Solutions: This is a must-have when we talk about work from home model. As we enter into the virtual world, virtual desktop solutions prove to be the biggest helping hand. The solutions run on a company-controlled system with all corporate data, apps, security, antivirus etc. and enables remote work for the employees. It helps the employees and employers securely visit their lines of business data, apps and get the work done at ease.

● Use of Company Registered Laptops: For many businesses, security plays a very crucial role in their day to day tasks. This means it is important for them to have access to their internal apps and data only through a laptop that is registered with the company. This can be found in a combination of BYOD and cloud security, which is facilitated by a service called Microsoft Intune. Features like multi-factor authentication and remote wipe of corporate apps & data help in creating an additional layer of security.

● Use of Collaborative Tools: There is no doubt that the presence of work from home can impact human relations. Hereby, it pertains to relationships between teams and employees. The proper ongoing of work from home required constant interaction between teams. This would not have been possible if there were no online tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc.  These tools allow employees and employers to connect over chats, audio calls, and video conferences using devices like laptops, mobile, iPad etc. These tools are not confined to a particular region or country and can be used on a global level, without any hindrance. It is because of these tools that the virtual meetings have become possible and hence, ease while working from home.

Drawbacks of Work From Home

We were on the tip of embracing digital transformation and not completely prepared to go digital as we were hit by the pandemic. Undoubtedly, the so-far led digital transformation has helped several businesses stay afloat. However, the challenges continue to exist who are still not well-equipped digitally which cannot be ignored:

● Maintaining Productivity: At the beginning of lockdown, when work from home was a new concept, ensuring productivity was considered as one of the major hurdles. Since team leads cannot keep a constant check on their teammates, it stirred a lot of pressure on them to ensure timely delivery of work and maintain productivity. However, organizations need to understand the criticality of time and become flexible. Since most of us are new to the concept of work from home, infrastructure could be an issue. As organizations, there has to be a mutual understanding and work hours flexibility and deliverable-based productivity tracking. The current era calls for business fluidity. After all, only a healthy mental state can ensure a smooth running of businesses at this crucial time.

● Data Security: It is even more substantial for those companies for whom their data is the centre of their heart. Work from home drives the employers to share their data and take it outside their office walls. This could act like the scope to misuse for some and no matter how much we would like to deny, the chances of data stealing and misusing are only going up day by day. While the organizations are embracing new-age technologies for better workflow, there is a higher need of stronger security provisions. The problem can partially be solved if businesses start providing company registered laptops on a larger scale.

The pandemic is difficult, but panicking has never been a viable option. We have been fighting with little things around us and together, we can fight the huge pandemic as well. Keep a regular check on yourself, your teammates and make each other believe in the power of a team. And as they say, “this too shall pass”.

By Puneet Bajaj, Partner, IFI Techsolutions