Technology Essentials for a Remote Workforce

Studies, surveys, and just plain paying attention to what’s happening in the workplace point to the fact that at least 50% of the workforce are going to (or already have) become remote workers in the next few years. New collaborative technologies have made it easy – and common – for people to work from home.

This has proved to be a blessing for those who are staying away from public places because of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak. While it is great that many businesses have the flexibility to allow their staff to work from home, without a cloud-based remote workforce technology solution in place, they are opening the door to new challenges such as security risks or downtime.

Remote working isn’t a set way of operating for most companies. As a result, most businesses have cobbled together the cloud tools and technologies they are currently using with a few that enable remote access to the on-premise network. This is failing more often than not, partly because they are using the wrong solutions, and partly because those solutions are not cloud-native or use legacy on-premise architecture.

Companies need to empower their employees with the tools needed to complete work, wherever they are. We’ve outlined four key considerations IT teams need to address when it comes to remote workforce technology.

Hardware Considerations

It may sound obvious, but the first thing that IT professionals should consider is the computers their staff have access to. If they have deployed desktops, people will not be able to access these from home. A great solution for this is a remote desktop solution, delivered via the cloud. This means that staff aren’t tied to their corporate desktop, and can securely log in to their “computer” from any device. For example, if they have deployed desktops, people will not be able to access these from home.

A cloud-based remote desktop solution helps eliminate many of the administrative tasks associated with managing desktop lifecycles. By providing on-demand access to cloud desktops that include a range of compute, memory, and storage resources, the remote desktop allows the company to manage what applications staff use, scale easily as and when new users need to be added, and ensure much higher levels of security.

Security

As threats grow in scale and scope, businesses of all sizes are increasingly focusing on security. There is a common perception that remote users create additional security risks, but that is only half true. While staff who are connecting to their local coffee shop’s WiFi hotspot are certainly providing cyber criminals with an easy way to access the corporate network, this is less of a concern if the business provides a VPN for remote workers.

In much the same way that a remote desktop ensures only approved applications and software are allowed on the device, a VPN ensures that staff can safely access company data, whether it is on-premise or in the cloud.

An additional benefit of a cloud-based remote desktop solution is that the data remains in the cloud – and is not stored on the local device. Should issues occur due to insecure WiFi or applications, the remote desktop improves the security of user data and reduces the company’s overall risk surface area. Cloud-based remote desktop solutions have the added benefit of protecting your organization’s data in the case of device theft or loss – your data remains available in the cloud, free from unauthorized access.

Bandwidth Issues

Users connecting through a VPN helps improve security, but they have to have decent connection speeds to be able to access their data. The greater the number of people trying to connect remotely, the more strain this places on the company network and its bandwidth.

Companies that have an on-premise solution need to make sure their bandwidth scales according to their needs. This usually entails having to manage services through a provider, and paying the costs associated with this. However, if your solution is in the cloud, you benefit from limitless ability to scale to meet employee demand.

Physical IT Team Availability

If your IT team is unavailable – who is monitoring and maintaining your infrastructure? Even if they were available around the clock, do you have access to all the specialized skills the modern enterprise needs?

With your solutions in the cloud, you have access to a much larger workforce that can continue to deliver services. A major public cloud provider, such as AWS, also helps ensure that security, risk and governance are no longer challenging, all while simplifying your environment. When you move into the cloud, the physical requirement to manage your data centre becomes a thing of the past.

We Can Help With Your Remote Workforce Technology

If you’re preparing your employees for remote working, cloud-based solutions are the way forward. FuseForward can help. We specialize in securely moving and operating technology solutions in the cloud, which includes the delivery of remote workforce technology solutions.

By working with us to enable your remote workforce technology, you can minimize the business disruption from the coronavirus, while also freeing your IT team to focus on what matters—your business.

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