Businesses across Australia and around the world have had to rapidly adjust to hybrid and remote work arrangements. While this has empowered teams with more flexibility, it has also brought challenges such as maintaining safety, productivity and collaboration wherever employees are working. So, what does your business need to safely implement a hybrid workplace? Here’s a checklist to get you started.
Teleconferencing Technology
These days, virtual meetings have become a core part of how we do business. However, for this to work properly, all parties need the appropriate software and hardware for high-quality audio and video. Thankfully, technology brands are keeping up with solutions designed for our modern challenges.
For example, HP’s new suite of scalable end-to-end conferencing solutions, HP Presence, provides intelligent meeting experiences for in-person and remote collaboration. HP Presence works with Microsoft Teams to deliver intuitive, friction-free interactions, catering to businesses of all sizes through ground-breaking voice, video, and sensor technology. You can learn more in our HP Presence blog: HP Presence Becomes the Holy Grail of Conference Meetings.
Email Security
The Australian Cyber Security Commission received over 67,500 cybercrime reports in the 2020/2021 financial year, a 13% increase from the previous financial year. Email scamming is one of the most popular mediums for cybercriminals and dispersed workforces have made this an even bigger threat. A successful email security breach can have devastating effects on business growth and reputation, making it critical to put the right security measures in place.
Educate your employees
A key part of email security is educating your employees so that they know what to look out for. Phishing is an email scam where hackers are disguised as a reputable website. If posed well, the victim will disclose sensitive information such as bank account details, email systems, passwords and other accesses to company’s systems. Much like phishing, spoofing is another method of hacking circulated through a malicious link in an email, installing malware on devices. As cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated, it is important for business to teach their employees about these types of threats in addition to putting protective email security measures in place.
Implement email filtering
Email filtering technology defends your business against spam, phishing and virus-laden email. It detects phishing attacks, trojans and malware, and spam – quarantining or discarding threats to security and productivity. Filtering rules are constantly updated keeping you protected against ever evolving threats.
Collaboration Software
Programs such as Slack, Teams and Google workspace are a great way to keep your teams connected and collaborating in real-time. This is becoming more and more of a necessity as businesses digitise their processes and fight to bridge the divide between office and remote workers.
Cloud Services Data Backup
With the increasing risk of cyber attacks and more dispersed workforces, ensuring your cloud services have backup measures in place is a core part of your security strategy. If a cloud service doesn’t have data backups in place, protection such as Area9’s Microsoft 365 Cloud Backup solution will fill the gap. Our Microsoft 365 Backup solution uses industry-leading Cloud Backup technology from Veeam® to deliver a high availability cloud-based backup service that meets growing data protection needs in Australia.
Webcams
Sometimes you don’t need the whole package, just a simple device or product upgrade. As workplaces globally grow towards a more digital future, no-one has time for poor sound and audio quality in meetings. We’ve noticed a demand for a mixture of current and recently released HD/4K products that address these issues while working with all popular video calling applications such as Teams, Zoom and Webex.
There are many webcams out there that have been specifically designed for hybrid working to close any obvious quality gaps between in-person and virtual meetings. Check out our top webcam picks in our blog: Lockdown Survival Tech: Great Webcams for Working from Home.
The Right Devices
Equipping your staff with powerful but lightweight laptops and workstations will make life a lot easier for everyone. It means staff can take their work on the go without needing a separate computer for the office and the home workspace. It’s important to consider the type of work your employees are doing to make sure their designated device can handle their workload.
Gather Feedback and Update Policies
While technology plays a key part in the success of your hybrid workplace, it’s also important to update your remote work policies and listen to employee feedback. Clear policies give your employees clarity and listening to feedback helps you to optimise your setup to improve productivity and wellbeing.
Do you want more advice about achieving a productive and collaborative hybrid workplace? Get in touch with our experts to find out what you could be doing to grow your business with a productive and satisfied team.