Having the ability to allow employees to work from anywhere\nis often seen as a \u2018nice to have\u2019 but many businesses have not yet embraced\nthis and have not put the necessary planning or investment in place. Working\noutside of the corporate environment raises valid concerns about privacy,\ncompliance, data sovereignty, etc \u2013 as well as being a cultural change for many\nbusinesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, when implemented correctly, having the ability to\nwork flexibly brings huge benefits to organisations and their employees. Some\nof these benefits include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Employee happiness and retention<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Employees are starting to expect that they will be able to work remotely \u2013 working from home is often seen as the norm, rather than a perk. Reduced commuting times help to attract and retain people. 73% of people in the UK consider flexible working to be the norm and 80% of people said that when faced with two similar jobs, they would turn down the position that didn\u2019t offer flexible working conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Business scalability<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Businesses can scale in size and expand into new geographic locations easily. By not having to provide a physical desk in a dedicated office for every employee, it is possible for a business to be more dynamic and scale as needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Business continuity and productivity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Environmental events and global health concerns can bring businesses to a standstill. If employees are unable to attend their business due to environmental factors \u2013 flooding in the UK is a recent example \u2013 or health factors \u2013 such as the spread of COVID-19 – businesses can continue to operate if workers are able to operate from home or another location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Considered and careful implementation of technology can\novercome the limitations of having an entirely office-based workforce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the key considerations for an IT leader are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The adoption of Cloud-based subscription (or \u201cas-a-Service\u201d)\nplatforms is helping to address many of these issues. It is now common for IT\nsystems to be located in a service provider\u2019s cloud rather than within a\ncorporate environment. This facilitates access from anywhere, with security and\ncompliance implemented centrally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The client applications themselves also support remote\nworking. One of N4Engage\u2019s most popular solutions is Cisco Webex Teams. This\napplication can be downloaded by users themselves \u2013 onto a computer or mobile\ndevice. By logging in using their corporate credentials they can then have\naccess to corporate telephony, video and can share chat and content with\ncolleagues. This is a simple and intuitive solution that allows users to work\nfrom anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Users no longer need to be in the same physical location to\nhave content-rich meetings. This can help reduce travel time, environmental\nimpact, and the current risks associated with many people congregating in a\nsingle location. People can join meetings from any device, any location, with\nvideo and screen sharing \u2013 all within a secure and compliant solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When collaboration tools are implemented correctly, they can remove the burden of relying on staff being located in a single location, whilst retaining the personal interactions and cooperative working that people rely on. Employee Mobility<\/a> is now an essential consideration for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n N4Engage are able to provide tools and solutions to assist businesses with their short term challenges and longer term strategy around mobility. The tools mentioned here can be provided on a fully functional trial basis. Interested? Get in touch with us today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Richard Buxton has worked within the VoIP and Unified Comms industry for over 20 years. Starting out in the industry, he was responsible for adding IP telephony functionality to traditional PBX systems \u2013 years before the technology had been widely adopted. He then moved into the service provider sector and helped maintain and grow a SIP trunking platform and launch a hosted telephony solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the recent years, he has built a team and developed the Collaboration portfolio for Node4<\/a>, our parent company. More recently, he has migrated the entire Collaboration portfolio and teams into our brand new business unit \u2013 N4Engage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWho is Richard?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n