During the first half of 2020, workers everywhere have had to come to grips with the COVID-19 outbreak. Not only did the pandemic impact our personal lives, but it also caused severe disruption for virtually all businesses. It also forced many individuals to work from home. For some, remote working is second nature because they do it every day.  For others, transitioning to this new environment was challenging at best, and it remains that way for many. However, with current technologies, working remotely does not have to mean working differently.  Further, productivity need not suffer! Organizations of all sizes should learn from the challenges the pandemic presented and create better remote working arrangements for the future.

Traditional remote working arrangements involve using a browser-based tool to access a computer at the office from a distant location. Tools such as LogMeIn, TeamViewer, RealVNC, and others all provide adequate capabilities at modest price points. Remote workers simply access their office computer through their web browser. Then they can generally perform any action remotely that they would otherwise undertake on their computer.

Some Issues With Browser-Based Remote Access

While this arrangement is adequate is some cases, issues can arise. First, the “host” computer must be running 24/7. Otherwise, in the absence of “wake-on-LAN” technologies, the team member will not be able to connect to the host. Second, audio and visual performance sometimes is less than ideal, which creates a negative experience for the remote worker and could hamper productivity. Third, depending on the browser-based service used, the team member may not be able to work in a multi-monitor environment, further affecting productivity. Fourth, while browser-based tools support accessing a computer from a remote location, generally, they do not support other necessary elements of a successful remote work strategy including communication and collaboration. In sum, while these types of tools might be adequate for occasional remote work environments, they generally do not offer all that is necessary for working remotely over extended timeframes.

For many, a better option is to consider an end-to-end approach that creates a productive environment for remote working. Such an approach does not focus on piecemeal technologies. Instead, it takes into account all the needs of all team members – including traditional and remote workers. Then, management selects a unified technology platform that addresses these needs. In this environment, there is only one way of working. Therefore, when team members need to work away from traditional office environments, they use the same tools as when they work in the office. Of course, this means that working remotely does not translate to working differently.

Better Ways To Access Your Computer

Taking a holistic approach to accessing your computer means that you will always work from a remote computer. However, instead of using a browser-based method, you could use hosted virtual computers. Some of the leading providers in this market include AbacusNext, Ace Cloud Hosting, Cetrom, and Right Networks. In this environment, you access your computer and all your applications from a remote, virtual computer that you “lease” from your service provider for a monthly fee. This type of arrangement provides professional management of your device, data, security, and application updates. Moreover, it created a unified approach for accessing your computer, no matter the location from which you are working.

Also Consider In-House, Virtual Computers

Alternatively, you could deploy an “in-house” hosted computer option. In this scenario, you and your team would still access hosted computers. However, instead of them being hosted by a third-party, they would be hosted on your servers (or servers you lease in a data center) and managed by your team members (or external service providers with whom you contract.) In either case, these in-house, hosted computers would again provide a single approach to accessing your desktop.

Reduce Your Dependency On Desktop Applications

For many professionals, the need for a traditional computer is still present. However, for many others transitioning to Cloud-based services and suites could be all that is necessary to facilitate a productive remote work environment. For example, using a Cloud-based application suite such as Microsoft 365/Office 365, G Suite by Google, and Zoho One is a terrific option for staying on top of email and working with spreadsheets, presentations, and word processing documents – all from Cloud-based applications. Further, you can store these documents in secure, Cloud-based storage environments. Then you can access them from virtually any device with an Internet connection. Additionally, you will be able to collaborate with other users at the same time on the same document, further increasing productivity.
Other Cloud-based applications will also reduce your dependency on a traditional computer, and enable your remote work strategy. For example, Zoho One provides an alternative to Microsoft Office applications such as Excel and Word. It also provisions Cloud-based accounting, customer relationship management, marketing tools, and website analytics. In total, Zoho One offers over 40 integrated Cloud-based tools to create a complete solution for small to mid-sized businesses.

One of the biggest challenges a remote worker faces is staying in touch with key customers/clients and other team members. When in-person meetings are simply not practical, you can communicate with others effectively using one of many options. Among the better ones are Microsoft Teams and Zoom – both Cloud-based tools. Both facilitate multi-participant meetings, including screen sharing and video options for those who need them. Further, recognizing the reality that, for many, working remotely means working from home, both tools allow you to add a custom background to your video meetings, increasing your perceived professional appearance.

DON'T FORGET YOUR INTERNET ACCESS

Of course, all the approaches outlined above depend upon consistent, high-speed Internet access. If you do not have this type of access available, you should investigate your options for switching service providers. Further, if you do not have any viable options available, stay alert for the availability of 5G cellular connectivity. When that does become available, you may find connection speeds up to 20 times faster than fiber connections today!

The first half of 2020 will go down in history as one of the most disruptive in the history of the world, and no technology available today will change that fact. However, there are many lessons to be learned, and one of these is that working remotely does not necessarily equate to working differently. 

By strategically considering the options available today, you can create an environment in which you and your team always use the same technologies to get your jobs done, no matter the location from which you are working. Not only does this environment work well in times of emergency, it also works well for other situations such as auditors and consultants working at client locations, salespersons visiting customers, and tax professionals working from home during tax season. You simply need to carefully consider how a holistic approach to accessing your applications and data can improve your efficiency. Then decide the appropriate mix of technology to help you meet your objectives. Once you do, you will notice that your productivity need not suffer because you are not working in the office.

Bring your team together with Microsoft Teams, one of the best additions to the Microsoft stack in years. In this post, we will discuss how to use Microsoft’s Teams application to organize workflows, communications, and document sharing for your workgroup, department, or organization. No matter the size of your team, having all your team’s information in one place, with complete integration into your Office applications, can dramatically improve teamwork and performance.

Microsoft Teams is included with Office 365 Business and Enterprise subscriptions and as a limited free service. The inclusion with Office 365 means many organizations from small business to enterprise are ready to get started immediately. For those not using Office 365 you can sign up for a free account at https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/free .

The primary differences between the free and subscription versions are:

• Teams free is limited to 300 members per organization vs. 5,000.
• Teams free has 10GB of shared storage and 2GB/user vs 1TB/user for the paid version.
• The paid version of Teams offers scheduled meetings, meeting recording, additional administrative tools, usage reporting, and configurable user settings and policies.

Microsoft Teams makes a desktop app available for Windows, and mobile apps available for iOS and Android. The desktop app provides additional controls in meetings, including desktop sharing.

Teams provides a threaded and persistent chat conversation available to the team, a group or a private 1:1. To get someone’s attention, Teams allows the use of “@mention” to draw attention to a post and send alert emails to the individual or team.

For those times when a meeting is more productive than chat, Team Meetings allows for people inside and outside of the team to join an online meeting. Team Meetings supports audio, video, whiteboard, desktop app, and file sharing. Anyone with a web browser can join the meeting with a link, which can be provided via email or when scheduling a meeting.

Teams uses SharePoint Online as the backend for file sharing. This provides the security and controls over files required by your organization. Files are available from within the desktop, mobile, and web app. A persistent chat conversation relating to a file in Teams ensures the entire team is aware of what is happening with any file. Also, with the file stored in Teams, co-authoring is available using the desktop, mobile, or online apps for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

For those using other cloud storage services, Teams can integrate with them. These alternative cloud storage locations include Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and ShareFile. 

Teams integration with Exchange Online allows for automatic setting of your status with easy to see icons. This allows others on the team to see if you are available for a quick meeting or chat. To make sure you keep current of activity in Teams, the app provides a count indicator of unread updates. Activity can also be viewed by individual.

Apps are available to extend teams functionality of Teams. Examples of these apps include Planner, Adobe Creative Cloud, various bots, and Power BI to name but a few.

Keeping everyone on track and up to date is made easier by Teams. A couple of tips to keep in mind when starting out are:

1. Create Teams based on security requirements of the information.
   
2. Create Channels in teams to separate topics.
   
3. Individuals outside the organization that you add to a Team will clearly be indicated with “guest” after their name.
   

Teams is one of the most exciting tools Microsoft has added in years. Under the Teams umbrella, you can collaborate and communicate with other team members quickly and easily, allowing you to get more done in less time. Further, you can easily extend your team by inviting individuals from outside your organization into the environment. And, if you are an Office 365 subscriber, there’s a good chance that you already have access to this amazing tool. But even if you don’t have access to Office 365, you can still sign up for a free account and take advantage of many Teams features. If you’re looking to maximize both individual and workgroup productivity, be sure to check out Teams today.

In a series of messages, Microsoft announced major changes to OneNote, Teams, and Outlook this week. These changes potentially impact Office 365 subscribers who use these tools in various capacities.

OneNote 2016 No Longer Available for Some UsersFirst, Microsoft announced that OneNote 2016 will no longer be available as part of the download for some Office 365 subscribers. Those subscribers affected by this change are those enrolled in the Semi-Annual Channel as part of their Office 365 subscription. This change does not mean that these users will no longer have access to OneNote. Rather, consistent with previous  announcements, OneNote for Windows 10 is now the default OneNote experience and is included in Windows 10 at no charge. Importantly, subscribers who must utilize OneNote 2016 still have access to it. For more information on this change – including how to download OneNote 2016 – click here.

Outlook on the Web Gets a New Tasks ModuleSecond, Microsoft announced the addition of a new Tasks module to Office 365 subscribers who use Outlook on the web. Importantly, this new feature does not impact users when they are working in their desktop version of Outlook. Rather, if you are using Outlook on the web, you will see a redesigned Tasks function which is powered by Microsoft To-Do. Microsoft’s aim is to make it easier for Outlook users to manage tasks when they are away from their desktop computers. The Tasks feature appears beginning in the 2nd quarter of 2019. You can learn more about Tasks in Outlook on the web by clicking here.

Teams Now Accommodates Up To 5,000 MembersFinally, Microsoft’s Teams application is getting a major upgrade – an expansion allowing teams to consist of up to 5,000 team members. This doubles the previous limit of 2,500 members in a team and facilitates collaboration and communication across large teams in enterprise-class organizations. If you are using Teams, this feature is available to all users automatically. You can learn more about this upgrade by clicking here.