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Your Guide To Remote Working in 2021

Smash remote working in 2021 with a round-up of our top tips for SMEs and startups.

Written by Adam Bovan

December 2020

Streamline your communication

With so many tools, apps and platforms out there to contact your colleagues, it can be tricky to keep track of conversations, files and notifications. 

Set some clear guidelines for your team on what platform is to be used for what type of communication. 

For example, collaboration and file-sharing in Teams, company-wide announcements and important information via email and non-related work stuff in a dedicated Teams channel, or on Yammer. 

Communicate Better With Microsoft 365 – Groups, Teams and Yammer Explained

Get video calls right.

Whether you’re Zooming or using different software, you need to make sure things go as smoothly as possible to avoid frustration. 

Of course, some mishaps are unavoidable – there’ll always be one person who forgets to unmute – but preparation is key to making the most of virtual meetings. 

We’ve written some tips on how you can improve your video calls here.

Additionally, you should make sure every person in your team has a stable internet connection that can handle remote working and video calls.

Bandwidth and Video Calling Explained: Can Your Internet Handle Remote Working?

Boost your team culture.

Building team culture when you’re all working in separate spaces is tricky, but not impossible. 

Adapt your approach and think outside the box in ways you can help your team bond and work better together. 

How To Build Team Culture Remotely

Encourage collaboration.

A key part of a successful remote team is the ability to collaborate on projects while you’re not in the same office.

Luckily, this can be made possible when using the right project management and productivity tools. We recommend Microsoft Teams and Planner, but we’ve also used Asana, Slack and Trello in the past.

Communicate Better With Microsoft 365 – Groups, Teams and Yammer Explained

Security.

Of course, remote working isn’t all about productivity. You must make sure that your business stays protected and away from the hands of hackers.

There are so many ways in which you can strengthen your cybersecurity, but the one specifically relevant to remote working is investing in a VPN.

A VPN scrambles the data sent between your device and the websites you visit, kind of like a secure tunnel that makes it difficult for hackers to access your data and monitor your online activity.

By using a VPN, you can make sure your data stays secure and isn’t relying on the security (or perhaps lack of) of your staff’s personal WiFi.

How To Boost Your Cybersecurity in 2021


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