With the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) spreading rapidly, companies need to plan for the possibility of wanting or needing their employees to work from home.
The need for seamless remote working – VoIP telecoms
The Telegraph are saying that Working from home could be the new norm. The government and all other media channels are saying the same. Businesses MUST prepare for it. At Hive Communications, we can help with quick solutions to meet this potential requirement. With good planning, we can assist with the following
- Soft clients for PCs and on mobile phones. We can give employees a soft client to be put on their laptop/PC or on their mobile phone. This will allow them to make and receive phone calls as if they were in the office, seamlessly. It avoids people having to give out their personal mobile number or hime number.
- Call recording. If call recording is set up on the telecoms, then all these calls will be recorded as well – may be critical for FCA regulated organisations who need call recording. We offer MiFID II call recording to meet the most stringent requirements
- Headsets. We have a variety of headsets to meet any needs. Wired, wireless and bluetooth options can be supplied.
- Short-term solutions. Even where companies are not already clients of Hive Communications, we are able to install short-term solutions for you. Existing numbers can be forwarded to temporary ones that we would provide. We can still set up users to show the main office number.
- Inclusive calls. Our solutions will include UK landline and UK mobile calls with each licence so that costs are known and there will be no surprises.
- Inclusive support. After we have set up the system for you, all support is included.
- Advanced Call Statistics. Company administrators and individual users will have advanced call statistics available to them to monitor performance even when working away from the office.
IT Support for companies who may need or want to have remote workers
If employees need to self-isolate with coronavirus, they may often be perfectly able to work. Companies will want them to have access to all systems as efficiently as if they were working in the office. Hive Communications can set up many systems to meet whatever the needs are. This includes, but is not limited to, some of the most common areas such as:
- VPN setup. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) allow access to the office network to maintain security of all systems. We can set these up at both office and user end and test/train people on their use.
- Remote IT Support. It will be common that individuals will want IT Support by telephone or remote support to address nuances and differences while they are working remotely. We can do ad-hoc support or retainer support according to the individual needs
- Networking for remote workers. The move to having people working remotely may require different routers/firewalls to maintain security and allow VPNs. We can supply and set up all these.
- Cloud data access. If you do not have data stored in the cloud, this is the time to consider it. Cloud data storage, especially in Office 365 using OneDrive and SharePoint means that companies and their users can all continue accessing the same documents. In most cases, they can also amend documents simultaneously, preventing any danger of losing work with different people working on them.
- Teams Collaboration. With Microsoft’s Teams, chat and ccess to SharePoint documents can be made quick, easy and seamless.
What should companies do right now?
In short, plan early. Talk to Hive Communications at the earliest opportunity before you have the requirement for the home workers.
- Call us on 01722 777999.
- Use our online chat on the website in office hours.
- Email us at support@hivecommunications.co.uk