Remote work started the take place in our lives more due to the spread of  an epidemic as the coronavirus (Covid-19) . The mobility of doing business is changing at an extraordinary rate, which pushes global companies to rethink how they will do business. For many of business sectors, this includes turning to remote work. Remote work is a follow-up, that will keep things on track regardless of what is going on in the world. It is a working strategy for these days. For better understanding of the benefits of remote work you can read this article.

Even if your company has abandoned a work model which begins at 8 in the morning and ends at 17 in the afternoon; it may not be ready to go to work remotely. While the coronavirus climbs around the world, most companies face this challenge.

I present a general outline of the work that will help you adopt working remotely as quickly as possible, from the follow-up, strategic insight of the work to the day-to-day tips.

• What are the ways of maintaining communication and a sense of connection?
• How do you ensure the continuing progress of the work?
• How do you support employees who feel isolated and excluded?
• Which technologies should be choosen to help collaborate and innovate rather than break it?

 

5 Questions Your Remote Workflow Must Consider

1. Your Remote Work Plan Covers Whom?

Some types of work are more suitable for virtual teams than others. When creating a follow-up, consider the exceptions and guidelines presented in such cases. For example,

-Adjusting the team or corporate priorities for a quarter of a year,
-Prepare protocols for those who may need access to the office in case of activity cessation,
-You may need to purchase new tools to keep projects on track.

2. How Should the Managers Determine Their Goals and Expectations on Remote Work?

Working remotely can mean a change in your performance measurements. When you’re in an office, it’s easy to relate the results with the time spent at work. However, when teams are virtual, what makes them valuable is performance rather than overtime.

A result-oriented work environment focuses on what / where / when someone does not. While this situation reinforces the employee to do the job according to his own conditions, he also encourages awareness of responsibility. When he fails to deliver the job, this puts a shadow on the value they add to the organization.

 

To set goals and track its outcomes you can take the advantages of technology and use a software. It is hard to  understand which parts of your goals and expectations are completed by calling or sending e-mails to every member of the team. To avoid this we, Prosoftly, developed some solutions for remote work management. Our services provide you to manage and track the workflow, tasks, and even customer realtions without a call or sending an e-mail.

• To automate the works that are done repeatedly here is the our  Work Automation Module.

• In order to track tasks that are given to team members, we have Task Management Module.

3. How Will Data Be Protected?

Employees need access to information in order to get things done and streamline work. But how do you protect the data of the institution when you have a tight schedule to implement a solution?

First; remember that not all data is equivalent, prioritize whatever is required.
Then grade the information according to the level of security. Usually it falls into one of the following five degrees: Sensitive, confidential, private, institutional-registered, publicly available.
After detailed mapping of all your data requirements, existing systems and vital data, consider security measures that can be implemented quickly – such as a virtual private network (VPN) – or that can be integrated in the long term.

4. Do Employees Have the Tools and Space to Work Remotely?

If you look at the application, your employees may not have enough equipment to work effectively from home. Here are a few questions to consider:

-Do employees who need computers have computers?
There are multiple procedures for preparing employees, but for quicker solutions:

Implement a protocol to cover the use of personal devices for work, especially to establish safety and security expectations.
Here equip teams with laptops or portable devices and make loanable equipment available.

-Do employees have a place to work?
Employees may not be able to reach an ideal working environment outside the office, especially if they often attend meetings or on the phone. Encourage managers to find creative solutions for their teams, such as flexible work plans, alternative work environment or priorities set for this quarter.

5. How will Virtual Teams be in Contact?

Effective collaboration is based on good communication for a virtual team spread across various locations. For an urgent solution:

-Describe how teams stay in touch and set their expectations:

This sudden shift to asynchronous communication can be incompatible for anyone accustomed to face-to-face interaction.

-How will they receive information when I need it?

Set expectations to keep answers timely and predictable.
Create opportunities to connect: Find ways for your organization to stay in touch, share your experiences and celebrate even the smallest achievements. For example, Upwork hosts video conferences for all important announcements and routine updates. These can then be saved and shared for anyone who cannot attend simultaneously.

-Pay attention to team communication and stay connected:

Even in the best case, good communication means validating and adjusting messages according to the need to avoid misunderstandings. In a dynamic situation, it becomes much more important for managers to answer questions, correct rumors and listen.
Choose the most reliable and easily accessible tools with a minimum learning curve. For short term WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook, Zoom and Google Hangouts are frequently used. For a long term, it may be a better option to use a full-fledged platform like Slack or a G Suite.

Encourage teams not to delay work until they “return to the office”. Timelines are unpredictable, whatever it is, it is essential to adapt to new conditions and achieve goals.

     In addition to all of the above, while working remotely you must keep in touch with your customers.

Some sectors and departments face challenge to meet with their customers and to provide required data. These are not the only difficulty that business professionals should overcome. Some departments like sales or customer relations must give a report of what is spoken with the customer or what actions must be taken to solve a customers problem.

There are several methods for giving a report to your managers but as I said earlier, we are in the age of technology and it will save time to take advantage of technology’s blessings. Using a cloud based software solution like CRM is the easiest way to keep the record of customer realtions such as; meetings, call deatils and joint works.

By using our CRM solution, you can easily record the customer relations, create an interaction or add comments on created interactions.

 

Every life is precious. Keep calm and work from home!