April 2020 - Wright Business Technologies

Remote technologies have been a staple of the information technology (IT) tech support industry for many decades now. Some think remote IT started not long after the advent of the telephone. However, just as rotary telephones have evolved into the sleek, smart, supercomputers we keep in our pockets today, remote IT support has similarly transformed into something every business should consider investing in.

Remote IT Tech Support

Most of the day-to-day functions of modern business already take place on networked computing devices, or in the digital cloud entirely. What that means is most day-to-day IT support issues are more likely to fall under the umbrella of process issues, software issues, security or network issues. All three of these can be easily, quickly, and seamlessly solved through remote IT support.

Advanced technologies now allow off-site IT tech support teams to solve IT problems with an IT specialist remotely. An IT support technician can control (with permission) any person's computer to quickly diagnose issues and implement ways to resolve just about any problem. As a result, remote IT support has become a staple IT strategy for many businesses.

Remote support is widely known for its convenience, effectiveness, and flexibility.

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Following are 9 essential benefits of remote IT tech support for you and your business:

9 Benefits of Remote IT Tech Support
for Your Business

1. Save money

IT support is a necessary investment to protect your business and confidential information from cyberthreats as well as manage and monitor the crucial IT infrastructure required for businesses to function.

Unfortunately, hiring in-house IT staff can be prohibitively costly. On-site IT departments require extensive on-site human resources, take up office space, and can weigh on a company's payroll.

Remote IT support eliminates the need to provide the usual trappings of an in-house IT department and is, as a result, much less expensive.

Today, much of what a traditional, on-site IT department does can take place remotely. Instead of hiring full-time IT staff members who are idle and waiting for problems to arise, a company could instead outsource all or part of their day-to-day IT needs to a managed IT service provider who can often solve issues remotely.

Not only is this less expensive than in-house support, but it could also offer a more convenient and faster response time. Fast fixes save you time, and ultimately, money.

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2. Access to professionals

Third-party remote IT service providers hire competent and skilled professionals so you don't have to. These teams of expert professionals help you and your business stay connected and supported.

As necessary, most IT support experts also perform on-site visits to correct hardware, firmware, or network issues that can't be solved remotely.

For companies that cannot afford to keep expert IT staff on the payroll, third-party remote support provides IT expertise at a much more affordable rate.

Wright Business Technologies - Managed IT Services

3. Access to new IT services and products

As your business grows and evolves to accommodate tech-savvy consumers, you will need access to the latest and greatest IT products and services to keep a competitive advantage.

For example, most enterprises want the newest productivity and security software at their disposal. Instead of performing laborious upgrades every year and dealing with version fragmentation and "dependency hell," companies can instead upgrade all their software packages and accompanying dependencies remotely across the board for all their employees, including remote workers, with the help of a remote IT support strategist. Not only does this keep your company and your systems safe and current, but it also ensures that your business is always on the cutting edge.

4. Security

Unfortunately, data breaches are all too common in today's interconnected world. Large, lucrative, well-known companies are not immune to hackers, and neither are small to mid-sized companies.

Many hackers prefer to target smaller businesses precisely because these companies often do not invest in high-quality cybersecurity.

Working with a remote IT support team ensures cybersecurity during not only business hours, but also professional protection from hackers, data thieves, and other cyber criminals while you sleep.

One of the primary benefits of a remote work setup is the ability to monitor network activity in realtime.

Rather than try to mitigate a security breach after the fact, remote IT support can actually stop a cyberattack in progress or prevent hacking attempts altogether. This allows companies to recover rapidly from any such effort to compromise their networks and hit the ground running.

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5. 24/7 Availability

Most companies and company employees stop working at 5 or 6 p.m, including your typical onsite IT department staff.

With a remote IT setup, help is available at all hours of the day to support your business, regardless of where you are or what time it might be.

For urgent and immediate IT assistance, there's no need to wait until the next business day for a solution. You can easily reach out to your remote IT support team with a phone call or instant message and receive a prompt response.

When it comes to dealing with potentially dangerous IT concerns, such as a cyberattack, time is of the essence. Remote IT monitoring and support is the only way to deal with realtime threats in realtime.

6. Realtime speed, realtime solutions

In the internet age, speed is king.

Unfortunately, that means each minute an IT issue persists can directly translate to lost sales, lost revenue, and lost customers.

In a world operating at a breakneck pace, the lag time associated with on-site IT support is simply no longer feasible. Of course, specific issues, such as issues pertaining to hardware or physical IT infrastructure, may still require on-site solutions. However, most of the business day-to-day operations can be rapidly solved remotely by a virtual IT professional.

7. Uninterrupted business focus

Remote Tech Support Allows for Business Focus

Sometimes even the most basic IT problems, such as a lack of internet connectivity, could cause your business to come to a halt.

With remote IT support, you can remain seated in your desk while an IT service professional immediately comes to your assistance and solves the issue in realtime. Not only can remote support reduce downtime, but 24/7 remote monitoring services can also help ensure that your business won't experience any unexpected downtime, to begin with.

8. Proactive maintenance

More important than accessing professional IT help when you immediately need it, is accessing IT help before you need it.

By the time you absolutely need IT support to come and repair some emergency technical issue, you've likely already sunk a good amount of time trying to investigate the problem yourself. All this lost time costs your company more money than it would have cost for IT to have been proactively performing routine maintenance on your business systems.

Remote IT support can continuously monitor your systems before technical issues arise and negatively affect your business.

9. Off-site backup

Always back up your company's data.

Whether this data is simple business metrics or precious intellectual property, it is important to consider how your enterprise's information will be stored and protected.

Backups offer a fixed point in time that your content can return to in case this information is lost, corrupted, or attacked by hackers.

On-site backups are useful but are subject to cybersecurity risks if everything is on the same networked system.

An off-site, or remote backup is an essential disaster-recovery method that keeps your data safe no matter what happens to your physical office. Because breaches are common, it's prudent and wise to keep an off-site backup of company systems and content.

The best part of remote, off-site backup is that it's out of sight and out of mind until your organization needs to access the information contained therein.

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FAST 100 HBJ - Wright Business Technologies

The whole world is experiencing an unprecedented shift towards remote working. Recent events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, are only accelerating this trend. Soon, many of us will be putting in a day’s work from the home office as opposed to an official, company-sponsored office space. Workers will be logging-in instead of punching-in. Instead of watercooler talk, we will be chatting about the latest trending news, sports, and work topics over internet chat channels. Instead of in-person meetings, we will be conducting business virtually and from many different locations.

This decentralized future is already happening all around us. Think about it, every time you check your work email while you are at home, you are working from home. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly a quarter of us are already doing some work remotely.

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How To Prepare Your Business for Remote Working

Prepare a digital office space
Prepare your managers with remote management training
Prepare your employees
Reiterate company culture
Trust the process

5 Steps to Prepare Your Business
for Remote Working

1. Prepare a digital office space

Many employers make the mistake of assuming their employees can simply transform their homes into efficient office and work environments. This is absolutely not the case. Work psychologists have long advocated for well-delineated social spaces for work, home, and entertainment.

People like having a place to call the “office.”

Remote working presents a challenge to that paradigm by physically interposing work on top of the home environment. That’s why it’s crucial to create a “digital office space” or virtual network of communication and collaboration spaces, such as chatrooms and work threads, in which work can take place without distractions. For example, instead of a physical meeting room, you may want to have a designated team channel for intra-team discussions and collaboration. And instead of an office, you’ll want to establish a procedure for private, one-on-one video conferences. The goal is to recreate a professional office space within a digital environment.

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2. Provide remote management training for managers

Managing a remote workforce is very different from managing workers in the office.

It is essential to train managers in the means and methods for managing teleworkers. Traditional managerial styles simply aren’t suited for this new reality. For example, if conflicts arise between employees, you can’t merely sit both parties in the same room and hash it out. Instead, managers will have to learn new hands-off ways of managing through digital means.

Managing remotely requires training in remote management.

3. Prepare your employees by setting expectations early and providing thorough training

Preparing your employees is just as important as preparing your managers.

Employees require training in remote workflows, such as how to access centrally stored files.

More importantly, you should set expectations about what remote working will entail. Many employers fear that employees will simply slack off when given the opportunity. However, loss of productivity can be easily avoided if you set expectations for deliverables from the very beginning.

Research shows that employees are much more productive working from home when goals and expectations are clearly defined. They’re much happier to boot. However, the key is to set expectations early and thoroughly train your staff on the best ways to accomplish work remotely.

4. Define company culture

Remember, even though your company may not have a physical office, it should still have a material culture.

One of the dangers of transitioning to a remote working paradigm is a loss or dilution of company culture.

A positive office culture is crucial for employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity. For tech companies, for example, the office culture is often one of the primary draws.

Just because your business has decided to move towards remote working, doesn’t mean that you have to give up your positive office culture. Instead encourage the following:

Encourage employees to engage with each other digitally.
Provide timely in-person meetups with the team
In those meetings recognize accomplishments, celebrate birthdays, anniversary, introduce new family members and team members.
I would even encourage you to splurge and buy lunch, announce a team contest, give rewards for jobs well done or goals met. Make it a memorable event. Avoid boring meetings.
Encourage employees to be involved in non-work realted chitchat on office channels -- provided it does not distract others or hamper culture and work.

Moving to remote working is an exercise in trust and responsibility. You have to trust your employees for the model to work. If you can’t trust your workers to deliver good work, chances are the problem isn't remote working but a leadership issue.

What To Promote In A Remote Working Culture

Expect the BEST.
Work hard in SILENCE.
Your only limit is YOU.
Be PROFESSIONAL.
Show GRATITUDE to others.
Do GREAT THINGS.
Show UP and EXECUTE THE PLAN.

5. Lead with TRUST

If you trust people to deliver, they often will. But you’ll still want to set up your team to achieve their goals and by setting tangible goals, milestones, and deliverables for each employee.

Trust but verify, is the name of the game. For remote working to be successful, employers and managers need to learn to trust their employees. Chances are, if you are hiring the right people, this should not be an issue.

It is important to have processes and systems in place that show the team is productive and that expectations are being met. There are lots of ways to do this, including productivity-tracking applications (i.e. Monday.com, Salesforce, etc.) and project management tools that help employees and employers alike keep projects on track and efficient.

It is also helpful to setup up recurring virtual online meetings to review project progress, or setbacks, and overall progression towards a final deliverable.

Remember, the greatest challenge in a remote working environment is communication. But with the right tools and technologies, this can be overcome.

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Working Remotely?

Advice For Companies Looking to Transition During the Coronavirus Crisis

Just like you, Wright Business Technologies is also concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are here to support you in any way we can. As you know, many businesses are or have already transitioned their team members to a remote working paradigm. Teleworking has become the new normal during this crisis. As a result, many of our valued customers have been asking us about how to transition their workforce to work-from-home while maintaining productivity, connectivity, and efficiency.

Download our Free PDF on Working Remotely in 2020

In response, we have put together this Q&A of common questions and answers on strategies, tips, and tools for transitioning to remote working environments.

5 Q&A Strategies for Transitioning to Remote Work

1. What are the benefits of remote working?

Benefits of Remote Work - Houston Managed IT Services Provider

The move to remote working has been a trend for a while now. Year over year, many companies have shifted part or all of their workforce to a teleworking paradigm and have realized enormous benefits. The recent COVID-19 crisis will only accelerate this trend.

Benefits of transitioning to remote working include:

Lower capital expenditure costs.
Operating an office full of people is expensive. When you cut out the costs for rent, furniture, and office equipment, your overhead will inevitably drop.
Lower physical IT infrastructure costs.
In most cases, remote workers typically pay for their own equipment.
Greater efficiency and productivity
With none of the distractions from a traditional office setting, remote working drives up efficiency. It allows employees to have more control of their time and adjust their personal and mental needs to optimize productivity.
Increased employee satisfaction
Remote working encourages work-life balance, reduces the stress often caused by sitting in traffic jams, and provides employees with a strong sense of empowerment and control over their work. All of these factors lead to happier employees.
Improved employee retention.
Working from home decreases the pressures that often cause employees to search for other jobs such as long commutes, physical conditions, or life events. The value becomes apparent when considering the time and costs of replacing the key players on your team.
Stronger competitive edge.
The option to telework can play a decisive role in attracting top talent in today’s competitive environment. A company offering flexible working arrangements can make the difference for a candidate who is selecting their next career move.

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2. What are some potential issues associated with remote work?

Transitioning to remote working is not without some potential challenges.

However, all of the potential issues below can be easily resolved if you establish a remote working strategy and transition plan beforehand. Due to the unexpected rise of COVID-19, many companies are now scrambling to transition to remote working with little or no plan.

Potential issues (along with simple solutions) that may arise from remote working include:

Maintaining good communication
Effective communication is difficult even in an office setting. It is even more difficult to communicate remotely without tones and body language, which are crucial cues for human understanding. These communication issues not only negatively impact workflow but can also take a toll on employee morale. To account for this potential pitfall, utilize voice and video calls over emails, establish regular meetings and encourage employees to be intentional with keeping up with their teammates as conversations no longer happen as organically.
Maintaining security
A remote workforce increases a company’s potential for leaks, breaches, and hacks. Remote employees can log on anywhere there is an internet connection – home, coffee shops, hotels, etc. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that the company’s sensitive and confidential information is secure no matter where they work or what device they use. Education and training are essential when it comes to information security and helping your employees understand the daily risks they may face while working remotely.
Tracking employee performance
It can be hard to monitor employee performance when your team is not physically in the office. Setting clear expectations becomes crucial. Employees need to know exactly what is expected of them at all times and should have set goals established. With this knowledge, employees are happier and better able to live up to the expectations you set. Project management tools, such as Basecamp and Monday can also help to keep your team on track and on target while they work from home.

3. How do I prepare my business for working remotely?

To prepare your business for working remotely, you’ll want to follow these five steps listed below:

Prepare a digital office space.
People like having a place to call the “office.” Instead of a physical meeting room, you may want to have a designated team channel for intra-team discussions and collaboration. You will also want to establish a procedure for private, one-on-one video conferences. The goal is to recreate a professional office space within a digital environment.
Prepare your managers.
Managing a remote workforce is very different from managing workers in the office. It is essential to train managers in the means and methods for managing teleworkers. Have a meeting with your managers to set remote working expectations for them.
Prepare your employees.
Like your managers, employees require training in remote workflows, such as how to access centrally stored files. More importantly, you should set expectations about what remote working will entail. Many employers fear that employees will simply slack off when given the opportunity. However, loss of productivity can be easily avoided if you set expectations for deliverables from the very beginning. Research shows that employees are much more productive working from home when goals and expectations are clearly defined.
Reiterate company culture.
Remember, even though your company may not have a physical office, it should still have a material culture. One of the dangers of transitioning to a remote working paradigm is a loss or dilution of company culture. For many businesses, a positive office culture is crucial for employee retention, satisfaction, and, ultimately, productivity. Reiterate company culture with regular “office-wide” meetings, emails, and virtual events.
Learn to trust.
Moving to remote work is an exercise in trust and responsibility. You have to trust your employees for the model to work. However, you’ll also want to verify and track your workers' performance. This can be accomplished with a variety of cloud-based tools.

4. What tools do I need to provide my employees to telework effectively?

Businesses looking to proactively shift some or all of their workers towards a remote working arrangement need to provide their employees with the right tools and the correct remote infrastructure to support their untethered work activities. You can’t just shut the office down and tell people to rough it on their own. In fact, poor organizational planning and a lack of change management strategy and forethought is a sure recipe for disaster.

The following are six tools you’ll need to telework:

Portable Computing Devices
Communication Applications
Secure Internet Connection
Central server storage or cloud-based storage
Secure Remote Access Workflow
Cloud Applications

5. How can my team handle remote work challenges such as client-facing functions --- such as customer service?

Building and maintaining relationships is the fundamental key to sales and customer success. While wining and dining a prospect is out of the question during this time of social distancing, you can still maintain your connections and even build new ones during this critical time without a physical office space. In fact, many customer services and client-facing functions can already be accomplished with work-from-home tools, such as a smartphone.

Call your clients yourself.
Take advantage of the variety of digital channels available to host client calls and engagements. A simple call just to let your clients know that your business is still working to solve their issues, despite the Coronavirus crisis, will go a long way.
Set-up a chat hotline.
The pandemic has accelerated the move to online and web-based commerce. To maintain connectivity with clients and customers, try setting up an AI chatbot or assigning one of your customer representatives to monitor the chat line. Chat windows are an excellent and non-intrusive way to stay highly responsive to customer needs when much of the population is quarantined at home.
Communicate through social media.
63 percent of consumers expect companies to offer customer support through social media channels. Over a third of all people actually preferred social media-based support and communications over other communication channels.
Use a consumer feedback aggregator.
Modern-day services, such as Podium and Intercom aggregate consumer feedback from multiple channels, such as websites, email, and social media, into a single consolidated dashboard, making it easier for customer representatives to solve customer issues and address customer complaints.
Use Zoom, GoToMeeting, or other video apps.
For decades, businesses have relied exclusively on telephone calls to engage clients and customers and address their needs. While effective, an audio-only experience is far from ideal. The fact is, a major component of human communication is conveyed visually through facial expressions and gestures. That’s where real-time live video communications are playing a crucial role in maintaining key client relationships. Have your employees host meetings with key constituents or customers through professional video conferencing applications such as Zoom or GoToMeeting. While we may live in an era of social distancing, technologies such as live video conferencing are bridging the physical gap with virtual means.

Coronavirus Disruption

The coronavirus disruption has proven that remote work is a valuable tool that makes companies stronger and more resilient during this time of crisis. A remote workforce can be just as effective as a traditional, in-house team. Although it requires preparation and some coordination, the overall benefits to your workers and business are undeniable, and Wright Business Technologies is here to support you during this transition.

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Remote IT Tech Support

Download our Free PDF on Working Remotely in 2020

9 Benefits of Remote IT Tech Support
for Your Business

1. Save money

Participate in our poll and see the results when you are finished.

Step 1 of 8

2. Access to professionals

3. Access to new IT services and products

4. Security

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5. 24/7 Availability

6. Realtime speed, realtime solutions

7. Uninterrupted business focus

8. Proactive maintenance

9. Off-site backup

Download our Free PDF on Working Remotely in 2020

How To Prepare Your Business for Remote Working

Participate in our poll and see the results when you are finished.

Step 1 of 8

5 Steps to Prepare Your Business
for Remote Working

1. Prepare a digital office space

2. Provide remote management training for managers

3. Prepare your employees by setting expectations early and providing thorough training

4. Define company culture

What To Promote In A Remote Working Culture

5. Lead with TRUST

Working Remotely?

Advice For Companies Looking to Transition During the Coronavirus Crisis

Download our Free PDF on Working Remotely in 2020

Participate in our poll and see the results when you are finished.

Step 1 of 8

5 Q&A Strategies for Transitioning to Remote Work

1. What are the benefits of remote working?

2. What are some potential issues associated with remote work?

3. How do I prepare my business for working remotely?

4. What tools do I need to provide my employees to telework effectively?

5. How can my team handle remote work challenges such as client-facing functions --- such as customer service?

Coronavirus Disruption

Remote IT Tech Support

Download our Free PDF on Working Remotely in 2020

9 Benefits of Remote IT Tech Support for Your Business

1. Save money

Participate in our poll and see the results when you are finished.

Step 1 of 8

2. Access to professionals

3. Access to new IT services and products

4. Security

MOST POPULAR RESOURCE!

5. 24/7 Availability

6. Realtime speed, realtime solutions

7. Uninterrupted business focus

8. Proactive maintenance

9. Off-site backup

Download our Free PDF on Working Remotely in 2020

How To Prepare Your Business for Remote Working

Participate in our poll and see the results when you are finished.

Step 1 of 8

5 Steps to Prepare Your Business for Remote Working

1. Prepare a digital office space

2. Provide remote management training for managers

3. Prepare your employees by setting expectations early and providing thorough training

4. Define company culture

What To Promote In A Remote Working Culture

5. Lead with TRUST

Working Remotely?

Advice For Companies Looking to Transition During the Coronavirus Crisis

Download our Free PDF on Working Remotely in 2020

Participate in our poll and see the results when you are finished.

Step 1 of 8

5 Q&A Strategies for Transitioning to Remote Work

1. What are the benefits of remote working?

2. What are some potential issues associated with remote work?

3. How do I prepare my business for working remotely?

4. What tools do I need to provide my employees to telework effectively?

5. How can my team handle remote work challenges such as client-facing functions --- such as customer service?

Coronavirus Disruption

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9 Benefits of Remote IT Tech Support
for Your Business

5 Steps to Prepare Your Business
for Remote Working