Welp MagazineSince the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the world has changed since many businesses closed, borders shuttered, and millions of students were sent home. It forced almost all businesses and companies to incorporate a remote workforce to keep their operations going. As a result, many people have adapted to the new norm of working remotely.
Remote working has numerous advantages like decreased absenteeism, flexibility, higher productivity, increased work-life balance, cost-effectiveness, and reduced time wastage. Despite all the pros, remote work has some drawbacks, including social isolation, miscommunication, increased distractions, cybersecurity issues, and unreliable internet connections. However, the most notable stress remote workers encounter has to do with the IT department. Ideally, the pandemic forced companies to transition to remote work without proper IT infrastructure. For this reason, company IT managers should work tirelessly to provide IT support to remote workers. Below are some practices to help provide technical support to remote workers. Read on to learn.
1. Offer 24/7 Technical Support
Remote workers have different working schedules from what they had working in the office. They don’t have time restrictions and can work at any time of the day. For this reason, an IT technician should always be available to help remote workers whenever they experience an IT issue, such as a system crash. Remote workers won’t work efficiently without a technician to handle IT issues, thus reducing their productivity. Therefore, to be safe, they should have an IT support team that they can consult at any time.
Establishing a 24/7 technical support team is highly beneficial for companies with distributed remote workers. The team will help provide technical support to remote workers working in different time zones. Without 24/7 support, your workers must wait for help in the standard time zone of the company technician. Offering 24/7 technical support isn’t a walk in the park; that’s why many companies opt to hire managed IT services providers, like Spirit. Therefore, if you’re also overwhelmed in providing technical support to your remote team, you can check out Spirit’s Best Page or other similar sources to get reliable IT support services.
2. Establish Proper Communication Channels
When your business has a remote team, it’s essential to emphasize proper communication between the remote workers and the center agents. Managers should provide uninterrupted communication lines and dictate the frequency of contact with remote workers. They can establish several check-ins and meetings to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Proper communication is essential as technicians can instruct remote workers on how to solve an issue without traveling to their location. Isolation is one of the drawbacks of working remotely; managers can help mitigate the problem by encouraging cross-IT support chats to help build teamwork and boost morale.
3. Employ Strict Security Procedures
The increase in remote work increases the risks of cyberattacks. Ideally, attackers find remote work an easy way to hack the company’s network. For this reason, managers should establish strict security practices to ensure the safety of the company’s data, like financial reports.
Some measures to protect your company from cyberattacks include regular auditing, data backup, malware protection, and antivirus software installation. You can also encourage remote employees to use strong passwords, limiting access when sharing files or providing unique usernames and passwords to remote workers.
Furthermore, teach your remote employees to update their malware and antivirus software regularly and to have a virtual private network. It ensures all your workforce is connected to a single network. This way, your IT support team can surveil your network and spot any abnormal activities on the network.
4. Provide The Required Resources
Since office workers have all the resources they need to operate, it also makes sense to supply your remote workers with the necessary resources. Some of these include laptops, desktops, and a reliable internet connection. Without the right resources, remote workers can’t perform their tasks efficiently, thus reducing productivity.
You should also provide mobile phones for effective communication and help reduce hacking risks by preventing remote workers from accessing the company’s details using personal devices.
5. Educate Your Remote Workers
Remote workers are vulnerable to cyberattacks compared to office workers. For this reason, managers should introduce programs to educate remote workers, especially those in the finance sector, on identifying and dealing with cyberattacks. With proper training, your workers can identify threats like hacking, viruses, or phishing emails. It helps ensure your company’s data doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.
The Bottom Line
Transitioning to a remote work environment is challenging, as many companies and businesses struggle to provide successful remote IT support. Therefore, IT managers must implement creative ideas to offer technical support to remote workers. Consider the information above as you strive to provide reliable IT support.
