Can businesses ever trust the remote worker? ~ lotfi

Introduction and IT infrastructure

Working from home is increasingly becoming commonplace. The progress of technology means that employees can keep in contact with the office and the boss. Also, workers can now request flexible working arrangements as of last June. Employees with more than 26 weeks of service can apply to bosses to work remotely.

But just because you can work from home doesn't mean that you should. A recent survey by IT security firm Imation found that a quarter of employees admitted breaking security policies to work remotely. But another study, this time from private cloud provider ConnectSolutions, found that 77% of employees report greater productivity when working remotely.

Changing the infrastructure

It is clear that businesses need to start thinking about implementing changes to their IT infrastructure, and consider the types of solutions their remote staff require regular access to.

"A good place to start would be to conduct an audit of all the software programs the business currently uses," says Maria Nordborg, director of Customer Relations at Projectplace. "The next step is to evaluate how many of these solutions can still be used by staff remotely."

She adds that it may be the case that you need to find cloud alternatives for some of the office-based software to make it easier for staff to access the programs they use on a daily basis.

So how does the manager enable better productivity while keeping corporate assets secure?

There are a few pieces of technology that can be used to keep employees on track with their work while at home. For example, "Presence" services built into Unified Communications platforms such as WebEx or Microsoft Lync will tell you instantly in real-time whether an employee is where they should be.

"Online meeting services such as WebEx Event Centre and Training Centre will monitor attentiveness and the level of interaction of anyone attending and generate a real-time report for the host," says Steve O'Reilly, online meeting expert at MeetingZone.

He adds that other technologies such as CRM combined with proactive and systematic line management (setting goals, regular reviews, etc) also help to ensure levels of productivity remain high. "The staff that are unproductive at home tend to be the same ones that are unproductive in an office environment," adds O'Reilly.

When trying to ensure productivity, blocking access to particular websites (such as social media sites) could be counterproductive.

"Working life has changed and we live in an ever more connected society. The majority of people are always available either by social media or through instant messaging, email, or via their phone," says Chris Martin, Chief Technology Officer at Powwownow. "Since we are more responsive through these channels, we tend to work longer hours. Restricting access to the outside world is therefore like locking the doors to the building."

He adds that employers need to be careful not to hinder employee creativity and communication with the world, otherwise staff members and the business as a whole will become introspective and the business will fall behind with society trends and behaviours.

Remote working: the tech you need to consider

Shifting the mindset

Quentyn Taylor, director of Information Security at Canon Europe, says that the 'there's an app for that' mentality has become an established concept in employees' private lives, but is often far from a reality in their business environment.

"To ensure remote workers have the tools to carry out their job effectively, a change in organisations' mind-sets is necessary. The focus must shift from technology to business, and therefore from controlling to enabling users to work remotely," says Taylor.

He adds that what many organisations fail to realise is that implementing remote working technology comes with the significant task of ensuring that the workforce is appropriately trained in how to get the best out of it. "CIOs must therefore remember that every IT investment also requires investments into training," he notes.

"Ensuring that employees feel confident when using business technology means CIOs can make huge efficiency gains from the very place it's being lost: the remote workforce. Undoubtedly, addressing this issue will go a long way to safeguarding investments into IT," says Taylor.

For the IT administrator, the task of making sure the remote worker is working is all about providing the right tools. However, Steve Gardner at Heat Software says that they should focus on the secure delivery of services, rather than maintaining control over the endpoints, which is wholly impractical.

"Ultimately, end users need the ability to provision their own mobile devices with little or no interaction with IT operations," says Gardner.

He adds this can be achieved through a consolidated application delivery system, such as a mobile App Store, that provides a "one-stop-shopping" experience for accessing all business applications. "Similarly, data can be stored and distributed via a secure and commonly accessed repository," he adds.

But if an organisation has settled on securing the endpoints, Alistair Forbes, general manager of LogicNow, says that cloud-based antivirus technology would be the ideal way to safeguard a dispersed workforce.

"Utilising the advantages of a management platform that is hosted in the cloud means that the IT administrator has visibility of the status of all of their systems wherever they are, and that the malware definitions are kept up to date in real-time, irrespective of location," he says.

He adds that an equally important part of the security arsenal is software patching. "With the cloud, patches can be pushed out to an organisation's machines, whether they're on LAN, in a remote office or in a hotel room on the other side of the world," he adds.

Keeping the remote worker in the loop

Remote working is not going to go away, but there will always be the need to go to the office to retain a sense of contact with colleagues on important projects.

"It is important remote workers have a healthy mix of in-office and remote working time," says Martin. "I think it is very important to include remote workers on all team activities and communications so they are not left behind, and to prevent them from feeling detached."

Employers who strike the right balance on remote working are going to be the ones who end up with happy and productive workers.