5 Benefits of a Remote Workforce

Since the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, most organizations have adopted at least a partial work-from-home policy to prioritize the health and safety of staff. From scalability to availability, the benefits of a dispersed workforce are widespread (no pun intended), but for many organizations, these transitions have not been without complications, as security threats and the need for remote access tools have skyrocketed.

It’s important in today’s world to embrace a sustainable work from home and hybrid strategy that is secure, scalable, and unified. Many organizations have recognized the vast benefits of a dispersed workforce, with no plans to return to their offices. Today we are going to touch on 5 of the biggest gains that remote workforces can achieve.

#1 Cut down on capital expenditure

Organizations can save money right off the bat in office overhead costs. A truly remote team has no need for a centralized office, and this results in cost efficiencies. Other overhead costs associated with an office, like security, parking, and maintenance can also be eliminated. Employees also no longer need to commute to and from work, saving time and increasing operational output.

#2 Increase productivity

Productivity of a team can be increased in many ways when going remote. The flexibility of a work-from-home and hybrid policy gives employees the freedom to work during the hours they are most focused, and in a comfortable, accommodating environment. Employee absences decrease since slight illnesses can be properly contained and not spread throughout the office.

Cloud applications can be built into technology used by employees, setting them up for success, and deploying cloud solutions like Backup and Disaster Recovery can be big-time productivity boosts for teams. It’s important that the solutions and tools used to enable your remote workforce are properly secured with two-factor authentication, a Web Application Firewall, and additional security measures. You can view Otava’s full portfolio of security services here.

#3 Improve employee health and welfare

It’s no surprise that a remote work policy contributes to the overall well-being of employees. This can be derived in many ways, such as:

Eliminating long, tedious work commutes to and from the office
Increasing time surrounded by family and pets
Reducing exposure to contagious illnesses spread by sick employees
Granting the ability to stay safe and work from home during natural disasters and inclement weather, such as floods, storms and blizzards.
Improving work-life balance by giving employees the flexibility to choose work hours that suit their schedules.

These are just a few ways that remote work policies benefit the health and welfare of employees, though there certainly are many more.

#4 A virtual environment is easier and more cost-effective to scale

If you deploy a remote workforce and use a virtualized environment, it is easier and more cost effective to scale up and down as demand fluctuates. Creating a location-flexible work environment with cloud services can save considerable costs when compared to an on-premise environment.

By using viable cloud services to power your remote workforce, you can expect lower implementation costs and minimal maintenance. And with consumption-based auto-scaling, you’ll only pay for the resources you actually use. Also, your workforce will be able to work, collaborate and securely access the data they need from anywhere in the world.

In a nutshell, virtualization for the remote workforce can simplify management and scalability, enhance security, result in cost savings, and create a better overall employee user experience.

#5 Improve the security of your network

A remote workforce has every opportunity to be a more secure one as well. Without a centralized premise, the threat of physical network intrusions is virtually eliminated. And with proper cloud security services in place, you can lock-down your virtual environment. These cloud security services can include:

Other important security measures to consider when deploying a remote workforce include:

Password Management – Since passwords remain the frontline defense for accessing critical data and applications, it is important that employees are responsible and choose complex passwords that can’t be easily guessed and update these passwords routinely.
Patch Management – It is equally important that patches are routinely updated. If not, networks can be vulnerable to attacks and intrusions. It is paramount that employees are reminded weekly to update operating systems, software and tools, and are also held accountable to do so.
Phishing Education – Employees must be properly educated to recognize and report phishing attempts. With the increase in attempts in recent years and into the future, it helps to have a resource at the company to which these phishing attempts can be reported to. Steps can then be taken to educate the workforce and block malicious actors.

The Bottom Line

We’ve touched on 5 of the biggest benefits to a remote workforce, though there are plenty more to consider. But how a Remote Workforce is deployed makes all the difference. Otava Solution architects can help you plan, deploy and maintain a remote workforce that is secure, scalable and unified, and reaps the benefits previously described. If you are ready to deploy a remote workforce of your own or are looking to increase the effectiveness of your current work-from-home strategy, Otava is here to help every step of the way. Get in touch with your Otava rep today to get started.

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