Easing the Transition into Remote Working Maximize collaboration and productivity with VoIP and the right technology tools www.3cx.com CONTENTS 3 Introduction: Remote Working is the New Reality 4 Remote Working Challenges 5 Benefits of Working Remotely 6 Why VoIP is a Must-Have for Effective Telecommuting 8 The 3CX Advantage 10 Tips To Choose The Right Business Communications Solution 11 Conclusion Remote Working is the New Reality Although remote working has been steadily increasing for a number of years, the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns brought about a paradigm shift in our workings, and has led to several long-term changes in our lives. What began as a localised viral outbreak, quickly culminated into the largest remote working exercise in history, with a dramatic increase in the number of remote workers across the globe. The unprecedented event drove enterprises to quickly transition to the remote working model in order to ensure business continuity. Fortunately, remote working has provided companies with the flexibility and connection required to stay on top amidst such challenging times. Remote working or teleworking comes with several challenges, both from a human and a technology perspective. It demands meticulous business planning, change in mindset, and more than anything else, the right technology tools to make it a success. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which facilitates web conferencing, chat, and mobile collaboration, is central to ensuring effective remote working experience. With the right tools at hand, the challenges of remote working can be easily addressed to make it a win-win proposition for both the employees and the employer. REMOTE WORKING 3 Remote Working Challenges Whether it’s a feeling of isolation, difficulty Team Communication tend to take fewer breaks and never seem managing teams, or simply being unable to properly shut off, often answering to get the message across, there are One of the most significant challenges in emails way into the night. Sleep depriva- several aspects of remote working that, if a remote work environment is ensuring tion, the feeling of exhaustion, and a lack not addressed correctly, can downplay its effective communication between ma- of personal time are some of the common benefits. Here we cover the top challenges nagers and employees and between adverse effects of remote working. employers and employees are most likely team members. Since you do not have to encounter: the chance to simply walk over and ask On the other hand, for some, working a question, or discuss a task face to face, from home can be a constant reminder Bandwidth, Technology, projects may take longer to complete. of pending chores around the house. and Security This can be especially frustrating for a Take a break to make a cup of coffee manager when the team is spread across and you may inadvertently find yourself washing the pile of dishes at the sink. It Video conferencing is widely accepted multiple locations and time zones. takes a disciplined individual to be able to as one of the best tools for working Whether it’s a mix of in-house and remote manage time effectively, ensuring chores remotely, but it comes with several li- staff or an entire group of remote workers, don’t take priority over the deadlines. mitations. A major factor that can managers are responsible for making make or break your video conferencing sure deadlines are met and targets are hit. Remote working can also be incredibly experience is your internet bandwidth and lonely. Jokes, post-work activities, and connectivity issues. Ensuring all your Overwork, distractions, and shared lunch breaks are all part of the employees are equipped with the right loneliness experience of working in an office. technology to work efficiently at home can Remote working is not for everyone, and be a daunting and costly exercise. From an employee standpoint, with no the feeling of loneliness can overwhelm hard start or end to the working day, they many. In addition, office environments typically have some sort of security system in place to mitigate security risks. When working remotely, however, you are more likely to connect to an insecure network, be the victim of a hack, or risk losing your work equipment. Recent events have seen another security breach emerge with regards to video conferencing. Popular video conferencing solution Zoom has been the receptor of negative press since hackers were able to hijack private web meetings spewing pornographic and racist content; this quickly became referred to as Zoombombing *All Trademarks Mentioned Are Not Affiliated With 3cx, Its Products, Or Its Websites. The Owners Of These Trademarks Are Not The Source Of, And Do Not Sponsor Or Endorse, The Products/Services Promoted Here. All Product And Company Names Are Trademarks™ Or Registered® Trademarks Of Their Respective Holders. Use Of Them Does Not Imply Any Affiliation With Or Endorsement By Them. REMOTE WORKING 4 Benefits of Working Remotely Even with these challenges, remote Cost Saving and up the talent pool for you by allowing working comes with several benefits, Revenue Growth you to hire from anywhere in the which greatly outweigh the negatives, country or world. Homeworking can give both from an employer and employee parents with childcare responsibilities the Remote working is cost-effective for both standpoint: flexibility they need, while other workers the employees and the employer. With can benefit from an enhanced work- employees based at home, there is no life balance. Both of these factors play a Increased Wellbeing and need for leasing expensive office space, crucial part in employee retention, Productivity while overheads will continue to drop especially so with employees from the significantly. In 2019 AT&T saved $30 younger generation. FlexJobs survey million in real estate by offering remote Staying at home reduces stress levels, found that 85% of millennials wanted to work options. The Wall Street Journal and the lack of commute makes it easier work from home 100% of the time. to maintain a positive work-life balance. also found that companies that allowed That doesn’t mean productivity suffers, remote working at least three times however! According to a Stanford survey, a month were more likely to report Conduct More Effective employees who work from home are revenue growth across a 12-month Meetings 13% more productive than their in-office period. On the other hand, remote counterparts. In fact, numerous studies working helps employees save on People tend to be better at keeping start over the years have shown that employees commuting costs and reduced overheads. times over virtual meetings. The online who are able to work alone without sessions are usually short and to the point. distractions are always more productive, Attracting Talent and It is less likely for meetings to go on over- and with most modern businesses Employee Retention time since calendars are often booked in opting for open-plan office layouts, advance - and you have the perfect excuse remote working offers the ideal solution. Remote working forms a critical element to leave the conference without appearing It’s interesting to note that some of the of your business’ emotional salary. rude. biggest and most successful projects Around 80% of the US workers say (think Linux and Wikipedia) are the result they would turn down a job that didn’t of the work of individuals who are able offer remote working. Giving employees to contribute from the quiet of their own the ability to work remotely also opens home. REMOTE WORKING 5 Why VoIP is a Must-Have for Effective Telecommuting Remote working as we know it would not Reduction in cost manage additional unified communica- be possible without the advent of VoIP tion features, even from home. Whereas with a traditional PBX, in case of even a technology. VoIP encompasses a group A software-based phone system is econo- minor technical issue, you will need to of technologies needed to deliver voice mical to set-up and manage. At 3CX, we wait for the technician to arrive at your communications over the Internet, see companies saving up to 80% on phone physical premises to resolve it. enterprise Local Area Networks (LANs) bills over time. By using SIP trunking with or Wide Area Networks. VoIP endpoints a VoIP PBX, you can connect to lower-cost include dedicated desktop VoIP phones, VoIP providers, using phone numbers and Failover / Fault Tolerance and softphone applications running on PCs lines purchased at better rates than the Security and mobile devices, and WebRTC-enabled traditional providers, and with more flexi- browsers. bility and shorter contract durations. Software-based also means that you can easily backup your entire PBX. In the event IP telephony started to grow in popularity Telephone bill reductions are especially of a hardware failure, you can restore around 2004 with the introduction of VoIP significant when making international your phone system on another machine in calling plans. These allowed subscribers calls and long-distance calls since these a matter of minutes using inbuilt backup to make calls just as they would with can be made through the Internet for free functions. When it comes to security, conventional telephone company or at significantly reduced rates. So, no IP phones can encrypt conversations services. Fast forward to today, and all matter the location of your remote work- deterring hackers from listening to voice the large service providers are rapidly force, you can remain connected without calls over the IP Network. switching traditional ISDN lines to VoIP. expecting a hefty bill. Migration plans are starting to take sha- pe across Europe, the USA, and beyond, Unified Communications to Easy to Install, Manage and with many countries at different phases of Boost Productivity implementation.