How to maintain processes while remote working

As mentioned previously, we as a nation have been forced to change the way we work with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic reaping havoc across the country. We as a nation have made a successful transition to remote working, which for many is a brand-new working infrastructure.

Workers on a whole feel safer working from home during the pandemic, but there is a chance for employees to feel isolated and lack motivation. The work-life balance is difficult to maintain, and constant communication with teammates can be challenging and stressful, having the potential of leading to lowered productivity and unhealthy work schedules.

There are options out there to combat the challenges of remote working. Set up the best practice industry protocols and company procedures to facilitate a productive and healthy experience when remote working. With reduced productivity and collaboration being difficult when out of the step-by-step environment of the workplace, technology can bridge that gap and avoid unintentional mal process when working remotely.

Introducing Microsoft 365, the tool to help you achieve more from your remote working.

Microsoft 365

Businesses of all types, both big and small rely on Microsoft 365 as their main tool for productivity, it is also imperative for maintaining as many processes as possible from your normal work environment. Microsoft 365 provides the best solution for a variety of collaborative and solo tasks and activities.

Within the ecosystem, there are several tools to help you complete your day to day work and each of those tools integrates seamlessly with one another, creating many incentives for business. For example, OneDrive ties into SharePoint, and Teams and Skype integrate with Outlook. The different applications in the ecosystem are designed to complement each other to achieve a common goal of connectivity, collaboration, and general organisation. The Microsoft 365 ecosystem is the go-to suite of Cloud tools to ensure you achieve the most from your remote working.

The Microsoft ecosystem and how it assists in maintaining process

Microsoft’s 365 exists as 5 pillars, is cloud-based and is a business application platform that combines parts of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

The Microsoft Ecosystem is designed to maintain the process in its design; every ingredient complements another and allows for a ‘web’ of features that are all connected and all play an integral part in the success of the ecosystem.

All applications in the Productivity column run parallel to the apps in the Business column allowing for employees at home to still be within touching distance of expertise from other departments, important documentation, connectivity tools, and a secure environment to perform all work processes.

More features of Microsoft 365 that help you achieve more from remote working

Microsoft Power Automate, formerly known as Microsoft Flow, allows users to create and automate workflows as tasks across multiple applications, without the need for considerable custom development. This can help you gain the most from your remote working, boosting productivity by automating those repetitive, time-consuming tasks. This ultimately promotes organisation and saves you time, both of which help you work more effectively. Another good feature of Microsoft Power Automate is how easy it makes sharing files, connect apps and set up a flow to copy files from one location to another, connect Outlook to SharePoint and get files that are shared via email to automatically publish in SharePoint also.

Microsoft Teams – the remote working front runner

A more detailed look at Teams, an application whose sole purpose is connectivity and collaboration by offering tools to ensure that you maintain your processes throughout the difficult transition to remote working. Here are some ways to make the most of Microsoft Teams to empower your workforce wherever and however they need to work.

Microsoft Teams:

Microsoft Teams is a vastly popular proprietary business communication platform, as part of the Microsoft 365 family of products. Some of Teams tools include:

• File sharing – share files amongst your Team freely. Allowing you to work together on documents with colleagues as easily as you would in the office.
• Chat – Chat to colleagues about anything anywhere; letting staff talk freely as in the office setting when working remotely. This can be especially important currently, Covid-19 has caused many of our remote workers to feel isolated, this feature allows for that office ‘banter’ many crave and miss when working from home.
• Channels – You can make channels for individual sectors of your business. The accounts department, for example, keeping structure to access files and information.
• Video conferencing – Video call colleagues and clients. This feature allows for one to one conversation on a formal or informal level from anywhere, with the potential to let up to 250 people in a meeting at one time.
• Calendar – Organise your working day, while being able to view colleagues’ calendars making time organisation an easier endeavour. Calendar entries are live synchronised across your 365 account access, whether in Teams, Outlook or on mobile.

Microsoft Teams allows you to practically take the office home with you. All the tools above provide a way of utilising remote working to its fullest whilst maintaining process. It puts all these features in one easy to use place.

Why is 365 the go-to remote working solution?

• It gives you access to the latest tools and services, with an ever-evolving suite of features to enhance your work.
• Video conferencing apps and screen share allow you to streamline meetings.
• Secure services provide a safe environment for data, avoiding data leaks or breaches.
• Microsoft Power Automate helps power your workflow by cutting manual administration across 365.
• Keep your team on-process and working collaboratively.

Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams offer a platform designed to promote collaboration and connectivity between employees with as much ease as possible. They provide multiple tools for planning, organising, and implementing a productive workday in the office or remotely.

At Cloud Nexus we help you move to a Cloud environment and secure your data. We will help your transition to remote working if you have not made the plunge yet; or, for those that have already, we will guide your transition to ensure you get the most from it as possible! We will cater a solution around your business and requirements. Get in contact with the team today.

We’re Cloud Nexus

We’re Cloud Nexus and we believe that technology should make life easier, not harder.

We help people move to the cloud, secure their data and work with customers in awesome new ways. We’ll get to know your business and create the most appropriate solution to meet your technical requirements while being commercially sensible in cost.