This year, most of the planet had to start working remotely pretty much overnight. However, many of us aren’t working nearly as well as we should be. If this feels like you, read on. Below are several working from home tips designed to help you take full advantage of Microsoft 365 and make remote work as ‘office like’ as possible.
Microsoft Teams
No working from home tips list would be complete without mentioning this software. Microsoft Teams allows employees to message, video call, and share their work instantly.
Its real forte though is in its ability to integrate with other Microsoft applications – Word, Excel, etc. This is the ultimate collaboration hack. Share a document within Microsoft Teams and you can work on it within your Teams window. Team members can make edits in real-time simultaneously. This creates that feeling of being in the room with each other.
Microsoft Teams can also host both conference calls and regular calls for non-native Microsoft Teams users meaning nobody is left out.
The Cloud
Propping up Microsoft Teams is the ability to store work in a shared space. SharePoint and OneDrive both give users the ability to access and collaborate on documents from anywhere and set security permissions.
Cloud computing is more than just storage though. It’s the ability to access an entire business’s IT from anywhere. In a remote context, it means a business can be even more agile. Onboarding can be done more efficiently, software can be added to employee accounts quickly, etc.
VPNs and Remote Desktop Protocol
A VPN creates a smaller, more secure private network that only a business’s users can access. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) allows a user to access another computer from a remote location.
Their use cases will vary but both serve as additional ways for accessing data remotely. Generally speaking, VPNs are better for pre-emptively and securely sharing work company-wide. Meanwhile, RDP will let you access everything from files to applications that sit on an office device. This is great for allowing users to work from their machines as if they were in the office.
Also, if the business doesn’t use The Cloud, RDP is a great way of accessing shared resources as though they were on site.
VoIP Phone Service
If the traditional landline is an active communication channel in your office, VoIP can be the perfect replacement when working remotely. It has clearer voice quality than most landlines and can be operated from any device, wherever you are in the world.
Beyond working from home tips, you may find using a VoIP is just a better way to have telephone conversations as they’re more scalable and cost-effective.
A Quick Note About Security
The working from home tips we’ve covered so far are all focused on specific tools. These tools are great for helping efficiency and productivity, but they don’t fully address the security risks that working from home creates.
Accessing corporate data on personal devices makes it easier for hackers to access it. Equally, remote work on subpar security opens the door to more of the internet’s most popular attack: phishing scams.
To complete our list of working from home tips, downloading our phishing quiz eBook will help. The eBook will tell you everything you need to know about avoiding a phishing attack. This is the most common type of cyber-attack and they’ve risen 600% in 2020.
Click here to download our phishing quiz eBook and make working from home as secure as possible.