Staying Connected: How to Support Your Employees AND Your Business

March 25, 2020 Category: Business Services, Pop Culture

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We’ve chatted about working remotely from a worker perspective, but what about from a business point of view?

As Harvard Business Review states, “A positive work climate also leads to a positive workplace culture which, again, boosts commitment, engagement, and performance.”

Right now, many of us are working without a physical work climate or workplace culture, so it is of utmost importance that employees feel supported and connected to the intangible workplace climate and culture as much as possible. This not only benefits the overall feelings of positivity and well-being for employees, but bolsters engagement and performance. It’s a win-win.

But having an entire company or organization work from home is easier said than done without the right parameters in place. What can you, the business owner or organizational leadership, do to ensure that your staff feel connected, valued, and secure during this time and always?

To help you bridge the gaps, we’ve put together a list of tools that you can utilize to support both your team and your business as we continue to practice social distancing!

Flexible Workspace

Just like the name entails, Flexible Workspace is an awesome, flexible, and customizable cloud-based phone service that works on both WiFi and cellular data networks. With the included conference bridge, employees can simply dial into a common number to be connected securely wherever they may be.

There are a number of features available with the Flexible Workspace service. These features can be completely customized based on the needs of your organization.

The Premium Attendant included with this service offers several automated greetings, menus, and menu options, allowing for multi-department forwarding, proper handling of high-volume calls, and the creation of after-hours responses.

Incoming Call Manager is a feature that monitors incoming calls on your designated main business number and handles the calls according to customized parameters. It can be set up to handle incoming calls differently based on the time of day, the date, and depending on who is calling.

The Multi-Line Hunt Group (MLHG) feature allows for better organization and designation of incoming calls. When a call comes in, the MLHG delegates the call to an available employee or adds the call to a queue if all employees are busy. The Call Parking feature enables callers to be put on hold securely in the cloud so that anyone in your organization can pick up the call.

Best of all, the setup of Flexible Workspace can be completed quickly and easily!

This service is available to all, though Flexible Workspace is most easily available as an add-on through our Hosted Phone service. If you are not currently a Hosted Phone customer, not to worry; Flexible Workspace can effortlessly be a reality for you, too!

You and your employees deserve awesome. To set up Flexible Workspace and get your organization on track for secure, easy connection and communication, call 1 (877) 393-2854 or email us at sales@execulinktelecom.ca today!

Virtual Private Network

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a secure and reliable method of sharing information across multiple computer networks.

With employees working remotely, they’re using their own personal networks rather than the protected network supplied by their organization. This creates an opportunity for sensitive data to be intercepted or stolen. Utilizing a VPN connects remote users through their business’ private network or a third-party VPN service, effectively avoiding the potential for data theft; anyone intercepting the encrypted data won’t be able to read it.

An additional bonus to Virtual Private Networks is the ability to access an organization’s Intranet and resources safely and from anywhere. If your company uses shared files or hosted resources, a VPN will allow connected users to access and utilize everything they’d usually be able to access while in the office.

To put it simply, VPNs help bolster and assure security while allowing employees to make use of organizational resources, ensuring that business can continue as usual.

If a Virtual Private Network sounds like something your organization wants to take advantage of during this unprecedented period of working remotely, call 1 (877) 393-2854 or email us at sales@execulinktelecom.ca today!

Mobility

Staying connected while working from home is critical to the success of staff and of the business. Most employees don’t have a dedicated office phone, meaning they’re using their own personal mobile devices to call into meetings, create social posts on behalf of the business, conduct research, and more.

If you have employees who rely on their mobile phones and the associated data to conduct daily work tasks, it may be worth considering setting them up with dedicated work mobile phones to alleviate the concerns of personal costs incurred for business undertakings.

If setting up your team with dedicated work mobile options is something you’d like to explore, call 1 (877) 393-2854 or email us at sales@execulinktelecom.ca today!

You can also familiarize yourself with our Business mobility options by checking out our webpage.

Online Meeting Tools

There are a variety of online meeting tools that can help you and your employees stay connected and host meetings using video-conferencing and calling. You don’t have to cancel that board meeting, you just need to find the right online meeting tool for you.

We like Dialpad, but there are many platforms available!

Online Chat Tools

Much like meeting tools, there are many online chat tools to choose from. It’s important to consider the security of the chat tool you use for business purposes.

For that reason, we like Mattermost! It allows us to have one-on-one conversations with colleagues, larger chats for teams and departments, or company-wide communications. And it’s not only conversation; Mattermost allows for file and photo sharing, too!

Online Task Management Tools

Project and task management is critical when it comes to tracking progress and understanding which action items are priority.

Online task management tools, like monday.com, keep you and your team on track. Delegate tasks, rank priority, track time, and create customizable project or client boards to keep everything organized. You can even assign permissions to members of your organization so that they only have access to the tools and projects they need!

We hope that everyone is settling in to working remotely. It’s a period of change, but with the use of the tools and services outlined above, your business can be on its way to new heights of connectivity and productivity! For any inquiries into our Flexible Workspace, VPN, or Mobility services, call 1 (877) 393-2854 or email us at sales@execulinktelecom.ca today!

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