As many workers have now moved to an online remote work environment, companies might find that some employees need more IT tech support than others, especially those who are new to the work-from-home routine. There are several steps that IT departments can take to take care of the needs of both experienced and non-experienced remote users.
Determine Experience Levels
The IT team should determine the experience level of all employees with working remotely and categorize them in groups based on experience. To determine where users belong in the groups, these three questions can help identify issues that might need to be addressed:
- Has the user worked remotely previously? If so, was the work independent or were they able to connect with others?
- If the user has never worked remotely, what equipment do they have at home to work with? Some items users will need are computers/tablets, keyboards, printer, cameras, modems, internet access and software applications, security tools, and communication apps. If the user does not have the hardware and other products, your organization must provide and install them.
- If they have hardware, but not software or internet access, then the IT team will need to create an implementation plan to determine if the user’s equipment can run the software.
The IT department can then figure out exactly how much guidance each group will need. If the majority of users are inexperienced, more IT staff will need to ramp them up while fewer team members will be needed at the beginning to support the more experienced users.
Once the staff has been set up, there are four other considerations:
- If the user does have all the equipment that is needed, IT must find out what else they will need to be connected to the corporate system and if that will meet security policies.
- The VPN must also be able to support more users.
- Licenses must be obtained to support additional users.
- The bandwidth might need to increase to support all of the platforms simultaneously.
IT Tech Support to the Rescue
No matter what the level of experience, users will need ongoing support when working remotely. Technical issues and glitches are commonplace with a remote workforce. To prepare for this, anticipate how your IT team will service requests. Will it be through phone, email, text, or chat? This will need to be part of a plan that includes what tools and additional support will be required to back up a remote workforce. The plan should take into consideration cost as well.
It is likely that some or all of the IT personnel will also be remote, so it is imperative that they have all that they need to work from home.
The remote system should have the following important capabilities:
- The system should be able to alert help desk personnel of service tickets and who is responsible for fixing the issue. The ticket should be tracked from the time it is opened until it is closed.
- A secure platform that connects the IT helpdesk to the users with remote control of hardware and software to make the necessary fixes and upgrades.
- Those new to the work at home environment might find the situation stressful. Having the IT team check-in with new users to make sure they have everything they need and are able to properly work at home might prevent pitfalls in the future.
Moving employees to a remote-only work environment come with challenges, for new and experienced users. However, this is a time when your IT department can go over the current process to make improvements to better support your staff.
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Find out how Advocate One can make your business more productive, your systems more secure, and your tech-related stress minimal. Feel free to get in touch with us; we are here for you!
