The flexible working revolution is in full swing, and this has brought a range of benefits for businesses. Studies have shown that productivity, morale and collaboration all improve when staff have the option to work from home. Whether it’s working remotely full time or a more flexible arrangement, with the right technology your team can work at their best in any location.
To be successful in the long term, your remote working policy needs to be managed effectively. Without a proper process in place, staff can end up being overwhelmed, distracted or isolated from their colleagues. All of these things can lead to mistakes being made, and potentially some unhappy customers. This has led to some businesses abandoning the idea of remote working completely.
At RHM we’re here to say that successful remote working is possible, if you manage it correctly. Here’s the technology that can help your team to keep track of staff working from other locations.
Telecoms fraud has risen sharply in recent years, the rise in remote working has accounted for some of this growth. Telecoms fraud is when fraudsters illegally use a business’ phone system with the aim of racking up high call charges without paying the bill. This is normally done in two ways, the first is by making a high volume of calls during out of office hours, or by making costly international calls. When working in a traditional office environment telecoms fraud is easier to prevent by better securing your physical hardware. Remote devices can be harder to protect though.
Our call statistics service allows you to see at a glance every call that has been made to and from your business, with reports sent to you on a daily weekly or monthly basis. This allows you to quickly identify and resolve any unusual activity, always keeping your business safe.
One of the best parts about working in the office is being able to quickly turn to a colleague and ask for their input. This level of collaboration also needs to be maintained when you’re working remotely. If colleagues feel like they can’t ask for feedback on their work, then mistakes are far more likely.
Maintaining regular collaboration with staff is a must, and the best way to do this is through video conferencing services. We recommend hosting regular communications with your entire team. If you’re a larger operation, split things down into teams so everyone gets a chance to contribute. These sessions allow everyone to stay on the same page.
The best way to make this possible is with a unified communications service. UC platforms can be installed on a device of your choice and accessed from any location with an internet connection. They also include a presence feature, that shows whether your colleagues or customers are free to connect with you, away from their desk or on another call. This service removes all the barriers to effective remote collaboration.
Training is one area that businesses have struggled with when working remotely. Webinars and conference calls are good, but struggle to replace the face-to-face training that naturally happens in the office. Call recording allows you to get a clear idea of who is performing well, and where improvements can be made.
Our communications platforms allow you to unobtrusively record calls and automatically store and locate them in the cloud. Through this you can keep a clear record of calls made by your top performers and use them for reference when new staff join. Similarly, if any staff are struggling, you or their manager can sit down with them, listen to a recorded call and identify areas for improvement.
Recording calls also allows you to ensure that your staff are sticking within the regulations of your industry or within company guidelines while working remotely. We know for sectors like construction and healthcare, it’s absolutely vital not to cut the red tape, and our recording solutions help you to do this.
The last thing your customers want is for a call with your team to drop out unexpectedly. As businesses switched to a remote way of working, it was often tempting to use consumer grade services for video conferencing or to maintain productivity. But with security concerns and unreliability to worry about, we recommend sticking to solutions designed with businesses in mind.
A unified communications service allows you to access video, voice and instant messaging consistently, as long as you have a stable internet connection. With high-quality audio, you can always guarantee a better service. This keeps your customers happier and allows your team to work more productively.
If any of the services mentioned here may be of interest, get in touch with our team here at RHM. We’ll talk you through how they can be best applied to your remote working operation. You can reach us at 0800 041 041.
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