5 Tips for Successful Remote Workforce IT Management

5 Tips for Successful Remote Workforce IT Management

An unprecedented crisis is gripping the world today. At the time of this writing, hundreds of thousands are battling a new disease while billions have had to put their normal lives on hold to mitigate the damage COVID-19 could cause. Economies globally are in peril, and businesses are taking immediate steps to flatten out the curve of the impact of this virus. Some have shut a major chunk of their operations while others are leveraging the technology at their disposal and allowing, or even requiring, employees to work remotely.

While switching to a remote workforce is a welcome move, it brings with it a slew of challenges, the biggest being the need to ensure business continuity with minimal loss of productivity. Technology makes this transition feasible; however, given the unexpected magnitude of the situation, transitioning to a remote workforce on a dime has likely caught many businesses off guard, especially small and midsize businesses. It goes without saying that their IT teams and infrastructure are being put to the test during these trying times.

To ensure your business makes it through these turbulent times relatively unscathed, here are five tips to help you manage your remote workforce.

1. Use an endpoint management solution for remote monitoring and management

Now that all of your users are working from home, you need a way to efficiently manage those remote devices. Look for an endpoint management solution that provides remote monitoring and remote control of remote and off-network endpoints. This way your IT team can easily and efficiently access any of these endpoints to troubleshoot issues and maintain uptime.

Endpoint management tools can provide access to these devices without interrupting the user so IT technicians can work behind the scenes. This keeps employee productivity high while allowing the IT team to get things done.

2. Automate many routine IT management tasks

Managing endpoints on a regular basis can be quite a task, especially when you have many manual IT processes. Now, imagine doing that when almost all endpoints of your business have become remote, and none of them can afford to have any downtime. Very few organizations would be capable of handling such a situation smoothly and efficiently using manual processes. Look for an endpoint management solution that allows you to automate many common IT tasks by executing scripts on each endpoint. This will reduce the stress and burden on your IT team in this time of increased workloads.

3. Have a reliable backup and disaster recovery strategy

With the current pandemic creating chaos for everyone, the last thing you should be worrying about is your backup systems. Your backup systems should provide reliable, enterprise-class business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR). Reduce downtime with instant recovery, ransomware detection, and automated disaster recovery testing. An appliance-based DRaaS solution can be integrated into your endpoint management tool, allowing you to manage backups from the same console. Meet the backup demands of the business while using a workflow that is familiar. This will ensure your business data remains safe from any unexpected incidents of data loss or downtime.

4. Back up your SaaS data

Many organizations are now using a number of different Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, such as Microsoft Office 365, Google G Suite and Salesforce, to enable a more mobile and distributed workforce. With this shift to SaaS applications comes the need to have a backup solution that will protect all of your SaaS app data. A loss of this data could really slow down your business at a time when efficiency and productivity are more critical than ever.

5. Protect against a likely increase in cyberattacks

It is especially during a crisis, such as the pandemic the world is facing now, that cybercriminals work double-time to exploit vulnerabilities that can harm your business. These attacks could take place by accessing your compromised credentials on the Dark Web or by orchestrating sophisticated phishing attacks. With the lines between working from home and office blurring, a thorough security assessment, including Dark Web monitoring, should become a priority.

As you look at implementing these steps, you might want to consider a comprehensive IT management solution stack that ticks all these boxes and more. Having disjointed solutions would only add to the trouble, requiring additional effort at a time when your workforce is already being pushed to the limit.

Sailing through these troubled waters isn’t going to be easy, but with the right approach and tools, your business can certainly come out on top when the dust has settled.
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