Many small businesses today have remote office options for employees thanks to the advancements in IT services. However, just like working in an office building with multiple people, working remotely comes with its own set of challenges. Whether employees living on the outside of the city work from home or small branches are designated in remote areas for select employees, managed IT services in Nashville can help ensure the office is efficiently managed. To help you get started, here are a few tips.

#1: Make sure remote offices have access to IT support

If your company is supplying computers and other pieces of technology to the remote offices, make sure they know what IT support can do for them. Whether they have to ship equipment that does not work back to the central office for repair or they need to sign in to meetings virtually, IT support can help ensure your network is ready.

#2: Have communication set up for all forms of meetings

It’s important that remote offices are just as connected for meetings whether they are done virtually with a group or one-on-one. Speak with Nashville IT services about both software and hardware options to ensure that all offices are equipped for all forms of meetings.

#3: Stay in touch with the employee

It can be easy to ignore employees that aren’t sitting in the office next to yours. Make sure that you continue to reach out to remote employees to converse often and include them in all office related emails. Staying in touch with remote employees as you do with those in your office keeps them accountable because it reminds them that they’re still part of the team.

#4: Teach the best practices for remote work

Be open with employees about the best practices for remote work and let them know that you understand there will be challenges. Welcome remote workers to communicate about their experience and use this information to help refine your system for working out of the office.

Because distractions are more prevalent when working from home, find a strategy that can be presented to employees. Keeping work and home separate can be done successfully and improve productivity, and you should tap into this and give the employee the tools to ensure they can make it happen.  

#5: Ensure employees use secure wifi and apply best practices for spam prevention

When employees work at home or in a more relaxed setting versus a larger office space, they may start to get a little careless when it comes to getting online. Make sure that your employees understand the best practices for signing onto wifi and preventing security breaches due to spam.

#6: Ask a manage IT service specialist for help

If you aren’t sure what the best methods for remote offices are when it comes to technology and network security, reach out to the experts. A managed IT service specialist can guide you towards proven practices and help you set up your network system. If you don’t want to bring them in full time, consider a Nashville IT consultation to ensure you move in the right direction.