More and more companies are providing employees with the opportunity to work from a remote location rather than in the standard office setting. This is a cost-effective option for many companies, as it saves money to pay for building utilities like water and electricity, office supplies and furniture, and overall footprint space. Along with these remote working options comes an ever increasing need to keep communication strong among remote team members. As companies rely increasingly upon dependable technology to keep their employees connected, the need for reliable mobile help desk is high. Employees are hopefully very knowledgeable about their individual job, but that does not mean they are an expert in handling their technology needs. Providing your employees with a sound method of connecting to their IT support team will help prevent downtime that can decrease productivity.
Remote Desktop Connectivity
When all of your employees work out of the same location, you can easily provide onsite IT support to assist them with their technology needs. When many of your employees are working out of remote offices, there must be a way for the IT team to connect to their computers remotely in order to perform certain tasks. A remote desktop connection will allow an IT support member to connect to the employee’s computer when needed. This is especially helpful for tasks such as performing software updates, installing applications, and assisting with printer installations. Not every request can be handled via a remote desktop connection, so it is important to hire remote employees who are comfortable taking direction from their IT support team to assist in handling issues that require a more hands-on solution.
Assistance Outside of Standard Office Hours
Employees who work from remote locations quite often work outside of traditional office hours. They could also be in a different time zone from that of the company headquarters. Providing adequate technical support to these employees during their working hours will help them feel more connected and valued. Besides having IT staff available during those hours, some help desk software systems will make it easier to provide support for your staff during all the hours that they are working. Some requests are very standard and typical, and can often be automated within a ticket support system. Some examples of these issues include needing to reset a password, inquiring about why the computer connection is slow, and how to retrieve a deleted file.
Challenges for Remote Employees
Employees working remotely can face challenges with technology unlike those of onsite workers. Remote employees may not have access to a fast or reliable internet connection, which can affect productivity and be problematic for video conferences. If your company does not issue standard technology equipment such as a computer, mouse and keyboard, and monitor, your remote employees will be using a myriad of technology items that they choose and purchase themselves. In that scenario, it is important that you enact a requirement of employment for your offsite workers to meet certain standards with their computers to ensure it will be compatible to connect to your various software systems. If the equipment is not company issued, your IT support team might not be familiar with their style of computer, thus making troubleshooting a challenge. Remote employees might also have other family members at home who are sharing the internet bandwidth, or even sharing the same computer that your employee is using to do his or her work.
There are many benefits to having remote employees, such as lower personnel costs and a better employee work-life balance. There are also potential challenges, which can be effectively managed by thoroughly evaluating your company’s needs prior to agreeing to allow employees to work from home.
