Can Your Staff Work Remotely During A Coronavirus Quarantine?

Are You Equipped With Remote Work Capabilities During A Coronavirus Quarantine?

With each day that passes, more Canadian citizens test positive for coronavirus. With Ontario closing public schools for an additional two weeks after March break, and BC and Montreal banning gatherings of more than 250 people, the likelihood of self-quarantine for weeks at a time is rising.

And while the government of Canada has plenty of tips for how to limit risk and prevent the spread of coronavirus throughout our nation, there’s not as much talk about what this will mean for businesses.

If your staff can’t come in to work for 2-3 weeks straight, how will you keep them productive?

You Need To Assess Your Remote Work Capabilities

You need to determine how feasible it is for your staff to work remotely, and quickly. Conditions are escalating rapidly on a daily basis – you may not have as much time as you think.

To start, answer the following questions:

1. Data Access
   
   • Does your staff have access to data?
   • Have they used the remote access solution before, or will they need training?
   • Is their remote connection secure?
2. Business Phone lines
   
   • How will you manage incoming calls?
   • Do you have a cloud telephony solution in place that can route calls to remote workers?
   • Do staff members have the right technology at home to receive and make calls?
3. Meeting Management
   
   • Do you have a video meeting solution in place right now?
   • Does your staff know how to use it?
   • Does your staff have webcams at home for use during meetings?

If at all possible, make sure to test your capabilities now so you can troubleshoot any unforeseen issues. Waiting until you need to quarantine your staff will undoubtedly lead to complications and obstacles in your business’ continuity.

There are a number of consumer and business-class solutions available to users depending on the size of the organization:

• Microsoft Sharepoint, OneDrive & Teams
• Skype, or other video meeting platforms
• VoIP or cloud-based phones to route calls through employee devices
• VPN software to keep connections secure

The bottom line is that you don’t want anyone to risk their health or others’ health because they think they need to come into work that day. The safer option is to have your staff work remotely. At the same time, you don’t want to have to put your business on hold.

What you need to determine now is whether you have the knowledge and tools to do so. If not, you can reach out to the Compunet team for help.

Like this article? Check out the following blogs to learn more:

Is Your Vancouver Law Firm Moving To The Cloud?
5 Technology Strategies For Canadian Law Firms Moving To The Cloud
6 Questions For Accounting Firms In Vancouver Moving To The Cloud

Written by

Joe Martin

Posted on:

March 16, 2020