With the ongoing pandemic continuing to create uncertainty, many businesses have shifted their operations to work from home models until a vaccine can be developed. In many cases, the shift to remote work was executed hastily out of necessity, with businesses scrambling to cobble together work from home solutions that would allow their employees to continue working productively without any major interruptions. 

While these solutions did the trick in an exceptionally tumultuous time, chances are good that their makeshift nature is becoming clearer with every passing day – this was never meant to be a long term solution, as no business could be sure how long the pandemic would last.

It’s likely that your employees are seeing major holes in their WFH solutions that are taking a toll on their productivity. Solutions might make it more difficult for employees to communicate and collaborate remotely, and your tech stack may not be properly integrated, or in some cases, integration might not be possible at all. These are issues that should be addressed immediately, especially with the forecast suggesting that working from home will continue to be the norm for some time. Upgrading to a more reliable work from home solution will allow your team members to work faster, smarter, and more productivity, unencumbered by the burdens of ill-fitting technology.

We’ve got what your remote team needs to succeed

The absolute must-have aspects of your work from home solution are almost universal – your tools need to be cloud-based to allow for remote collaboration and communication, with high-level security and the ability to be integrated with other tools in your arsenal. 

At the bare minimum, your work from home tech solutions should consist of the following – an office suite like G Suite or Office 365, a CRM solution like Zoho CRM, business intelligence tools like Prodoscore so that management can keep track of productivity and spot exciting new opportunities, and a business telephone system. For maximum effectiveness, these tools need to be able to communicate and share data with each other to streamline workflows and enhance your team’s productivity and ability to work with one another.

The ideal package for working from home will be an all-in-one operating system that features many of the tools and apps needed for your team to succeed remotely. Replacing your mishmash of cloud apps that don’t integrate with each other and legacy technology you’ve been holding onto for years with an all-in-one solution like Zoho One will allow your team to work together seamlessly, sharing critical data across the workplace and collaborating on projects to meet even the tightest deadlines. Zoho One offers an integrated operating system to meet the needs of your entire business, featuring dozens of apps to help your team work smarter and more productively, including Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Analytics, Zoho Mail, Zoho Office Suite, and many more.

In addition, Zoho has put together a platform called BackToWork which gives your team access to wellness resources, a safe entry module, and a volunteer module – everything your business needs to deal with COVID-19. BackToWork will be free until the end of 2020, giving you lots of time to check it out. 

The importance of integration for remote work success

In order for your work from home solution to be a truly long term strategy, it’s critical that the tools you choose be properly integrated. With an integrated tech stack, your workforce immediately improves data accessibility, ensuring that all employees have access to relevant data they need to make informed decisions, sell smarter, and create well-informed strategies going forward. With an integrated tech stack, data becomes better organized, making it easier for your employees to access, share, and use, streamlining processes and increasing productivity.

In addition to keeping your entire remote workforce in-the-loop and increasing productivity, a properly integrated work from home solution makes it much easier for your employees to communicate and collaborate, breaking down the geographical barriers that too often make remote working difficult, allowing you to maintain a successful remote working arrangement for the long term. 

Integration means that every single one of your business solutions are working to their fullest capacity, allowing you to streamline and automate processes that will free up employees to focus on far more important parts of their job, accelerating the growth of your business and resulting in a more effective workforce.

ion8 is your one-stop source for everything you need in your business technology solutions. From built-in to custom made integrations, our experienced team can create seamless connections between any tool, ensuring that data is shared across your organization, time consuming tasks are automated or streamlined, and your employees can work smarter and more productively. To find out more about how ion8 can integrate your entire tech stack and help you transition to a more reliable work from home solution that will see your business thrive throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, contact us today.