Remote Workforce Development Planning
What is remote workforce development planning?
For the majority of organizations that have the option to work remote, a solid remote workforce development plan is needed. At a minimum, this should include a Business Continuity Plan (BCP), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution, an enterprise-grade virtual collaboration tool such as Microsoft 365 and Teams, vital software hosted in the cloud and a cloud backup solution.
In 2020, COVID-19 has indirectly initiated a worldwide work-from-home (WFH) order transcending continents, countries and races. Most businesses have been forced to either temporarily close or pivot from physical offices to work from home environments, thereby leading to the rise of the remote work force. The latest updates are that a cure for the COVID-19 virus is still yet to be found and while it is a work in progress, how do our employees work from different homes while connected to a singular business vision while remaining as productive as possible before the cure is found? Short answer: through a Business Continuity Plan (BCP).
Business Continuity Plan
A Business Continuity Plan that ensures remote workforces are able to work from home, at same or greater speed and security for confidential documents and office resources at an assured level. One of the ways is through a VDI Solution for employees.
All the tools and applications used for daily operation of businesses are all available and accessible in/from an infrastructure known as the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). VDI isan on-demand virtual desktop embedded in a central server that becomes available when requested by an employee. With little or no access to COBO (Company-Owned, Business-Only) and/or COPE (Company-Owned, Personally-Enabled) device options in this dire time and state of emergency, there is the need for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) option that pulls from a VDI solution and offers safety if a cyber or security issue occurs. Any approved device-type will serve all-in-one desktop, laptop, tablet or a smartphone. In addition to the safety a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure brings, this option aids businesses save costs and extend its financial runway while an anti-virus is being developed for Covid-19; additionally, it ensures collaborative management from a single source.
DaaS: VDI Solution
With a Business Continuity Plan, our businesses are built with considerations for adaptability and sustenance of business activities in the times of crisis: physical crisis, social crisis, environmental crisis, cyber crisis, biological crisis (like the COVID-19 pandemic), et al. This combines smart thinking, systems, policies and courses of actions for the “rainy day” to ensure that there is no service failure for any of those involved in your businesses: customers, partners, employees, investors, suppliers and other external stakeholders like our local communities, financial houses and government.
While it is broad in nature, the BCP helps smoothen communication within our business organizations while maintaining the organizational efficiency in times of a disaster. It is more operational and tactical than strategic. The specific advantages, however, range from budget savings and cash reserve, to cloud based application accessibility and support and empowered remote workforce & enhanced security, etc. NexusTek is the conduit that ensures the BCP for our businesses is in order as nations worldwide, from the USA to the UK to other developed nations and third world countries initiate territorial lockdowns to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Let’s have a look at the details of NexusTek’s Business Continuity Plan for our clients, both SMEs and large corporations. At NexusTek, we engage an Evaluation & Consultation methodology to identify the SWOT of existing systems and other attendant risks, build a Design Plan from our evaluation and consultation, then implement plus test the Design Plan. Here is how we can help in the time of COVID-19.
SaaS: Microsoft Office 365
A Business Continuity Plan that ensures that employees do not have to relearn a new suite of productivity software but carry on with the familiarity of current software – but on Cloud! This cuts recovery time in fours and saves the funds that would have been allocated and spent on retraining.
As a SaaS (Software as a Service), Microsoft Office 365’s Enterprise suite of services is ready to deploy to the VDI solution via cloud. With these Office apps: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams and Exchange, collaboration on familiar software productivity terrains can be set up at affordable rates for employees in other areas globally and Version Control as is on GitHub is attainable with SharePoint.
When it comes to interaction that feels almost close to the real deal (face to face meetings), Microsoft Teams is capable of hosting meetings for up to 10,000 people and unlimited video conferences in high definition for up to 250 people.
IaaS/HaaS: Servers, Data Storage, Backup
A Business Continuity Plan that guarantees that the servers do not get overloaded, data gets backed up is not lost and is protected by working with a professional MSP versed in risk assessment and incident response deployment
With multiple cloud hosting options to choose from, NexusTek takes away the headache and worry for employees’ bandwidth needs as they access company’s tools and applications from different access points, across different counties and cities in the country. It does not stop with the servers but stretches further to how files are distributed and temporarily or permanently stored – and, how they are backed up and the frequency of the backup.
The best way your business can survive the COVID-19 pandemic is with a Business Continuity Plan that engages and synchronizes Hardware-as-a-Service, Software-as-a-Service and Data-as-a-Service to save costs as business cash flows out more than it flows in, to help travel with audio and video as transportation means are limited or grounded, to improve protection against phishing and BECs. NexusTek can help with implementing these trio and ensuring they work together to sustain business in this trying time.