England has moved into a second lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and many businesses are adapting to working from home.
The latest study shows that, 61% of businesses have expressed concerns of communications deteriorating due to social distancing rules. Keeping your team connected is the first step you must take when moving to remote working.
To maintain productivity and keep employee’s morale high, it’s important to have methods in place to keep communication simple. We’ve put together 5 ways to keep your team connected during lockdown.
1. Invest in the right communications system for your business.
For a successful remote working set up, you must have a seamless communications system in place. There are many different independent tools you can use to chat, make calls and share files, but notifications from multiple apps can easily get lost. How easy would it be if all of these features were accessible from one place?
Our multi-award-winning smart working solution is a fantastic tool for all your business communications. You can increase business productivity by using video conferencing, instant messages and more to connect with remote employees. All the collaboration tools you need will be accessible from the same window to save wasting time having to switch between apps and log into multiple accounts.
This seamless system provides the presence of being in the office, from wherever you are. Messaging, conferencing, screen-sharing and more is easily accessible from one app or web browser.
36% of businesses say the working relationship between sales and marketing is better than it was before lockdown, as they put in more effort to stay connected.
2. Accessible software.
When switching your office to remote working, providing new suitable equipment for each employee could be a costly process. The best alternative is a communications system that you can access from any device! Your team will be able to stay connected via their laptop, desktop computer, tablet or mobile phone.
An average of 31% of employees said they join video calls from a mobile device, so it’s important to provide a simple system that makes this possible for your team.
The collaboration tool can be accessed straight from a web browser, so no downloads are necessary! Minimising exposing company data to any potential risks when downloading software on employees own devices.
3. Keep the work routine similar to the office.
Everyone has dealt with this year’s issues differently, so it’s important to put methods in place to consider your team’s well-being when working remotely. Working from home and being out of a routine can be a big change that can have a negative impact on morale.
Having a communications system that keeps routine when out of the office is a simple way to keep spirits high while remote working. With our collaboration tool, there are many ways you could make this possible. For example, group instant message chats will keep everyone easily connected. A chat like this may be great for lunch breaks, as a way for the team to relax and mingle, similar to how they normally would in the office.
A simple colleagues page shows all employees statuses making it easy to see everyone’s availability. This is another simple feature that keeps an easy flow of connectivity between all employees to ensure no one feels disconnected.
A recent study found 89% of workers say that video conferencing reduces the time required to complete projects or tasks.
4. Meetings can continue over HD Video.
Social distancing rules mean that meetings cannot go ahead as they usually would, but that doesn’t mean they have to stop. Connecting via conferences while remote working is not only a great way to keep productivity high but is another method of keeping your team connected on a social level too.
94% of businesses who use video conferencing state that the company benefits from greater productivity. Video calls are a straightforward way of bridging the gap between office and remote working, due to the resemblance of a face to face conversation. 75% of CEO’s predict that video conferencing will replace regular conference calls by 2022. That’s not far away! Stay ahead of these technological advances to ensure your business doesn’t get left behind.
Incorporating video conferencing into your day-to-day business plan is also likely to bring a high return on investment for your company. A recent study shows that 43% of workers using video conferencing in a team structure believe that it can enhance their productivity, despite the remote working style. Resulting in higher business efficiency. Additionally, choosing the option of conferencing over face to face meetings saves businesses an average of 30% on travel costs.
5. Project Collaboration.
Being able to collaborate the way you usually would in the office is a big hurdle to overcome when working out of the office. A recent study shows that 66% of remote workers say they would be more productive working from home. Being in your own home can give you a more relaxed and positive attitude. Therefore, usually making you feel more inspired and productive in your work life.
Many businesses are now reliant on the Cloud to store and share files. This is a great way of helping your team continue to connect and collaborate on projects when working remotely, instead of working from an extensive email chain full of compressed files.
With the option to share your screen with other team members through our smart working solution, you are able to show the projects you are working on in real time. A catch-up meeting would be a fantastic time to use this feature, where your team can each show what they’ve been working on, to help with inspiration and morale.
78% of businesses use video conferencing for team meetings.
Staying connected is essential when working from home, but it’s also important to keep this seamless connection when working in the office. It’s not ideal to use different systems depending on when you’re working from. Our VoIP telephone system provides a fantastic solution that helps businesses from a wide range of sectors work smoothly inside and outside of the office.
