Workspace

In recent years there has been a gradual shift towards remote working. With the availability of fast internet and mobile phone data, what was possible for few became possible for many. Businesses across different sector and jobs could work from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. This trend has very suddenly and dramatically accelerated with the emergence of the Pandemic. It forced many businesses into remote working. While some struggled to get to grips with the technology, many companies fully embraced the change. It allowed them to see how well it can work for many and perhaps that it would open up the potential for a more diverse workforce that was not location determined. Bosses could finally let go of the fear that their staff would not be productive. By allowed to work from home and could see the increased flexibility it allowed their employees combined with saving on commuting time actually made them more productive. They were able to achieve better results for the business. What apps/software make remote working possible? VPN A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a method of creating a Private network using a public internet connection. It creates a secure connection to allow for sensitive data to be shared between employees without compromising on confidentiality. A VPN connection will allow people to remotely access their computer/data in the office from remote locations without having to transfer information to a second device so maintaining data security. Thre are many services available although the free services potentially keep logs of sessions and collect some information which can be sold to third parties, so it\’s advisable to choose a paid service that has a no-log policy, of which there are several. Depending on the individual business requirements which VPN provider will be ideal, Some of the top-rated include; NordVPN, IPvanish, ExpressVPN, TunnelBear. Video conferencing Video conferencing makes having meetings remotely a vastly different experience to telephone calls. It gives organisations the capability to give presentations, have negotiations where facial expression and body language is heavily relied upon possible. At the same time, it allows companies to save money on travel and related costs. The advances in technology have also meant that video conferencing has become much more affordable and accessible to all organisations, as no specialist equipment is required. Examples of popular video conferencing software include Zoom meetings, Microsoft teams and GoToMeeting. Shared cloud drives Often files being shred between colleagues, especially those with images, cannot be sent by email due to the file size restrictions. This is solved by using shared cloud-based storage. Files can be uploaded and viewed as well as downloaded. With the added benefit that files are more secure and not reliant on the device being used to access it, it is available at all times. The best known such services are Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox and Sharepoint. Project management apps Project management Apps/Software that can make project planning and implementation for teams working remotely more integrated and flowing experience. Organisations will benefit from being able to schedule tasks, manage resources and indicate project milestones. To have all communications related to the project with the same platform will ensure key people don\’t get left out of conversations. There are many such software/apps with varying features available and meeting needs of different size organisations, examples of some of the most popular include; Asana, Trello and Monday. Shared calendars Using shared calender apps would take the guesswork out of scheduling and availability and make collaborations and meetings so much simpler to book. While some software that is used for project management does have a calendar within it, there are also apps that specifically to be used as a calendar to schedule your time. They can be used by clients to book in appointments directly without the back, and forth emails that can happen when attempting to schedule meetings. Microsoft Outlook and Gmail both provide sharable calendars, apps like Calendly and TeamUp are also good choices to consider. So having a laptop, internet connection, and a couple of apps means that a person can work remotely without the restrictions that traditional 9-5 job used to entail. Work-life balance is becoming more plausible to achieve.

A virtual private network (VPN) is a way to create a private network from a public internet connection. It will create a safe ‘tunnel’ for your data to pass through without detection between your device and the target server via a VPN server. So the server you connect with will identify the VPN server and not your device. This is especially important if you are handling sensitive data and you need to protect it from any interception. VPN use encryption to scramble data which makes it unreadable so preventing anyone else “eavesdropping” on your internet activity. Benefits of using VPN Your browsing history: Everything you do will be tracked online. Your ISP may be able to sell your browsing history. Or when you use a search engine on a topic, you will end up getting targeted ads as the information is tied into your IP address. AVPN will prevent this data being gathered, viewed or sold. Your location: if someone captures your IP, they can know your location as the Ip leads back to your device. With a VPN, the IP address is not your own so you can maintain online privacy. Your devices: a VPN will help protect your devices from hacking as they cannot watch your activity. Identity theft: a VPN will protect the data you send and receive from your devices, so giving you protection from cybercriminals. How can a Business Benefit? The current pandemic has accelerated the shift to remote working that has become gradually more popular in recent years. To provide employees with a secure connection is vital to protect any sensitive data that is being shared. A VPN is the best way to make this happen. Employees can access their computer at the office, or shared company drives through a highly secure connection and work anywhere in the world. Which has many benefits to businesses, including reducing cost for travel and office space and allowing for flexible working. Another benefit for businesses who advocate for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), while this reduces the infrastructure costs, it potentially can have significant risks for your business if the device is connected to unsecured connections, outside of the workplace, and so exposing your data. What to consider when Choosing VPN Service? No Log policy – the reason to use VPN is to ensure privacy so they should not track or log your online activities. Data limits – depending on your internet usage, you need to check whether any data limits will affect you or you may opt for unlimited data usage. Server location – if you need to be seen to access from a specific location, ensure there is a server located in that country. Multiple devices – How many devices will you need to be able to connect to the VPN service at the same time, what limits are placed by the VPN service. Cost- while there are free VPN services, they may collect personal data and sell to third parties, lower broadband speeds, no support, servers in fewer countries. So choosing a paid service will bring greater benefits. What are the Best VPN Services available in 2020? Here are 3 of the best VPN services available; NordVPN is also a service that has a zero-logging policy. The company has more than 5700 servers across 60 countries, with 650 servers located in the UK. They are rated well for download speed and security. IPvanish is different from other companies as it owns and manages its own servers rather than renting other peoples hardware, which gives them a greater level of control over the network and server setup and running. They also have a zero-logging policy, so they don’t collect or store any internet activity. IPvanish has 1500 servers across 55 countries. ExpressVPN Is one of the top-rated VPN services due to their customer service, fast connection speeds, minimal downtime and a large network of servers available. They have over 3000 servers across the 94 countries. ExpressVPN does not store any traffic logs but does extract minimal information such as date and time of connection, choice of server location and bandwidth used. Individual IP is not logged, and the service won’t be identifiable to you.

With our very busy and noisy world, today achieving high productivity can be difficult. The level of distractions that follow us by way of our devices can be a hindrance. At the same time they can provide us with tools that if we use in the correct way will help us. With the current dramatic shift in working patterns due to the pandemic has meant many more people are working from home. So using some of the solutions below will allow for a more collaborative and cohesive remote working setting to exist between employees of companies and their clients.   Project management There are many benefits of using a project management software/app. Modern-day the availability and choice of software available is vast and greatly welcomed by many who have made the leap from the paper and pen planning days. We can explore some of the general benefits to organisations by using this type of software; Project Planning – by allowing scheduling of tasks, defining key role requirements, and marking the project milestones that would form the project timeline will allow for a much more efficient flow. Resource management is a very important consideration in project management. The effective use of resources, not just which resources are required but the timing of their need, availability or utilisations will affect the efficiency. Forecasting – when the overview of resource allocation and timeline can be seen, efforts can be made to prevent potential bottlenecks when multiple projects or streams of projects are running. Budget management is one of the factors that can be the difference between a successful or failed project. Decisions can more easily and quickly be made to avoid overspending on projects when all the time and cost information is available Communication both internal and external can happen in one place and so everyone involved can follow the conversation. Leaving less chance that key people get left out of the conversation or that information does not reach the right target. Some examples of project management apps/software include; Asana – “designed to improve team collaboration and work management. It helps teams manage projects and tasks in one tool. Teams can create projects, assign work to teammates, specify deadlines, and communicate about tasks directly in Asana. It also includes reporting tools, file attachments, calendars, and more” Monday “is a project management tool[2] that enables organizations to manage tasks, projects, and team work.The platform\’s capabilities include more than 100 prebuilt automation recipes and over 50 integrations with other work apps” Time Tracking apps These types of apps bring great benefit to any type of work set up, whether it is a sole person looking to accurately track their working hours or a company that wants to ensure their staff are working in the most optimal way to achieve the best results. When working time is tracked then it can be easier to determine project timelines by using the information available on previous tasks. The apps can provide a greater level of transparency to employers or even clients on how the time was used. Also increasing the billing accuracy, so charges are only made for relevant work time. There are many of such time tracking apps that have varying features and costs. To give some examples; Everhour “is a team-oriented time tracking software. Harvest “offers time tracking, invoicing, expense tracking, and time-based reporting” Cloud Document Sharing With advancing technology and increasing image resolutions and file sizes it\’s often that files cannot be shared by emails. So the existence of Cloud storage services that allow for files to be shared, edited, and stored has proven to be highly valuable. Not only that but the changing work culture, where increasingly people are working remotely allows them to have access to their files from anywhere with internet connection. The same document can be worked on by multiple persons at different locations to each contribute their part without needing to have multiple copies of the same document. Google Drive “is a file storage and synchronization service that allows users to store files on their servers, synchronize files across devices, and share files. very widely used service and highly reliable. Sharepoint “document management and storage system, but the product is highly configurable and usage varies” All softwares/Apps mentioned are just a handful among many more that carry out similar functions. The decision of which to use is largely user preference to how intuitive they find the software to be. Software integrations is also a consideration for organisations that want to create a more seamless flow in their productivity.