Remote working has been steadily on the increase over the past decade. However, the recent coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) has transformed it from an option to a necessity for many businesses. That’s left a lot of employees having to start remote working without any prior experience or planning.
In this post, we’ll look at the basics of remote working and how to stay productive.
With remote working, there’s always the temptation to lounge on the sofa with the laptop. While that might not be a bad idea as a one-off, it certainly won’t work in the long run. Nobody knows quite how long the current situation will continue, so it’s important to have a proper workspace set up to keep your brain in gear.
At the very least, set up the dining table with your laptop, any files or notes you need and maybe even a plant for your temporary desk.
Flexibility is one of the major benefits of remote working for staff. However, it’s still important to keep a routine in place to maintain productivity. Keep a set start time, finish time and break times throughout your day, so you know when to switch on and when you can switch off from work. Most importantly, make sure you get dressed! Staying in pyjamas or loungewear will make it harder to distinguish between periods of rest and work.
Working remotely doesn’t have to mean working alone. Or at least it shouldn’t. To maintain productivity while working at home, it’s important to have access to everything you need digitally.
Firstly, that means the right software to communicate with colleagues. For example, Microsoft Teams allows teams to communicate and collaborate easily without the need for various email chains. On top of that, applications like Zoom are dedicated to video-calling with teams of up to 100 as standard (or 500 with an add-on package). Collaboration aside, this is a great idea to keep morale up and keep everyone feeling connected.
Access to all the files and assets you need is essential. While you won’t realise it on your work computer, there are countless day-to-day tasks that rely on various files, whether it’s client data, login information or branded templates.
At the very least, you’ll need cloud access to these files. However, ideally, you want a system in place that makes it easy to store, retrieve and collaborate on different assets. That’s where digital asset management (DAM) comes in. With a dedicated DAM system, you can add metadata which makes it easy to store and organise files and find them when you need them, so there’s no disruption to productivity wherever you’re working.
iBase isa state-of-the-art DAM system that’s packed full of useful features for remote working. If you want to talk more about the benefits of DAM for remote working, our team is on hand to help. Call us on 01943 603636 or email sales@ibase.com.
