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All over the world, organizations were forced to put their work-from-home business continuity plans to the test because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And while the switch to virtual work was a rushed one, it swiftly became apparent that remote workforces could not only survive but thrive when provided with the right solutions.

Recent reports say that employers can save about $11,000 a year for each employee who telecommutes just half the time. Savings come primarily from "increased productivity, lower real estate costs, reduced absenteeism and turnover, and better disaster preparedness." So, it's no surprise to see more organizations extending their work-from-home policies or shifting to a permanent full or partial work-from-home culture.

From healthcare practitioners relying on telemedicine to educators utilizing remote learning platforms to virtual meetings successfully guiding all industries, companies continue to onboard a wide array of collaboration and productivity solutions.

Here’s a review of the top solutions helping to keep remote workers connected, productive, successful, and collaborative:

Unified Communications
Implementing the right Unified Communications (UC) technologies is an easy and often overlooked change that companies in all industries can make to increase anywhere resource availability, productivity, and bottom-line revenue while successfully lowering costs.

UC boosts productivity because it enables businesses to integrate multiple real-time communication services, devices, and media types through a single unified interface. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in or out of the office, or even which device you use; you can access your phone, instant messaging (chat), presence information, phone extension mobility, single number reach, conferencing, desktop sharing, data sharing, and call control along with voicemail, email, and fax — all through one streamlined unified experience.

In the healthcare industry, for instance, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) serves as a reliable and cost-effective telehealth solution, as it offers all the requirements necessary for accommodating digital communications. And with 42% of patients having used and liked telehealth services since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic because the visits are more convenient than meeting a physician in the office, it’s clear that telehealth is here to stay post-pandemic. 

A convenient UC system delivers the necessary union between mobile devices, VoIP telephones, and computers, so there is a lot less time wasted waiting for information, direction, and important decisions to be made.

It’s easy for a company of any size to scale their communications needs. Costs are operational, so a cloud-based provider will only charge for services received. It is painless to increase and decrease consumption when needed adding tremendous cost savings for any business. Plus, with just one unified system in place, companies no longer need to handle multiple vendor contracts or employ their own support team to handle operational problems.

Internet Security
91% of all global respondents said they'd seen an increase in cyberattacks due to employees working from home.

Remote work brings additional cybersecurity challenges as employees log on through their insecure home networks and personal devices. Cybercriminals are also targeting the Cloud, which companies are depending on to help facilitate remote work.
"Organizations of all kinds are facing an uptick in email-based threats, endpoint-security gaps, and other problems as a result of the sudden switch to a fully remote workforce," says William Altman, Senior Analyst at the Global Cyber Center of NYC.

Providing employees dedicated secure Internet services with DDoS Protection, Endpoint Security, SD-WAN, and secure Cloud Connect solutions can improve productivity with fast, reliable connectivity while safeguarding your business and network against cyberattacks.

Expert Technical Support
Organizations now have a massive increase in demand to support remote workers in home offices, where they may lack tools, policies, and procedures to be effective. These problems are not new, but they did quickly become a lot more relevant.

When you rely on an expert from a managed tech support provider who has the knowledge, experience, and time to resolve any issue quickly, your employees can continue to do what they have been hired to do and focus on more profitable endeavors. This increased productivity garners added revenue, offsetting the cost of the provider, and benefiting the overall business. Savings are also realized because it frees up internal tech support staff.

When a company teams with a managed service tech support provider that includes device protection, they do not need to deal with the hassles of bringing non-working devices such as laptops, printers, and scanners out for repair or spending time and resources to procure a replacement. The tech support provider can trouble-shoot to resolution, and devices that cannot be fixed can be quickly replaced with a brand-new version at no additional cost.

WiFi Connectivity
The coronavirus outbreak has driven many commercial activities online. As a result, reliable and secure Internet connectivity has become crucial as employees rely on it to conduct business and collaborate and with their internal network, colleagues, customers, and prospects.

And since many devices connect wirelessly, WiFi can become a performance-limiting factor contingent on employees' at-home WiFi solution. A slow wireless router or lack of WiFi connectivity can bottleneck and slow down productivity and or halt operations altogether.

In an industry like education, the need for connectivity has taken on even more urgency because of virtual learning and the impact on the entire local community. The Internet is essential to gaining access to virtual instruction; therefore, failing to provide students' service is akin to barring them from school altogether. Educators have long seen access to high-speed Internet as essential — not optional — for students and teachers alike.

Working with a provider who can deliver reliable, fast, and secure solutions is imperative to keeping your remote workers and your business productive. To find out more about how Lightpath can help your organization thrive with multiple work from home solutions, call your Account Executive or 877‑544‑4872.