According to the New York Times, 43% of Americans say they work remotely, and the trend is growing. Employees are pushing employers to change the standard way things are done and challenging the status quo. The Times goes on to report that the growth of remote working is highest in the finance, real estate, and insurance industries, with a rise of 8% from 39% to 47%.
Encouraging a remote work strategy isn’t just a benefit for employees, but also for the employers. From increased productivity and reduced costs to access to a wider talent pool, employers need to actively pursue adding a remote work strategy. Additionally, a remote work strategy could result in financial gains for your business, according to this article in Forbes.
Organizational Challenges in a Remote Worker Environment
The growth in remote working gives employers a unique challenge. While at the surface it seems encouraging a remote work strategy would be simple, but there are specific challenges associated with a remote work strategy that employers need to be sure to be aware of. For this blog, we will look at three specific challenges: how do they ensure the security of their data, productivity of their remote workers, and reduce costs? Believe it or not, the answer to all three of these challenges is Desktop-as-a-Service or DaaS.
The Challenge: Data Security
In their blog on the myths of working remotely, Trello states that in the case of remote workers and access to information outside of the physical workplace that “someone who intends to steal information will do so regardless of their work location. This, like many issues with remote work, are people problems, not location problems.”
While you can’t necessarily solve the challenge of employees stealing work product, you can protect your confidential information from falling into malicious hands. Desktop-as-a-Service is a cloud-based technology that you and your employees can access regardless of their device or location. Stolen or lost devices significantly increase the chances of your data falling into the wrong hands. But with DaaS, the data doesn’t reside on the physical device, but in the company controlled data center. So if the device is lost or stolen, your data is safe. Additionally, your IT staff can easily change the password on the affected user’s account, further ensuring that the malicious source cannot access the data.
Another benefit is in the area of disaster recovery and business continuity. With 2017 reaching a record-breaking number regarding the damages incurred due to hurricanes and wildfires ($306 Billion dollars according to the New York Times) an effective BCDR strategy is vital. With DaaS, a portion of your strategy is built into the solution. With redundant servers, if one site goes down due to a natural, or other, disaster, your solution will continue to be accessible. And should your specific location be hit, and your physical devices damaged or destroyed, your employees can log in from another device.
The Challenge: Productivity
Let’s face it. Employees have a life outside of the office. Children get sick. Adults get sick. Commuting eats up a portion of your employee’s day, and they can encounter challenges on the road that can make them late. And what about those customer meetings or events that require travel? If an employee is tied to a physical workstation, then all those times they cannot get to the office is wasted time.
And in the case of sick children or even sick adults, you can’t necessarily plan for those events. But DaaS makes it possible for those employees to still be productive even though they can’t physically be present.
A survey by TINYPulse showed that workers who can telecommute, are overwhelmingly more productive than the ones who don’t. A Forbes article says, “91% of remote workers believe they “get more work done when working remotely,” compared to only 9% who feel they don’t.”
For example, typically when an application fails, the worker is stopped in their tracks. However, with DaaS, workers simply get a new machine provisioned. If a virtual desktop needs to be quarantined, it takes minutes to access another one that has the applications and access to documents to keep workers productive. Additionally, in the event of illness, by allowing remote work you can keep the remaining staff healthy as employees who are allowed to work remotely are more likely to stay home and work.
The Challenge: Cost
Every business, regardless of outside factors like the state of the economy, works to cut costs. It is essential to remaining competitive. Again, a DaaS solution and telework go hand in hand to help businesses cut costs.
To begin with, on the telework side, businesses that promote a remote working strategy use less in utilities and space. And if a business chooses to have a BYOD policy, they no longer have the expense of procuring equipment, setting it up, shipping it out and shipping it back in when an employee leaves. Maintenance of the device is the responsibility of the device owner and the business just supports the applications and virtual desktop. In most cases, companies will have the vendor (like us, dinCloud) provide the support of the virtual desktop directly.
On the side of DaaS, the cost savings also touch on the reduction of overhead and procurement needs. The infrastructure needed to host the virtual environment falls on the shoulders of the vendor. So does the efforts in securing the infrastructure, paying for the utilities to keep the system running and the space required to house the servers. Add to that, the vendor is also responsible for the software licenses, annual upgrades and any updates to the operating system. Your IT Staff will no longer have to keep up on these issues and are freed to focus on strategies that can help your business grow.
dinCloud DaaS Is Your Answer To The Remote Work Challenge
66% of workers feel they are more productive when they are in a remote work situation, according to a survey looking at over 5,500 respondents. And more productivity can directly impact the bottom line and your success. DaaS simplifies the challenges surrounding making a remote work strategy work. dinCloud is the #1 brand for DaaS and hosted workspaces – contact one of our cloud specialists to see how you can get started with DaaS.
