Do not panic. There are some very simple things you can and should do.

You have a receptionist or guard watching the front door, an alarm system at night, antivirus software protecting your computers, and a firewall protecting your servers. It’s all good except for one thing. You just feel like your staff are working from home. You cannot allow your business information, including some data with compliance requirements that must be protected, to be exposed to the Internet. If you’ve suddenly found yourself in this position, consider providing your employees with these basic tools so they can work from home safely.

We live in an age where the level of risk to our confidential information is growing every day. The need to safeguard digital communications places an enormous burden on a business and requires constant diligence to mitigate these ever-evolving risks. During a Black-Swan event like the spread of COVID-19, where you are forced to make a critical decision like sending your staff home with only a few days’ notice, it’s critical that you don’t let your guard down. Using a secure encrypted email application is the first line of risk prevention for your business.

Email encryption is a must

You need an app that your entire team can use safely, easily, and affordably. You don’t have time for long training sessions or figuring out who has what ability at home. You need a product that is easy to install, easy to use and highly flexible, including a compatible mobile app. If you’re going to be sending secure emails to customers, vendors, or others outside of your business, you’ll need an app that allows you to send encrypted email to recipients in order to purchase the app and receive secure email.

Check out Send_It_Secure from Protected Trust https://envoy.protectedtrust.com/ Your free trial will be extended to 30 days during this crisis with no further financial commitment required. Group rates are available if you choose to continue using them in the future.

team communications

Communicating with your team of employees in the easiest and most transparent way possible helps keep your team focused and motivated, even when working remotely. There are several products on the market that provide text messaging and group chats, video conferencing, scheduling and conducting online team meetings, and file sharing and collaboration. To keep things as simple as possible for employees who are getting used to working remotely, combining these capabilities into a single, easy-to-use app will eliminate a lot of headaches and get your team back to work quickly. The Microsoft Teams app is a good way to accomplish this. There are some minimal fees up front, but they’re small if you can keep your employees productive.

See https://www.protectedtrust.com/ They specialize in setting up virtual teams.

culture change

Employees like to work from home and see the ability to do so anytime as a benefit. No traffic, no gas, and work in your pajamas if you want. Then they finish their first day of remote work, adding soon that their list may change. No quiet office, no escape from the kids, no business lunches, loss of contact with coworkers, and delays in getting their work done because they can’t just walk down the hall to ask the boss a question. Let’s face it, people also have plenty of reasons to enjoy working from the office. Your employees may be in for culture shock. Some can handle it and will see it as a benefit, and some won’t.

Working with remote employees is also a culture change for managers. Can you run a business without the ability to see your employees’ fingers running across the keyboard? Many managers are “old school” and have a bigger problem with culture change than their employees. Much of the change is in the manager’s mindset. https://paulemcmahon.wordpress.com/2020/03/15/6-tips-in-10-minutes-to-work-from-home-successfully/

I recommend a book called “Virtual Project Management” by Paul McMahon. It was written for software administrators but has wide application in any virtual environment. www.pemsystems.com

There is every reason to believe that the days of working in tall office towers are over. What 9/11 failed to do, the 2020 pandemic can. Of course, I recognize that there are jobs that cannot be done remotely… but many of them can. The overheads to run most offices — rent, electricity, cleaning, insurance — disappear when you close your doors and allow your employees to work from home. Lowering overhead costs is often a good tradeoff for a perceived lack of control over your employees. Use the current situation to test remote work with your team of employees. You may be pleasantly surprised.