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Remote working allows employees to work in a different environment that requires increased access to improved technologies.  

The transition towards remote working is not a new concept in the corporate world. But the onset of COVID-19 has made it urgency for businesses. Today, many people are turned to remote working as they are advised to stay home and maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus. This uncertain time has forced companies across diverse industries to efficiently prioritize critical operations and reevaluate pre-pandemic business practices that can help lead to higher profitability for the long-run.

While the epidemic outbreak has disrupted business operations, it has paved the way of new technological breakthroughs. The advancements of technology are now enabling the remote work to more productive work, enabling employees to perform their tasks more effectively. For instance, virtual communication solutions such as videoconferencing, emails, voice, and file sharing among others are an effective approach to remote work. This can help remote workers to do their works easily and effortlessly.

The transition to remote working, however, is particularly stressful for IT divisions who require to cope with a new set of challenges. Those challenges are mainly ensuring employees, partners, and sometimes customers have sufficient remote access to organizational systems and software; and making sure remote workers have the right software and hardware in place to access systems safely and securely.

Remote work is often perceived as an unproductive practice across businesses. However, to understand the effectiveness and productiveness of this working pattern, Airtaskter surveyed 1,004 full-time employees across the U.S., of which 505 worked remotely. The study found that remote employees work an additional 1.4 more days per month than in-office employees, which is nearly 17 additional workdays a year. In addition to this, the survey revealed that remote employees take longer breaks (22 minutes) on average than office employees (18 minutes), despite they work an additional 10 minutes a day.

The report further noted that office workers are unproductive for an average of 37 minutes a day, excluding lunch or breaks, while remote employees are unproductive for only 27 minutes. Moreover, 15 percent of remote workers said their boss distracted them from work, which is less than the 22 percent of office-based employees who said the same thing.    

The Adoption of Technology

To ensure the effective remote work transition, enterprises need remote-work ready technology adoption. In this regard, cloud-based tools such as ERP systems, document sharing apps and other popular office technologies will help drive this shift in working habits, as these tools enable employees to communicate and share information regardless of location. 

Conversely, using AI-powered tools like process automation and chatbots can also be an effective approach. As these tools have already made their way into day-to-day business operations, they are useful in the remote work environment. AI-enabled tools like Asana and Trello, among others that can help managers spend more time on activities requiring greater attention as well as assist employees to stay focused and productive with a virtual to-do list.

Remote working has not only changed the way businesses work but also altered several much-needed services, such as medical appointments. Thus, as enterprises are looking to implement a remote working strategy, they need to consider understand every employee’s working environment and the strategic adoption of technology.