best tools for remote working
Discussion
Depends what your job entails but for me the essentials are a purpose made working area, a fast stable workstation with decent monitors, headset, good seating, etc. In software terms most of my communication and collaboration is via Teams but I also get invited to WebEx, GTM and Zoom calls regularly so have those desktop versions installed. I use MS RDP, Azure WVD and/or Citrix to remote access systems depending on what the client provisions. I always have a few VMs powered up which I can use to sandbox anything as needed.
I can get away with working off a single laptop if needs must (travelling somewhere for example) but it’s tiresome compared to the proper home setup.
I can get away with working off a single laptop if needs must (travelling somewhere for example) but it’s tiresome compared to the proper home setup.
We use our corporate S4B usually but we also have 10 BlueJeans accounts and we will use WhatsApp and even Facebook Messenger if necessary. It depends upon who we are connecting with and the level of connection/sharing required, and the level of confidentiality in regard to the conversation.
My company is testing remote access tomorrow. All 900 employees have been instructed to work from home with only the IT team expected in the office to measure our environment's capabilities against baselines captured over the previous few days.
My company is testing remote access tomorrow. All 900 employees have been instructed to work from home with only the IT team expected in the office to measure our environment's capabilities against baselines captured over the previous few days.
Once I've VPN'd into work I use the same tools I do when I'm at my desk. Teams, Skype, Outlook, OneDrive, etc. Even my work phone is a softphone and is on my laptop rather than a lump of plastic on my desk.
The most important thing I find for working from home is to set a long time on your Skype "away" presence setting and make sure your laptop is within reach of your PlayStation controller in case it makes any noises or gets any pop ups.
The most important thing I find for working from home is to set a long time on your Skype "away" presence setting and make sure your laptop is within reach of your PlayStation controller in case it makes any noises or gets any pop ups.
There is no one size fits all. We are an IT company and have been asked this question a lot over the past week.
The best tools are those that enable to you work as closely to the way you work when in the office, to minimise disruption.
Best place to start is to figure out what are the 'Must haves' v's the 'Nice to have's'. It may be that people have to take a 2nd machine, swap machines, or undertake a function they would not normally do. If this is the case, far better to plan in advance.
Then consider your current suite of applications and your bandwidth. No point on relying on VPN/Remote Desktop if your internet connection is inadequate.
- o365 & SaaS is great as you can use it from home without a VPN, but there is not a lot of time to migrate if you are not already using them
- VPN is great (as long as you have a router / firewall to support it in a safe way), but may be of little use if you need applications installed in the office (on the svr or desktop pc's)
- Citrix Xen Desktop is great if you want to take control of an office applications in the office, but not if everybody takes their device home
The most important tool to offset not being together, is (in my opinion) a Messaging/voice/Vid conf app. Be it Teams, webex or the Zoom free version, it is a great way to offset home working. I'd also try to make sure everybody has a webcam. If you're not used to it, it is weird at first, but that quickly passes, and is a great way to keep BAU.
For what it is worth - I live 3hrs from our office, so spend a lot of time WFH. Other than Teams, the tools I use are no different to those I would use if I were office based.
The best tools are those that enable to you work as closely to the way you work when in the office, to minimise disruption.
Best place to start is to figure out what are the 'Must haves' v's the 'Nice to have's'. It may be that people have to take a 2nd machine, swap machines, or undertake a function they would not normally do. If this is the case, far better to plan in advance.
Then consider your current suite of applications and your bandwidth. No point on relying on VPN/Remote Desktop if your internet connection is inadequate.
- o365 & SaaS is great as you can use it from home without a VPN, but there is not a lot of time to migrate if you are not already using them
- VPN is great (as long as you have a router / firewall to support it in a safe way), but may be of little use if you need applications installed in the office (on the svr or desktop pc's)
- Citrix Xen Desktop is great if you want to take control of an office applications in the office, but not if everybody takes their device home
The most important tool to offset not being together, is (in my opinion) a Messaging/voice/Vid conf app. Be it Teams, webex or the Zoom free version, it is a great way to offset home working. I'd also try to make sure everybody has a webcam. If you're not used to it, it is weird at first, but that quickly passes, and is a great way to keep BAU.
For what it is worth - I live 3hrs from our office, so spend a lot of time WFH. Other than Teams, the tools I use are no different to those I would use if I were office based.
Australiam said:
There is no one size fits all. We are an IT company and have been asked this question a lot over the past week.
The best tools are those that enable to you work as closely to the way you work when in the office, to minimise disruption.
Best place to start is to figure out what are the 'Must haves' v's the 'Nice to have's'. It may be that people have to take a 2nd machine, swap machines, or undertake a function they would not normally do. If this is the case, far better to plan in advance.
Then consider your current suite of applications and your bandwidth. No point on relying on VPN/Remote Desktop if your internet connection is inadequate.
- o365 & SaaS is great as you can use it from home without a VPN, but there is not a lot of time to migrate if you are not already using them
- VPN is great (as long as you have a router / firewall to support it in a safe way), but may be of little use if you need applications installed in the office (on the svr or desktop pc's)
- Citrix Xen Desktop is great if you want to take control of an office applications in the office, but not if everybody takes their device home
The most important tool to offset not being together, is (in my opinion) a Messaging/voice/Vid conf app. Be it Teams, webex or the Zoom free version, it is a great way to offset home working. I'd also try to make sure everybody has a webcam. If you're not used to it, it is weird at first, but that quickly passes, and is a great way to keep BAU.
For what it is worth - I live 3hrs from our office, so spend a lot of time WFH. Other than Teams, the tools I use are no different to those I would use if I were office based.
good post thanksThe best tools are those that enable to you work as closely to the way you work when in the office, to minimise disruption.
Best place to start is to figure out what are the 'Must haves' v's the 'Nice to have's'. It may be that people have to take a 2nd machine, swap machines, or undertake a function they would not normally do. If this is the case, far better to plan in advance.
Then consider your current suite of applications and your bandwidth. No point on relying on VPN/Remote Desktop if your internet connection is inadequate.
- o365 & SaaS is great as you can use it from home without a VPN, but there is not a lot of time to migrate if you are not already using them
- VPN is great (as long as you have a router / firewall to support it in a safe way), but may be of little use if you need applications installed in the office (on the svr or desktop pc's)
- Citrix Xen Desktop is great if you want to take control of an office applications in the office, but not if everybody takes their device home
The most important tool to offset not being together, is (in my opinion) a Messaging/voice/Vid conf app. Be it Teams, webex or the Zoom free version, it is a great way to offset home working. I'd also try to make sure everybody has a webcam. If you're not used to it, it is weird at first, but that quickly passes, and is a great way to keep BAU.
For what it is worth - I live 3hrs from our office, so spend a lot of time WFH. Other than Teams, the tools I use are no different to those I would use if I were office based.
We've been remote first since the firm started 14 years ago. As has been said there isn't a solution that fits everyone but we've been using Slack and Zoom for a few years as normal part of business and so all 400 of us now around the globe can happily work remotely and isolated at home - about 80% of the workforce chooses this by default despite having nine offices around the globe. Productivity sees us using software that is all SaaS, mainly Google and Atlassian products. It's a lot easier of knowledge workers. I'd be having kittens if I was in the manufacturing industry!
I'd echo what has been said previously, get you chat and meeting/conferencing sorted as a priority. Whether that's Zoom/Webex/Skype/Teams whatever works for you in you situations. If you're an MS shop then Teams makes a lot of sense. If you're agnostic one of the free providers or even plain old Skype might be sufficient.
I'd echo what has been said previously, get you chat and meeting/conferencing sorted as a priority. Whether that's Zoom/Webex/Skype/Teams whatever works for you in you situations. If you're an MS shop then Teams makes a lot of sense. If you're agnostic one of the free providers or even plain old Skype might be sufficient.
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