Is your business ready for remote work?

The world’s population is on lockdown, with individuals, families, communities and businesses implementing remote work as a form of ‘social distancing’ in an attempt to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is an unprecedented situation, with no ‘how to’ document to help navigate this indefinite new normal, and now is the time one of the industry’s most-used buzzwords will be put to test: How agile are we really?

Businesses in the technology and software industry would already be set up to work remotely. Companies like Realm Digital have invested in tools and processes that enable us to do what we need to do, from wherever we need to do it. While the biggest threat to the workforce to date has been automation, we have a much graver situation on our hands with the coronavirus. With this being our current reality, we look at ways to encourage and maintain productivity in a very unsettled landscape. 

Invest in the correct tools

There’s a plethora of tools available that can set your business up for success when it comes to remote working. At Realm, we believe in the power, and necessity, of collaborative efforts. This is why we have invested in tools that encourage just that.

Slack is an instant messaging platform that truly brings the team together. There are dedicated channels for different teams, projects and business functions that give everyone visibility of progress.

Jira allows us to efficiently manage projects, team commitments and delivery. This project management tool keeps us on track to make sure we effectively deliver.

Bitbucket is a hosting platform for git repositories, which provides the base for collaboration on code, allowing teams to review and provide feedback. “We love it because it has an easy-to-use interface to easily see visual changes in the code. Bitbucket integrates with various other platforms and supports automated continuous deployments, which ultimately saves time“, says Realm Digital Team Lead, Adrian de Vries.

Collaboration is key

G Suite allows for cross-organisational collaboration through the use of cloud-based Google products. It includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, Meet and more. This solution provides your team with unlimited storage, enhanced data security, improved team collaboration, and saves your business money. 

Google Meet has proven to be especially helpful in remote work situations as internal and client meetings can proceed with ease. 

Remote doesn’t mean isolate

Catching up face-to-face with a colleague over a morning cup of coffee, or grabbing a quick bite to eat for lunch together helps us build and strengthen relationships, and we can still encourage this as a remote team.

“Just because we work remotely, doesn’t mean we don’t talk to each other”, says Realm Digital’s CTO, Shaine Gordon. As part of our company’s work from home guideline, we encourage our staff to set time aside to still connect, whether that means having a lunch-time call to catch up, or a quick online check-in. Remote work doesn’t have to dehumanise your team dynamic. 

Your business may have been forced to adopt a work from home policy amidst the global crises we’re facing, but technology has long made provisions for us to work as an integrated, cohesive unit, no matter employees’ physical locations. And, with teams able to keep the lines of communication clear and open, nothing should stop your business from thriving in this time. 

We came across this remote work readiness assessment tool from Toptal that enables you to find out how remote-ready your organisation is.

Does your business need help in digitizing processes, or need guidance on identifying and implementing the tools to drive your business forward digitally?