The landscape of the modern workplace is ever evolving. Technology now guides everything from the way meetings are held, decisions are made, and offices are laid out, to the way business is conducted, financed, and optimized. And while the idea of working remotely is not a new one, it is more popular than ever.

This is due at least in part to its flexibility and convenience but also because of what many companies are now seeing as its significant benefits in higher productivity as well as its reductions in staff turnover and stress. In fact, one study by Stanford University found as much as a 50% drop in turnover for companies that employ a virtual workforce.

Setting up your virtual workforce

Setting your company’s network up to be able to support a large number of employees, all working remotely from a variety locations, distances, and devices can present its own unique set of challenges and opportunities.

While Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have allowed employees to work remotely for decades, we now have more options than ever (cloud technologies, apps, mobile devices) when it comes to working anywhere and at anytime.

But with that freedom and flexibility come some common concerns. Security, employee accountability, the opportunity for collaboration, and productivity issues all pose dilemmas and that’s before we even get into those challenges that may be unique to your industry and those in which sensitive data access is key.

Regardless of the challenges your company may be facing, today’s technologies make it easier than ever to create your own virtual workforce and begin reaping the benefits that remote work can bring.

Here are some tips for creating and managing a network that can support your virtual workers.

Evaluate your needs

Just because something works well for another company doesn’t mean it’s automatically the right fit for you. As with any system modernization, you’ll need to first come up with a list of departments for which this virtual workforce is necessary or will help streamline things for your business.

Then you’ll need to do a costs and benefits analysis for each of the departments that will be affected by the addition of a virtual workforce. How will this positively impact those teams? How could it negatively impact those teams? What other challenges or drawbacks might stand in your way?

What kind of network do you want?

While VPNs may still be the best remote networking option for many, enabling you to send and receive data securely, there are now a variety of public, private, and even hybrid cloud solutions available. In addition to VPNs, you may want to consider:

  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
  • Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
  • Software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN)
  • Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN)

Regardless of which option you may initially feel will work for your organization, remember, security should be a first line consideration in every network decision you make.

Reviewing the very specific needs of your individual organization, industry, and the ways in which your staff will be expected to access and use the network should figure prominently into your security considerations and how they may influence your choices in a world of private, public, and hybrid cloud technology.

How to implement

In order to achieve your ideal remote workforce (one that is responsive and accountable, securely and collaboratively telecommuting wherever they may be and sidestepping potential risks) you’re going to need to do a bit of careful planning.

The first step in creating a strong game plan is building your technological foundation in combination with a solid set of employee expectations and best practices.

Tech & devices

Having the right technology in place is crucial to building a thriving virtual workforce. You’re going to need to assess a range of hardware, software, online office suites, apps, and service subscriptions. You’ll have to decide if you want to bundle it all up in a one-stop shopping style purchase or mix and match for a more distinctly tailored approach.

You’ll also need to consider:

  • Centralized data storage and connection (ideally through the cloud and including file storage, sharing and collaboration tools) which will allow your virtual employees access wherever they’re located
  • Optimized, real-time communication solutions (email, social media, text messengers, task management apps, and VoIP for video chat, etc.)
  • Devices (laptops, tablets, computers, and even smart phones) on which they will work and communicate.

Depending on the amount of time your employees will spend working remotely versus onsite, you may even want to offer at-home office equipment and supplies—or you may rather opt to allow your employees to use their existing tools after they’ve been properly vetted and prepared for your company’s security compliance.

Expectations and productivity tracking

When setting your employees up for remote work, it’s important they have a clear understanding of your expectations for their productivity. While in-house employees’ tasks and workload may be easier to monitor in office, you can set your virtual workforce up for success (or failure) by how you handle their project, task, and additional workflow assignments.

You can achieve this by implementing a system by which their productivity is measured, as well as setting timelines for check-ins, deadlines, and project milestones and taking care to ensure the system you choose allows you the transparency and oversight to manage employee output, task lists, and daily activity data while on the clock.

Remember, any workforce requires trust. Employees in-house can just as easily be frittering away their time in conversation with coworkers, playing online games, or reading and responding to private communications. This is why setting clear and concise expectations from the start, backed up by enterprise technologies that allow you to track the activity of your individual users, will go a long way to ensuring your virtual workforce’s success.

Communicate to collaborate

Teams work best when they work together – not against one another or splintered in different directions. So, once you’ve got your infrastructure and measurement tools in place and are assured of your employees trustworthiness to work remotely and productively – how do you create and continue to nurture your team’s connection?

This is where you need to think ahead and be creative when planning for your virtual workforce’s network. The value of being in a shared space cannot be overstated, humans are social creatures and in order to build those initial levels of trust and comfort among employees, they need regular interaction—both professional and casual in nature. These interactions can go a long way towards getting the very best ideas and collaboration out of your workforce.

When you make a plan for those who work remotely, there should also be a variety of ways in which to achieve those interactions, helping to spark new innovations and collaborations amongst your in-house and virtual teams. These can include any number or combination of solutions that get your employees talking (whether virtually or literally) like:

  • Creating a flexible work environment (employees work in-office a certain number of days and virtually others)
  • Use enterprise social networks
  • Conference calls
  • Online task or project management tools
  • Internal communication apps
  • Text and in-house messaging systems
  • Schedule regular team meetings and check-ins either at the office or virtually (using video chat technology)

Security

Allowing employees remote access to your sensitive data can understandably cause feelings of concern, especially in light of the spikes in data breeches in recent years. And your concern is good— if you use it to fuel your vigilance for your network’s security. It’s important to remember though, that certainly there are risks, but those same risks remain whether employees are in or out of the office environment.

You will need a solid security strategy that allows you to grant permission levels and methods of authenticating employee identity before accessing data from outside the office. You will also need a secure, permissions-based document library, as well as a remote work policy and best practices manual for all staff that will be working remotely.
Mobile device management software allows you to control and monitor how employee devices are being used and offers the added ability to remotely wipe all data from a device should it become lost, compromised, or stolen.

Taking the time to not only implement these strategies but to clarify them for offsite employees, makes each member of your team responsible for the security of your network and sets a strong foundation for your company’s data safety.

Test

Lastly, be sure to test your new virtual workforce network with a small group before launching companywide. This will provide you with much needed real-time feedback, allowing you to work out any problems without affecting too many people and perfect your system and best practice guidelines before widespread deployment.

It’s never been more cost-effective or easy to implement your own virtual workforce network. With a little careful planning, a solid security strategy and employee education on your side, your company will be poised to capitalize on the many benefits of this growing workplace trend.