In the midst of the current crisis your business may well be among the many that are having to pivot your day-to-day operations to function predominantly online. Or, you will at least have to be shifting as much of your operations as possible to digital.
Obviously, there are numerous kinds of business that cannot move entirely online, those businesses that need to have staff or contractors attend a site to physically do a job for example. Those businesses can still safeguard their staff as much as possible by shifting their office operations to home-based online working.
So how do you pivot online?
When someone throws out the phrase like “pivoting online” you could be forgiven for wondering exactly what on earth is involved in that.
In short, what you are trying to achieve is an operation that mirrors, as much as possible, your general day-to-day office activity. Staff need to be able to access and work on the files and systems that they usually do, people need to be able to pick up incoming emails, calls and enquires from your website etc, and it needs to be possible to continue sending/receiving files and contracts.
There are numerous softwares, apps and systems that can make this achievable.
CRM’s
First of all, a CRM system that your company operation runs through (a good one anyway) can usually be cloud-based, meaning your employees can access it from home (sometimes there are permissions and remote access settings to be updated) and work on it as if they were sat at their desks.
If you do not have a CRM system (and most businesses could make use of one) we would recommend you look into some options. The HubSpot CRM is free to use up to a certain level and has a number of great features to make it easy to use. It is predominantly sales focused, but it works exceptionally well as a contact base and record keeping system.
VOIP Phones
Even traditional phone lines have the capability to be forwarded to mobiles, it is just much easier on VOIP phones as they are designed with this capability in mind. Most have apps or control panels that can be accessed via a web browser on which you can adjust the settings easily and quickly.
Employees can even take handsets home, plug them into their ethernet port and it is immediately up and running as a landline (someone calls your office, it rings on their handset at home).
Cloud File Systems
If, like many companies, you have numerous Word/ PDF/ Excel files that need to be accessed, worked on, updated and saved by multiple members of staff, then you should already be using a cloud file system.
If you are not, then you should be organising one. These cloud systems work by syncing all the files to a central file system. So, when someone updates one, everyone gets the updated version.
Some of these systems are better than others, in our experience Dropbox is the best.
IT Infrastructure & Security
The main concerns on the above is of course the security and infrastructure. You want to make sure that you are not opening your business up to problems or data protection issues by allowing your employees access from home.
Of course, regardless of the situation, there are no absolute safeguards. But, in the present circumstances there have been some relaxation of the rules, that being said, you still need to do what you can to protect data and security.
Different IT infrastructures and different data sensitivity will always require different approaches. As such it is not possible to get into it all here, do get in touch with us should you want some specific advice on this.
Legal
If you are legally covered, you can at least rest assured that you are unlikely to face litigation should there be any issues with moving to a remote or online working model. Ensure that your staff contracts are up to date and include data protection terms, make sure that your client contracts also cover this and (where necessary) send out contract addendums in light of the situation.
Check that your insurances cover you as much as possible and consider getting them updated/upgraded should it be pertinent to do so.
Planning
Of course, the biggest element of this entire process is the planning of it. This is where we can really add the greatest benefit. Our specialists are all well-versed in business continuity planning, most have worked in businesses that operate with remote working and can bring a wealth of experience to bear.
For more information on how to help your business to pivot online, please get in touch today.
