The difference between work and private life is continuously shrinking. We can easily believe that this is only temporary effect which is caused by slow but steady relief of anti-pandemic limitations. On the other hand, we must keep in mind the opinions of specialists from technological and sociological fields who say that our life is not going to be the same as before Covid-19.
It is true that some of us are still fully enjoying some benefits which working from home offers, but it’s only a matter of time when we all finally realize that our work and private life is going to change significantly. Getting use to an unexpected and unwanted change is the most challenging thing that can happen to workers and companies in general.
We must keep in mind that some people especially creative workers were working from home even before pandemic. Covid only made the transformation trend faster which would happen either way with or without pandemic. The raise of work from home environment is not as sudden as it might seem – it already existed and flourished as we have enough means and programs which make the balance between work and private life healthy and efficient.
Communication
The most important aspect of working in a team is communication and easy transfer of vital information between employees. For this we have numerous communication tools.
One of the absolute favourites platforms is Microsoft Teams. This application is added to the Microsoft 365 subscription and represents complete system including chat, video conference, calls via internet. It is also possible to share and work on projects in format of Microsoft office and the platform has easy connection possibilities to third party applications thanks to free plugins. Disadvantage is the native system for managing data and cloud. Sharing data is easy, but the management is limited and chaotic.
Good alternative is Slack. The app leads in the charts of popularity especially at the west. The first advantage is clear design and numerous additional functions. Slack allows you to manage teams which are working on various projects and connect them randomly as needed via chat rooms. Big advantage is particularly good interaction with Google documents or drop box. Mostly using Slack is for free but with subscription you can receive immediate customer support and extra tools for integration of third-party applications.
Remote Desktop Connection
Remote Connection serves as a bridge for the access to the power and functions of workstations. Nowadays it is in golden era. It is relatively safe option, how to access licensed software from anywhere, even from home.
The most used platform is Windows RDP which is common addon in windows. It is most suited for easy computing such as managing documents. Problematic are limited security options, which are often underestimated by companies. From the start of Covid there has been 30% raise in cyber-attacks towards these protocols. Generally, it is recommended to invest into professional remote desktop connection in order to increase security measurements.
Extremely popular alternative is TeamViewer. In its core free application which offers everything what you would expect from a free solution with easy setup and usage. On the other hand, is not very suited for prolonged period of work. TeamViewer is not a systematic solution but is good enough for a smaller workload. For connection itself It is not necessary to setup any port and the program easily cooperates with most firewalls.
Access to the company site
Correctly setup-up VPN represents one of the most powerful tools for home office. VPN connection allows safe and immediate access to data, which are needed for those companies which let part of their data out of cloud storage. The portfolio of VPN offering is huge, so let us have a look on the most praised solutions.
Platform ExpressVPN is mostly known for its security. Express uses technology Trusted Server in order to secure the access to the site, prohibits site from saving or sharing data or information about users work with anyone else. Incredibly useful is also security break, which can stop the connection instantly, if the platform detects any breach or inconsistency in the data flow.
Exceptionally good security can also be achieved by using NordVPN, which can control as much as 5 000 simultaneously connected IP addresses at the same time and also allows you to manage and set rules for specific IP access points for users which deal with the most sensible data which require extra security – those users can even connect from the same computer while maintaining the high security status! This platform also contains the same technology for securing user’s data and will notify you if something malevolent is going on.
Whole manual could be written about platforms which make working from home easier, but we would still be able to find more and more ways of improving home office. Every company is different, and the solution cannot be unified for everyone. At the end, the most important are the people which are using those systems on everyday basis.