Working Remotely During a Pandemic

As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads across the globe, the likelihood of it impacting your business increases. Being prepared in advance will reduce business disruption. Technology plays a major part in this plan.

Your Management should be actively discussing your individual company Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans. As with the possibility of any natural disaster, Total Networks has always recommended our Partners have a plan in place for the disruption of normal business operation and the distribution of your workforce for an extended period of time. Consider your business continuity plan for various scenarios, such as workplace illness, school closures, reduction in the availability of procurement, reduced or paused travel, and transition to teleworkers.

Here is a checklist to ensure your staff are productive while working away form the office:

1. Maintain remote access to your computers and/or servers.

Total Networks is able to remotely control our client’s computers for support of most issues. It is not necessary for us to go onsite to provide every-day support.

2. Ensure you can pay bills and receive payments.

Do you have remote access to your billing software? Consider a lockbox, where your bank can managed receiving payments and depositing them to your bank account.

3. Think about how you will handle phone calls.

Do you need phone numbers routed? Total Networks offers a business phone system that works well from cell phones or anywhere.

4. Validate you have reliable backups that do not require onsite attendance.

Total Networks will be monitoring backups remotely for our clients. If you are still using manual systems or are unsure of your setup, let us know.

5. Are you still Faxing?

If you are still using an analog physical fax machine, now is a good time to reconsider.

6. Do you have redundant Internet connections?

We always recommend our clients have redundant Internet connections to ensure remote access. If your staff will rely on company Internet for their remote access, then we strongly recommend this. For example, you might use Cox as your primary Internet provider and CenturyLink as a backup.

7. Evaluate your mobile device strategy.

If employees will be using personal computers, are they up to the task? Do they have phones that will do the job? Is your business data protected from hackers in the home environment? These are all security strategies that need to be addressed.

If you would like an assessment of your business continuity plan or have questions, contact us today.