Friday, March 29, 2024

Remote Work Checklist For Managing Enterprise Mobile Devices

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The coronavirus crisis has literally brought businesses to a halt. Thankfully, the transition to the remote working model has enabled most of the organizations to survive and regain their footing. While work from home has been the way of working for the last few months, you can expect a shift towards remote-heavy operations in the future as well. Getting future ready will require more tangible steps for businesses as having a fully distributed workforce may become the norm. In this situation, it is critical to ensure that you are fully ready for a major segment of your employees working remotely for the long haul.

Apart from implementing work from home policies, you will have to come up with the right mobility strategies as well. After all, people would be using company devices remotely and their personal devices as well. Needless to say, the complexity of managing such a large number of devices can make things challenging. Moreover, you will also have to manage the risk that comes with the use of personal ones for accessing business data. Having a proper mobility management solution in place makes sense so that you are geared up for the remote transition. Here is a remote work checklist you can follow for managing enterprise mobility effectively.

List the devices leaving the office

To start with, you will need to keep track of all the company-owned devices that leave the office as a part of your work from the home initiative. The business needs to assess and record the number of devices that employees will need to take with them. Performing an inventory can involve a lot of work if you have a huge team switching to remote work. But this step is essential as it not only gives you a count but also opens the opportunity to sweep the entire devices for malware. Moreover, you can go a step ahead and ensure that they are updated with the latest versions of software and firmware. While you may have done an inventory once when you had to make the initial switch, you will probably need to do it periodically if the workforce operates remotely for a foreseeable future.

Onboard employee-owned devices

While you will need to keep close track of the devices you provide to the remote team, you cannot overlook the personal ones they use for work. As a part of the new operational setup, you will probably allow employees to access business data and applications with their own devices. If you already have a BYOD program, you will probably have a system for onboarding any employee-owned devices. But if it is something you have embraced right now, follow it for every device in use. The process makes personal devices ready for official use by checking them for vulnerabilities.

Have a device management solution in place

Another significant aspect of a remote working checklist for enterprise mobility is to have a device management solution in place. Without such a solution to track your devices, they will be as bad as blind spots in your infrastructure. Investing in the best MDM for busy enterprises is a smart thing to do as it will keep the devices on track even when they are out of the office. Moreover, modern MDM tools can secure and control them remotely, enabling your team to monitor things closely from anywhere. And you can rest assured about covering the risk to corporate data to a significant extent.

Establish a reliable line of communication

Communication with your remote employees is critical, particularly during a crisis situation like this one. It empowers you to keep the business up and running with teams performing smoothly. At the same time, regular connection keeps people motivated even while they work from home. Therefore, you must establish a reliable line of communication with all the employees and teams. Leveraging apps like Zoom and Skype is a good way to collaborate and stay in touch. At the same time, encourage team members to connect regularly as well as report emergency situations and malfunctioning devices quickly.

What Next…..?

While this remote working checklist has you covered on the enterprise mobility front, you cannot rely on it alone considering the dynamic landscape. The COVID-19 situation has been throwing surprises on businesses before and you never know what lies ahead. Staying one step ahead with your remote mobility practices can be of great help. Monitor the operations consistently and see what is working and what can be improved. Go the extra mile to make things better for the employees because even the smallest effort can translate into higher productivity and satisfaction.

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