As fuel prices rise, how is your business preparing?

Over the past few months, we’ve seen the price of fuel rise across the country. For businesses, that means employees are facing increased costs on their commute, and increased operations costs as the price of receiving and delivering goods goes up. Whilst so much of this is outside of business’ control, there are things that you can do to prepare for further price hikes.

We’re six years on from the pandemic, and in that time many organisations have opted to return to the office. In that time, ensuring that your staff can work remotely may have slid down your list of priorities. However, whether it's the result of fuel hikes, reducing the risk of illness transmission or a car crashing into your offices, remote working is like your insurance policy. Having a strong and well-considered remote working policy means that your business can keep operating, whatever happens.

To move to remote working when you need to, each member of staff needs their own laptop, and any additional essential hardware. They’ll also need to use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN. This is the link between the hardware, and any company data stored in the cloud.

To work effectively from home, every member of staff needs to be able to access all the files, documents and resources that they can access in the office. Microsoft 365 is the perfect solution to this problem. The cloud based service comes with the full Microsoft suite including Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Outlook, and it can be installed on multiple devices, meaning staff can access their files from their work mobile and laptop. All you need is access to the internet, and you can work from wherever you are.

Microsoft 365 uses Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). When enabled, this means users are required to submit their username or email, password and another piece of information (like a number on an authenticator app) to access their apps and company data. Enabling MFA means that, even whilst working remotely, your business is as protected as it can be.

Being able to make and receive calls is essential for businesses, whether these calls are internal between your employees, or external from your customers. 

For video conferencing, we’d recommend Microsoft Teams. It includes private and group online audio and video calls, screen sharing and text chat. After a call or meeting, everything from your meeting is saved and accessible, including any notes and whiteboards. Microsoft Teams can also be used to centralise all the information within your business, so everyone can find what they need, when they need it.

For phone calls, remote telephony means using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). Businesses can set up VOIP for their organisation, and users can then load a virtual handset on their smartphones. This means that regardless of where they are, whether they’re working from home, or out on a job, calls can come through as if they were in the office. VOIP comes with everything you can expect from your office telephone systems, including conference calls, voicemail, call logging and recording. 

Transcendit can help you find remote working solutions that work for your business. Give us a call on 0191 482 0444 to get started.