2020 changed how we view the workplace. Moving forward, most firms will no longer be exclusively tied to working in their physical office space. Based on discussions with colleagues and peers, many firms will downsize (or at least not expand) office space. Instead, flexible work space and flexible schedules will be more typical for most businesses.
As this occurs, there are many things we need to think about as leaders in our firms to ensure that people are happy, our sense of community/camaraderie stays strong, productivity remains high, and clients receive the same level of care we provided before.
IT’s Role
In the past, firms traditionally built a separate means to enable people to work remotely. If working remotely was slightly less productive then working in the office, that was acceptable, and was often even expected. However, this is no longer the case. Now, how we build IT needs to reflect how businesses and people need to operate: working from any location seamlessly and securely. For a small to midsize firm, it does not make sense to invest in a separate “remote access” platform. The easiest, most secure, and cost effective way to do this is to leverage cloud.
Not All Clouds are Equal
Of course there are many different types of cloud solutions, and not every cloud solution is equal. We want to ensure we reduce the complexity involved. We can leverage cloud and still not solve this problem. For instance, using multiple cloud systems and providers means multiple different support teams, security systems, and compliances. This also leads to integration issues when applications reside in multiple clouds.
The transition to the cloud needs to be as seamless as possible. You do not want to change every aspect of how your business operates in order to adapt to the business’s new technology needs. When people think of cloud, their first thought is changing their applications to web-based cloud versions. Of course, this is a big change for businesses and often features change or are lost completely. Is there another way?
A Better Cloud Solution
The fastest growing type of cloud is Desktop as a Service or DaaS. Using this type of cloud, your desktops, servers, applications, and files all move to single cloud. Each member of your team accesses their Windows 10 desktop from any device. The flexibility to work from anywhere is achieved immediately, while ensuring the change for users is minimal since all your key applications are the same – there’s nothing new to learn!
Focus on Security
Two issues that firms face when it comes to a flexible workplace schedule are 1) ensuring that all aspects of every person’s role can be achieved in the same way no matter where they are working from, and 2) regardless of the device or location someone is working from, they are able to work securely. When businesses quickly pivoted to working from outside the office, the impact it had to the security of the businesses IT became a secondary thought as it was more important just to keep the business operating. This inattention to security is evidenced by a huge increase in cyber breaches at small to midsize businesses during 2020. When working in a DaaS environment, your security begins at the desktop and is constant. All your applications and files are accessed from the same desktop streamed from a secure cloud, ensuring that the security systems in place are always in effect, regardless of location or device.
Our DaaS Solution
Boxtop is our fully cloud-based Windows desktop that is made accessible from the cloud. All of your applications and data live in the same cloud, making them secure and seamlessly accessible from any device. With fully redundant systems that are monitored 24x7x365, you can always trust your data is safe with Boxtop.
Hear what our clients have to say about their experience with Boxtop.