8 Keys to Turbocharge the Effectiveness of Remote Workers

8 KEYS TO TURBOCHARGE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF REMOTE WORKERS

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

The Covid-19 pandemic has companies embracing remote work practically overnight. Suddenly, everybody’s videoconferencing on Zoom and chatting on Microsoft Teams.

But the ease of embracing those apps soon collides with a complicated reality: Remote workers need a much broader toolset installed as soon as possible to be truly effective. Moreover, they need much greater attention to the experience of working apart from their colleagues.

“I think a lot of organizations prior to Covid-19 took their employees’ experience for granted,” says Matt Jimison, vice president for accelerated solutions at DMI, which serves enterprise technology clients in every industry sector. “This is a great time for the entire world to say, ‘our employees matter. We’ve got to set them up to be successful’,” Jimison adds.

This e-book draws on the insights of DMI’s Accelerated Solutions experts, who specialize in streamlining and optimizing applications and platforms that can turbocharge the effectiveness of remote workers. Their recommendations:

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> Standardize collaboration tools > Procure software licenses > Automate repetitive processes > Implement virtual desktop infrastructure > Optimize applications and cloud tools > Leverage low- and no-code development > Measure Agile effectiveness > Establish governance Read on for a concise guide to turbocharging the productivity of your remote workers while keeping their welfare front-and-center.

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

1 STANDARDIZE YOUR COLLABORATION TOOLS The work we do together in real life must be reimagined online. Tools like Microsoft Teams allow people to teleconference, create transcripts of meetings, share documents, chat in real time, schedule future meetings and many more tasks.

“At the end of the day, it’s really about creating a virtual office,” DMI’s Matt Jimison says. Organizations have embraced a mix of collaboration software in bits and pieces over the years — tossing WebEx, Zoom and Skype into the mix, for instance.

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That can create a messy, confusing experience for workers. “It’s important to standardize that toolset,” Jimison says. Simplifying the app portfolio also can trim costs. “The ability to save money right now is more important than ever,” Jimison adds.

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

2 PROCURE SOFTWARE LICENSES It’s easy to overlook the basics in the rush to embrace remote work. Most software vendors have complex licensing rules they can enforce in real time — which can cut workers off from essential applications.

“It’s critical to get the tools into the hands of the people that need them,” Jimison says. That means ensuring you have the precise number of licenses for your needs. Large vendors like Microsoft have multiple classes of licenses for various applications and use cases.

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“Companies often don’t know what they don’t know,” adds Brandon McGhan, a DMI Accelerated Solutions Director. For instance, they may have a Microsoft Office 365 contract but do not know the nuances of the licensing for missioncritical apps like Excel and PowerPoint.

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

3 AUTOMATE REPETITIVE PROCESSES People using Office 365 often find themselves copying and pasting data from Excel to Word to PowerPoint in the same way over long stretches of time.

The switch to remote work provides an ideal opportunity to automate these processes.

“Some companies have a high volume of these tasks, like thousands of entries per week, and it’s absolutely killing them,” says Corey Roth, an Accelerated Solutions Director at DMI who specializes in Microsoft technologies.

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It’s possible to validate Excel data, for instance, and to move it automatically — freeing remote workers from mundane chores. “Many have always had the technology to do this,” Roth adds. “They just didn’t have a partner like us to help them craft this process and understand how the technology maps to their business needs.”

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

4 IMPLEMENT VIRTUAL DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE Remote workers want their favorite apps on their preferred devices — laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is an excellent solution because it hosts software on-premises or in the cloud and transmits a complete desktop experience to remote devices.

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VDI is faster and more scalable than a virtual private network (VPN). “All you need is a browser or a VDI app to ‘paint the screen’ for the user,” says Anthony Mayhew, Client Solutions Director at DMI. “The real action is happening back at the VDI server.”

VDI lets users access large files and apps like CAD/CAM. It also stores data in the cloud, where it’s more secure than it might be in a user’s device. Moreover, letting people use their own devices can save money for the employer.

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

5 OPTIMIZE APPLICATIONS AND CLOUD TOOLS Companies that need rapid employee impact probably will not need to dive neck-deep into new software packages.

“This is the time to maximize the investment in software you already have,” DMI’s Matt Jimison says. “It’s a great opportunity to take a step back and ask, what do we really need to be successful, and what could we potentially get rid of?”

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For instance, companies can look at areas like CRM (customer relationship management) that might duplicate functions in other software suites. They can also embrace cloud tools like Office 365 that are much easier to manage than conventional software.

“The nice thing about cloud tools is there’s not a lot of installation,” Jimison adds. That makes it much quicker to get cloud apps into the hands of remote employees.

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

6 LEVERAGE LOW-CODE/NO-CODE DEVELOPMENT Developing a new app for mobile workers used to take months or even years.

But thanks to low-code/no-code mobile apps, developers can reduce that timeline to weeks or even days.

“Low-code/no-code is about being able to get your application out into the hands of your employees very quickly,” Jimison says. Microsoft’s Power Apps tools, for instance, enable companies to build solutions that integrate with Office 365, SharePoint and other advanced platforms and technologies.

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These apps could be as simple as an online form where people enter data on their phones, or as sophisticated as a CRM app that helps remote workers integrate customer data into their workflows.

“We literally can build an app faster than the time it takes to get the contract signed with the client,” Jimison adds.

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

7 MEASURE AGILE EFFECTIVENESS Agile software development accelerates time to value, creating fast, effective opportunities to streamline your remote staff’s workflows. Agile teams work fast and iterate often, which makes them attractive to larger companies and enterprises that may have 50-100 apps serving a raft of departments and disciplines.

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That poses a distinct challenge: “You have to be able to measure the success and the velocity of Agile teams,” DMI’s Matt Jimison says. DMI developed a proprietary methodology called the Agile Performance Index (APIX) to document the effectiveness of Agile teams, giving managers the ability to assess what’s working and change when needed. “We can find the criteria that’s most important to the client and measure the success of Agile teams on a sprint-by-sprint basis,” Jimison adds. This data helps quantify the success of teams and their return on investment.

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

8 ESTABLISH GOVERNANCE Implementing a large portfolio of tools for remote workers requires governance: Standardization, security and change management.

“You don’t want to roll out all of these capabilities and create the wild, wild West,” Jimison says. It’s easy for people to share data and documents online, which raises the specter of costly breaches. “You simply can’t compromise security,” he adds.

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Standardizing workflows and collaboration methodologies will remove the confusion and aggravation that often accompanies rapid adoption of new technologies. Addressing sources of frustration is a cornerstone of change management, which is pivotal to the productivity of a virtual office.

These eight recommendations aspire to an outcome that transcends the coronavirus pandemic: Giving your workforce the best tools to be productive anywhere, anytime, on a device they choose.

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTION TIME FRAMES DMI’s Accelerated Solutions experts can implement remote-workforce technologies in a broad range of time frames.

2 WEEKS TO 3 MONTHS

3 TO 6 MONTHS

6 MONTHS TO 3 YEARS

> Productivity: videoconferencing, chat, file sharing, Microsoft Teams, cloud SaaS apps

> Advanced governance: Improving employee training, standardizing processes, tightening security.

> Strategy: Crafting a roadmap to serve remote workers over the long haul.

> Low/no-code: Custom-built mobile applications for a broad range of use cases > Automation: Streamlining workflows and automating repetitive processes

> Optimization: Streamlining workflows, consolidating software, widening automation across more functions.

> Basic governance: Licensing procurement, security protocols, change management

> Measuring and monitoring: Using analytics and data to remove inefficiencies and reduce risks.

> Integration: Implementing the full suite of Microsoft applications across multiple divisions.

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> Automation: Coordinating low/no-code apps and automating more workflows consistently throughout the organization.

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8 KE YS TO TURBOCHA RG E THE EF F EC T IV EN ES S OF REM OT E WORK ERS

DMI’S ADVANTAGES IN ACCELERATED SOLUTIONS

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

“I look at Covid-19 as a rain-or-shine event for the entire world,” DMI’s Matt Jimison says.

For event planners, rain-or-shine warnings tell ticket buyers to plan for changing weather. For companies, a rain-or-shine perspective means empowering people to get their work done in any environment.

SOCIAL, PRODUCTIVE, ADAPTIVE:

A COHESIVE APPROACH TO REMOTE WORK

DMI is helping companies in every sector of the economy meet the needs of a remote workforce. Our Accelerated Solutions experts have four competitive advantages: > Microsoft MVPs. We have two Microsoft MVPs, trained specifically in the full breadth of Microsoft business and productivity applications. > Agile measurement. Our proprietary APIX formula gives managers the tools to assess the effectiveness of Agile teams.

Social, Productive, Adaptive: A Cohesive Approach to Remote Work

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> Design thinking. Our human-centered design philosophy ensures that our solutions help your people as well as your business goals. > Deep consulting. We start with an in-depth analysis of your business challenges, market conditions and available talent to ensure the best fit between our skills and your needs.

“Quitting is not an option for anyone,” Jimison concludes. Companies and their people must persevere through today’s crisis and prepare for the next one. We make sure our clients have the tools to weather these challenges — rain or shine.

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