Why SMBs Have Nothing to Fear from Remote Working

In an incredibly short space of time, the COVID-19 pandemic has made remote work the “new normal.” Within just a few weeks of the start of the pandemic, one out of every four knowledge workers in the US shifted to work from home. There’s no way to put the genie back in the bottle, either; the vast majority of employees who are working from home want to continue with it, at least some of the time.

But running a business with a remote workforce is no picnic. Business leaders in companies of every size are facing challenges in areas like project management and collaboration, internal communications, maintaining a sense of connection between employees, cybersecurity, easily sharing resources, and more.

SMBs might feel these difficulties particularly keenly. With a smaller number of employees, they’re less likely to have had experience working with a remote team in the pre-COVID world.

But the good news is that small businesses can survive and thrive even when some or all of their employees are working from home. Today’s SaaS cloud-based tools are reasonably priced and effective at helping keep things going for SMBs struggling with remote work. Here are tech solutions that can help SMBs enjoy the benefits of remote work.

Time trackers boost productivity and transparency

One of the biggest fears among business owners with a remote workforce is that their employees won’t be as productive when they’re working from home. Time trackers help to dispel their concerns.

Employees can use them to see when they are most productive and check that they are putting in a full day of work. Because they sync automatically, SMB owners and HR managers can also track how many hours each employee worked without having to chase them down, thereby removing frustration and friction within the business.

Some advanced time trackers even include payroll tools, helping speed up compensation calculations while also making them more transparent, further raising trust and removing potential for conflict over overtime and benefit calculations.

Online notes improve collaboration from a distance

For employees, one of the biggest benefits of working from home is the ability to set their own hours and work more flexibly. But those benefits are lost if you insist that everyone be online at the same time in order to work together.

Online notes enable asynchronous communication, so each team member can share their input, feedback, and ideas about a project at a convenient time, but the entire conversation still flows smoothly.

Online notes also serve as a secure, easily accessible repository for all your project resources. Instead of wasting time waiting for a colleague to email a file or respond to an access request, employees can visit a single location and find all the resources and files instantly.

Communication platforms reduce loneliness

The biggest drawback for employees working from home is the feeling of loneliness and isolation. Workers miss the hum of a busy office and the opportunity to connect with each other over the water cooler. However much you may deplore time wasted in non-work-related office chat, it’s crucial for forging a sense of community.

Virtual communication platforms that are designed for the business world can help employees to stay connected and feel part of a team even when they’re at a distance. All conversations can take place in real time, but with more security and business functions than a WhatsApp or Telegram group.

Password managers maintain business security

Cybersecurity took a blow when much of the working world pivoted to work from home. Most employees rely on their IT team to maintain security around the business, but that’s tricky when everyone is working remotely. Cybersecurity best practices can fall by the wayside. A recent report found that 52% of CEOs feel that employees are their greatest security threat, and there’s no reason for that to be any different among SMBs.

One of the most common security lapses is caused by employees using a weak password, or forgetting to reset the default password. Password managers can encourage everyone to create a different, strong, and secure password for each online account, because instead of having to remember all of them, they can store them in the password manager and only remember one password instead of 23.

Cloud CRMs keep customers close

When all your sales and marketing team are working independently from different locations, and often at different times, it’s easy to drop the ball on customers and leads. At the same time, you don’t want to risk a security breach from employees swapping client details over social media messaging apps.

Cloud-based CRMs ensure that all your client information is stored securely while synchronizing knowledge sharing within and between teams. Everyone can see who last contacted each lead, what issues a client is grappling with, and when it’s time to make a follow-up phone call. There’ll be no need to worry about either bombarding clients with repeat emails, or overlooking a customer who falls between the cracks.

Cloud-based tools make remote work a dream for SMBs

Although there are many challenges to running a business remotely, the right tools help SMBs overcome them. When you offer cloud-based, secure tools like password managers, online notes, cloud CRMs, communication channels, and time trackers, you can allow your employees to enjoy the benefits of flexible remote work and yourself to gain from a happier workforce.

The post Why SMBs Have Nothing to Fear from Remote Working appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

source https://homebusinessmag.com/management/operations/smbs-nothing-fear-remote-working/