Making the modern workforce as flexible as its technology

The age of remote working is upon us and the powers that be are listening. As stated in the Queen’s Speech back in December, Boris Johnson’s employment bill will give employees more power over when they work - taking yet another huge step towards flexible working as the default standard for modern workers. Research by Pow Wow Now into the modern workplace habits echoes this, as that over 64% of millennials state they now want the option of working remotely or from home.

This trend has prompted a shift in the approach of business decision makers, with further research revealing that more than half (64.5%) of companies now offer staff the option to work remotely.  With it, IT decision-making has also undergone significant changes. Business leaders now realise that off-premise tools make the modern workforce much more agile than expensive office hardware, and are investing accordingly.

That said, a remote workforce is truly only as good as the tools that can facilitate a more flexible approach. Such a rapid rise in off-premise working has presented new challenges for businesses, causing barriers to such successful work flexibility.  Despite the emphasis on working practices which reflect our modern, tech-centric way of life, just 35% of employees are actually able to complete 100% of their tasks whilst working outside of the office.

To unlock the true value of their workforce, companies must take steps to enable employees with access to the tools that keep them productive from anywhere in the world, whilst minimising the added risks of more staff working outside of the office - such as security, accessibility and employee satisfaction.

Up in the clouds

How? The power of the cloud is now lending itself as one solution to these challenges. With many businesses looking to hosted desktops and applications to enable flexible or remote working for employees through nothing more than a device and simple internet connection - and are now seeing the business benefits coming to fruition. Not only are 80% of remote workers citing higher productivity, but these flexible, cloud-hosted workspaces can also add further business value, aiding the recruitment drive by opening up the talent pool for key difficult-to-recruit roles.

Hosted technologies are on an upward trajectory and are being used as a vehicle for flexibility. Moving data and information onto an off-site secure hosted environment allows employees to access all of their work from wherever they may be in the world, using whichever device they wish. Hosted technologies are being more widely adopted to create a truly remote workforce, which ensures maximum productivity, keeping businesses secure and employees satisfied.

Due to data always being in one secure hosted environment, the security is high as data is never downloaded to an individual device, therefore reducing any risks. From an employees point of view, all they have to do is login to the hosted environment by using a two-factor authentication method, giving them access to all of the files needed.  For decision makers, giving access to data, tools and information within a hosted environment can help them to deliver on the promise for remote working - without heavy investment in a complete new suite of IT resources.

Additionally, hosted technologies allow employees to be more productive by working without any limitations. By working on a hosted platform, there are minimal boot times; no need for multiple passwords and the ability to pick up any work how it was left it - no need to save any work. Not only this, but if any issues arise when working remotely out of the office, other teams can also work to help resolve this remotely, by accessing the problem from a different location.

The future workplace is virtual

With an ever-growing reliance on specialist software to complete tasks both remotely or on-premise - and on any device for that matter - the capabilities of hosted technologies have evolved once more and Virtualisation is now at the heart of workforce mobilisation. Virtualisation is allowing businesses to run a number of systems on multiple applications, removing the need for additional hardware which can eat hugely into a company’s IT budget.

Eliminating the pain points of hardware upgrades for graphically-intensive applications and with all processing taking place in powerful data centres rather than the end user’s device, the technology can assist decision makers in removing the complexities of sophisticated hardware and help employees to operate in the age of flexibility. With virtualisation, communication is at the centre of many organisations, and virtualisation offers these organisations the ability to close any gaps between clients, teams and partners.

The technology is now being widely adopted, with organisations tipped to spend  an extra 10% on virtualisation in 2020 on average. Virtualisation is effective in a number of scenarios, particularly if employees work across a number of different applications; offering the flexibility for a more productive experience. Although virtualisation is highly recommended for businesses today, they need to ensure they have a skilled team to implement the sophisticated technology. When leveraged correctly, this technology  can remove the more testing roadblocks to flexible working and empower employees once restricted to a single, on-premise device with tangible business benefits.

With up to 90% of staff now wanting to work remotely at least part-time and the Government etching flexible employment into the future of the nation, the time for a new approach to workplace technology is now. Companies that assess the needs of their workforce and use technology to create more flexible experiences have the power to unlock productivity at scale. Further still, those that fail to have  correct infrastructure in place to support this new era of working risk being outperformed by more progressive  competitors.