For many enterprises around the globe, staying ahead of the competition and driving employee productivity while maintaining business continuity has become a priority.
Research by IDC reports that 98% of businesses anticipate that the significant challenges they face to implement hybrid work are low IT support (42%), data sharing security (37%), employee collaboration, and device flexibility for remote employees. Further, 28% of businesses reported that onboarding newly hired when employees to work in a hybrid model is one of the biggest organizational challenges. This indicates that enterprises can no longer run from hybrid work and many are beginning to realize that hybrid work proves to be a viable solution for long-term success.
Hybrid work arrangements where some employees work in the office while others work remotely will continue to be a popular option in the foreseeable future. There are a number of factors that could contribute to this trend.
Several reasons are as follows:
- Some employees may be unable to relocate to the office due to health or other personal reasons.
- The shift to remote work has demonstrated that many employees can be productive and effective regardless of their location. As a result, employees may expect more flexibility in their work arrangements as we advance and may prefer the option to work remotely on a regular basis.
- Some organizations may find it difficult or impossible to put necessary precautions in place within their current office footprint, or they may be considering reducing their footprint in order to save costs. In these cases, it may be more practical to continue with a hybrid work model.
- The past uncertainty around the pandemic and the business potential to close or restrict operations also contribute to the continued popularity of hybrid work arrangements. By allowing employees to work remotely, organizations can ensure that they can continue operating even if in-person work is not possible.
Leverage the benefit of Virtualization With ACE
2023 is ushering in a critical mandate for businesses: transitioning from an emergency remote workforce solution to an optimized hybrid model. This isn’t just desirable but requires strategic planning and commitment as part of a comprehensive business continuity strategy. Leaders are now presented with the challenge of successfully implementing this new type of working arrangement that focuses on long-term sustainability.
This will require actions across four critical areas.
Promoting A Collaborative Culture
Creating a unified culture is the key to success in an increasingly hybrid workplace. IT leaders are responsible for developing technology solutions that encourage and enable collaboration between employees wherever they may be located, allowing them an equal opportunity for productivity and team success.
Ask yourself: what modifications can I make to current technologies? How can effective meetings be held when some participants are in-office while others join virtually?
While these questions must receive answers from the perspective of IT, it’s essential not to overlook other factors, such as making sure everyone feels connected – this isn’t solely up to your department!
Enhancing Cloud Infrastructure
The exemplary hybrid workforce approach demands the proper technology infrastructure. Enterprises require secure, high-performing, flexible, sufficient infrastructure to be utilized when employees are in the office or at home – making data and applications available when and where the workforce needs them, including past “office hours.”
Whether you deploy on-premises or cloud-hosted solutions, you need to be ready to address the challenges, including fluctuating performance, security risk, complexity, and cost.
To deliver a worthwhile experience that employees need, you need to consider which devices they’ll use to get the work done.
For remote workers, the battle of bandwidth can be a frustrating obstacle to overcome for those unable to access robust infrastructure. VPN technology may have been adequate in the last few years. Still, it will not suffice long-term as hybrid working has yet to be designed around it, leading to stalling and errors when home networks are overloaded with business and personal computing activities.
To ensure optimal performance across all devices is achieved, organizations must get under the hood of each device continuously – an effort that isn’t without its lengthy difficulties!
Ace Hosted Virtual Desktops are designed to overcome these challenges —allowing employees on any device with a network connection to securely connect back to corporate systems via a virtual desktop, regardless of location.
Addressing Security Challenges
The recent rush to enable remote work led to patchwork solutions for security. Still, the increased data traffic, blurring of personal and work devices, and sophisticated cyber threats facing the hybrid workforce make these approaches unsustainable.
In 2023, it’s time to upgrade our security game for the hybrid workforce. Instead of patching together multiple-point solutions, we need a more integrated approach to managing network and endpoint security and ensuring strong identity control. While adding more security solutions might be tempting, investing in a single, comprehensive solution like Ace Hosted Virtual Desktops proves to be more efficient. It’s got all the security controls we need for remote access to data and systems, including strong identity control, access management, and a secure file vault to keep sensitive data safe and minimize risk exposure.
Monitoring Employee Experience
Don’t forget about the employee experience!
Even with top-notch infrastructure and devices, a subpar user experience can seriously impact productivity, engagement, and IT. To meet the needs of the hybrid workforce, it’s crucial to understand and address employees’ digital experiences.
While surveys can give us some information about performance issues and time spent troubleshooting with IT, they’re not always timely or effective. That’s where solutions like Ace Hosted Virtual Desktops come in. It allows IT admins to centrally manage all physical and virtual devices, giving them insight into desktop performance and user experience and the ability to automate critical updates. This helps IT managers stay ahead of trends, predict future needs, and proactively address issues.
Hybrid work is the future, and so is the Ace Hosted Virtual Desktop
As the last few years provided IT with the opportunity to implement hybrid work policies, many of these developments are here to stay. Now more than ever, it’s time to start seriously considering virtual solutions that fit your unique business needs.
IT teams must transition into a more effective stance for their organization’s future success and security – ACE can help you get there!
Take advantage of our remote workforce solution today: Book a demo today and discover how quickly, easily, and securely deploy a fully functioning distributed workforce – regardless of where its members are located.
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