Set Your Team Up to Work from Home

Are your teams increasingly home based, or are you considering moving to work online? Find out about RingCentral’s remote office work technology and our tips for the best work from home setup. 

A working from home checklist

Whether you call it teleworking, remote working, flexible working, or telecommuting, setting up your business to work from home requires a fully operational remote office – as well as reliable remote working technology. Our essential working from home checklist outlines how to successfully support any team members not based in the office.

How to work from home online – your new work from home setup

If you are considering setting up your business to do online work from home, information technology is essential. From the right software and apps to the best headset for remote work, start with getting the basics right. Your staff will need to have access to, as a minimum:

• A home broadband internet connection, or where this is not available, 4G or 5G mobile wifi.
• A laptop, desktop PC or a tablet device with a good quality camera and a microphone and/or headset. The best computer for working remotely will depend on the needs of your business. 
• Access to emails, instant messaging and cloud-based office software.
• The ability to forward calls from their normal office extension to a mobile device or home phone.

Collaboration technology and apps for working remotely 

In setting up your business to work from home online, communication is key. Your remote office staff need the ability to collaborate and communicate clearly. This will facilitate productivity and creativity, helping your teams generate ideas more effectively and work together as a unit. 

Choosing a dynamic and intuitive app or platform for working remotely can make all the difference. RingCentral’s information technology offers a complete online work from home solution for any size business. 

RingCentral’s apps for working from home

RingCentral Office is an audio, video conferencing, and collaboration software system, otherwise known as Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). 

RingCentral Office comes with integrated messaging, video meetings, phone calls, and the ability to collaborate remotely, using one simple and secure app for all business communications. Our software is implemented quickly, scales easily, and is designed for teams of varying sizes, from just a few colleagues up to 10,000 staff. RingCentral’s software is accessed via the internet whenever you need it, using any compatible computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

RingCentral gives you a complete work from home technology setup, including access to messaging, video meetings and phone calls:

• Organise workflows with team messaging, file sharing, and task management.
• Use video conferencing to make team collaboration easier with HD audio and video. 
• Make phone calls with carrier-grade reliability and built-in security.

You can also build your own collaboration set up with our open APIs and apps. RingCentral Office has the ability to integrate hundreds of apps like Outlook and MS Office 365, G Suite, and Slack; payment and ordering solutions such as Oracle; and conferencing and project management software like Microsoft Teams. 

Make sure you choose the best technology for working remotely and try not to use multiple tools with the same purpose. Too many apps to keep on top of could overwhelm your teams and result in important messages falling through the cracks.

Remote information security and storage 

Once you have chosen your work from home set up, you will need to protect your business and ensure your company data is safe online. Our software offers built-in security and encrypts conversations between all endpoints – but you will need to consider what happens if hardware equipment fails, and how your employees will reach tech support from their work from home setup. 

You may also want to think about things like remote access solutions, such as a virtual private network (VPN) over which to run your suite of applications; how you will store your data online; and your backup solutions. 

With RingCentral you can monitor usage wherever you are through our admin portal. Our 99.999% uptime service level agreement is industry-leading, keeping your business online, all the time.

Working from home tips

Once you have your technology and collaboration apps onboarded, here are our working from home tips for a successful remote office.

• Provide your team with a guide to setting up a home office for remote work. This could be in the form of a working from home checklist and include tips on chairs, desk heights, lighting, and arm and footrests. You may want to consider sourcing equipment for your team. 
• Prepare a quick start guide for the online working from home tools and services you will be using, so staff can be onboarded quickly to their new work from home setup.
• Some of your people may find working from home difficult or particularly challenging. A staff survey could help identify team members who need more working from home support. Consider a wellness scheme for your staff and remind them to get up and move around throughout the day – and to take a proper lunch break. 
• Be aware of childcare needs. Many parents will have to work from home with children in the house. You might need to have conversations with your staff about different schedules that work for both of you, while working from home. This could include different working hours over the course of the week, rather than the traditional 9-5. 
• Agree an etiquette guide for online meetings. This will include use of microphones, cameras and tools to ensure meetings run as smooth as they would in the office. For meetings, it’s best to use a headset for remote work and suggest your team members find a quiet area where they can take part in online catch-ups and workshops. 
• Set up company-wide communication channels. Think about the best ways to share business-wide messages – and try to keep in regular contact through those channels, so everyone feels connected with the wider company.

Find out how RingCentrals suite of communications tools and secure Remote Office app can help you successfully set up your business to work from home.