Here’s how to achieve a seamless transition back to the office

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COVID-19 has forced a wild experiment on many Australian businesses… the Great Working from Home Test.

And, to the huge surprise of many, most businesses passed.

The work got done, face-to-face communication was kept up via video conferencing and a new kind of normal emerged. We are all together, and yet not, at the same time.

But as we’ve begun to win the health battle, we have started to plan for a return to office life, albeit with some long-term changes from the experience.

So, before your staff all come back and touch the same door handle, review our 5-Point checklist to be sure you’re ready for a seamless transition on the IT side of the business.

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1. If you loaned-out company ICT assets on the way in to your Work-from-Home period, did you fully update your asset register?
   
   If there were some gaps in applying the typical governance, are you prepared for all the work required to get it under control in the Return-to-Office phase?
   
   Reconciling inventory and purchase orders with the assets taken home by staff and making sure you know where all your devices and peripherals have ended up might take longer than anticipated.
   
   Have you got a defined process in place to make it easier?
   
   
2. Can your Video Conferencing facilities keep up?
   
   If you’ve been talking to your clients and staff by video and you want to do more of it from this point on, will you need to update your video conferencing facilities in the office?
   
   A faster network, prioritised video traffic, and better sight and sound will go a long way towards locking in this “new” way of communicating.
   
   
3. If you found BYOD worked for you, have you got network access control and application whitelisting in place?
   
   The last couple of weeks were a rush job – nobody would say otherwise.
   
   But if you’re going to allow more BYOD devices into the corporate network into the future have you got the right security posture in place to protect the business?
   
   Network Access Control and Application Whitelisting are the two key technologies here.
   
   
4. If you’re going to allow a higher percentage of staff to work from home in future, have you got long-term control over all the company data they’re going to be handling?
   
   Office 365 and your network tools come with some impressive Data Leakage Protection features.
   
   We know how to configure them as well as implement more advanced technology for ultimate protection.
   
   
5. Have you deployed all the new technology you can?
   
   It sounds very odd to describe COVID-19 as an opportunity, but now is the time to deploy new technology, before business-as-usual demands rise again.
   
   We have a team on stand-by to help with upgrades.
   
   
6. Are you ready for a second wave?
   
   Could you roll out a rapid work-from-home order again without it breaking your IT team?
   
   Updating your Business Continuity Plan for COVID-19 (Part II) might be an idea. Our consultants have helped update many BC plans in rcent times.
   

Those are the Top 6 items on our list. There’s plenty more. The long-term effects of COVID-19 are deep-seated and will mean some fundamental changes for many businesses.

We’re here to help.

Contact Us here or call us on 1300 667 871 for some experienced advice on your Return-to-Office plan.