It’s impossible to deny the growth of remote working and how it’s taking over the business world. For millennials, who love the idea of flexible work, this is welcome news. What technology is fueling this rise – and what new trends are paving the way for tomorrow?
Tech Trends in Remote Working
In 2014, a much-publicized study found that 34 percent of companies intended for at least half of their full-time workforce to be working remotely by 2020. One out of four business leaders believed that three-quarters of their workforce would be working remotely by that time.
Here we are in 2017, the halfway point between when the survey was conducted and 2020. If anything, the current business climate shows that these numbers are conservative. Remote working has experienced a massive surge over the last 12-18 months and it has a lot to do with technological innovation. Specifically, the following tech tools are making remote working more practical.
1. Remote Desktop Tools
One of the more significant challenges businesses face in the rise of remote working is that they must find a way to establish reliability. Since most remote workers also spend time in the office, organizations have to ensure that employees are able to handle any task or challenge that their job requires, regardless of where they’re located.
Remote desktop tools are tackling this issue and making it possible for employees to access their devices and servers from any device, regardless of where they are. This ensures that access and connectivity are never issues.
2. Video Conferencing Solutions
Email, phone, and instant messaging are great, but sometimes you just need to see the person in order to have a constructive conversation. Thankfully, video conferencing solutions have improved rather dramatically over the last few years. As a result, businesses are able to hold meaningful meetings, conferences, and one-on-one discussions, remotely.
3. Voice Over IP (VoIP)
One of the traditional challenges of remote working has been the phone. When you’re out of the office, you miss calls and come back to work with dozens of voicemails waiting to be heard. But what if you could work remotely and still have access to your office line? You can with Voice Over IP (VoIP) technology.
VoIP allows remote workers to route all calls from multiple numbers right to a single device. This makes it easy to stay connected, regardless of whether you’re in the office, on the road, or at home.
4. Project Management Apps
Another tricky aspect of remote working is that it’s often hard to get everyone on the same page when they aren’t in the same room. If you have a bunch of moving parts and changing schedules, it’s nearly impossible to consistently get people together. The solution that many organizations have discovered is project management apps.
With a project management app, your team can not only collaborate on projects, but individuals can upload and share files, access schedules and deadlines, edit and revise, and communicate in real-time. It’s a game-changer that makes it possible for teams of people to remain united, even when fighting against different locations, time zones, and schedules.
The Future of Remote Work
Nobody knows exactly what the future of remote working will look like, but we can all agree that it’ll be bright. Whether half or three-quarters of the workforce is spending time working remotely isn’t the point. What matters is that employees have options and that employers can leverage these options to become more productive and profitable.
The tools highlighted in this article will continue to make this possible.