Andy’s Top Five Tips for Taking Your Business Remote

Best Practices for Setting Up Remote Working :

1. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DIGITAL TOOLS: Utilize online collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, or Slack : Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. Other phone call/video conferencing resources you can use are : ZOOM/ gotomeeting/ SLACK. ZOOM has made their software free to any K-12 educational organizations during the outbreak- take use of this! Microsoft Teams also is free to educators + offers a free version for professionals.
2. BE CLEAR ABOUT EXPECTATIONS: Set clear guidelines and expectations with your team members about hours worked/ away from computer time/ etc. Check in frequently with your team members.
3. MEET REGULARLY WITH CLIENTS AND COWORKERS: Keep meetings on the schedule to stay on track with projects, utilize calendar sharing tools and make these transparent within line of command so supervisors can be aware of employee time usage
4. CREATE A WORK SPACE IN YOUR HOME: Set aside a space to work, I.e., a desk in the corner/ an unused room and use it strictly for work  
5. REMAIN PROFESSIONAL: 1) Clean Up Your Background: Utilize the background blur option (Zoom and Microsoft Teams offer this) if you feel your background might detract from professional appearance. 2) Make sure headshots are up to date in your emails to increase personalization, 3) Arrive a few minutes early to all your remote meetings and 4) Utilize video conferencing and try to have more video conferences than voice calls and 5) Try to avoid turning on the mute button in phone calls and stay engaged during the call.

Kopis uses Microsoft teams, which has made the optional work from home transition easy on the company. Microsoft Teams offers different levels of online communication, include file sharing, chatting, meeting and calling (videoconferencing, screen sharing, screen control sharing, voice calling) and has security and compliance features for more sensitive data. More information on Microsoft Teams can be located at https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/compare-microsoft-teams-options .

If you have technical needs, you can call Kopis at 864-421-9247  or visitwww.kopisusa.comto learn more about how Kopis can consult with your organization and assist you with your business processes during this historic time.