Check out our Top Tips to assist you working from home. 

During these unprecedented times it is important we stay as close to normality as possible. As with many of you at the moment, our objectives are to look out for the health of our people, to meet our customer’s needs and to work to the guidelines set out by the government for the good of our communities and the country as a whole.

We have ensured our technology has the resilience and adaptability to continue to meet our customer business needs, especially at challenging times like these.

We are implementing protocols where our staff will be able to work effectively.
We are conscious many of you are now working from home and we want to assist you in any way we can. Here are our Top Tips for working from home:

1. Keep your morning routine the same – It is important to start your day as you usually would if you were working outside of the home. Get dressed and ready for the day ahead. By doing this you are in the mindset that you are going to work. Ensure that your IT is suitable to allow you to work remotely with the same effectiveness as in the office. For many of our customers we have been helping them with remote access to ensure they can work confidently and securely.  
2. Take Breaks – you do not have to feel pressured to show your colleagues you are online all the time. Breaks are essential in helping employees de-stress and re-charge. Regular breaks can also help improve overall job satisfaction. During this time, we have the freedom to go for a walk at lunchtime and enjoy the fresh air. 
3. Set yourself a Task List – Write down your tasks for the day ahead and tick them off as you achieve them. It will ensure you prioritise what you need to do and get a sense of satisfaction from seeing what you have achieved.
4. Communicate – Remember, your colleagues are in the same situation you are. If you have a question, need assistance with something or need their advice, ask! They are only too happy to help, and it is nice to hear from a colleague in these circumstances. Tools like Microsoft Teams are great to keep you connected and informed.
5. Defeat distraction and stay focused – Where you work from in your home is important. Ensure the space is “office friendly” and you can do your job effectively from this space. Sitting on your couch or emailing from bed is not ideal given these are relaxation locations in your home.  It also means you create a clear distinction between what is work time and leisure time.
6. IT Support – log a ticket! You can spend hours trying to find the solution to an IT Issue that your IT company can help with. As a Managed IT Service company, we are there for our customers. If you log a ticket with support, we will get to the issue as quickly as possible. INNOVATE managed services, tailored to your needs, provide monitoring, reporting and supporting of essential IT services enabling you to focus on the day job. 
7. Use a Cloud Platform where possible many of our customers have chosen to move to the cloud for flexibility and ease of access. Many of us are only using a fraction of the capability of our Microsoft suite. SharePoint is a great a document management and collaboration tool that can assist in bringing an organisation together.  We’d be happy to talk to you about how you can use tools like SharePoint more effectively in your organisation.
8. Be careful of Email Phishing – Please be careful when clicking on links or opening attachments about Covid-19. When opening links and attachments ensure they are from a reliable source, as unfortunately there are people out there looking to exploit our concerns about the current situation. Never share your email login details, no one should be asking for this! Multifactor authentication is an important tool to ensure that you are protected while using cloud solutions. 
9. Scrolling through Social Media– While we encourage you to stay informed during this time, we also would advise setting limits for news and social media. The HSE advises “The constant stream of social media updates and news reports about coronavirus could cause you to feel worried. Sometimes it can be difficult to separate facts from rumours. Use trustworthy and reliable sources to get your news.”
10. Keep your work-life balance – you need to maintain as much as possible your work-life balance. Include exercise as part of your daily routine, with workout home videos being freely available and many fitness professionals now offering online classes. While it is  important to eat healthy, don’t forget to allow yourselves a treat now again! We must be kind to ourselves!
11. VoiceGrid – While Teams and other tools are great for collaboration, it is important also that your customers can get in touch with you by phone. Our VoiceGrid solution allows you to work remotely using a softphone, your customers can find you as if you were in the office
12. Issues with remote working You may be experiencing issues with the performance of your home connection; we have outlined some points to consider below:
    – When you purchase a home connection you will be quoted a speed, but this is normally contended on residential connections. This means that if your neighbours are using the same provider their use may slow down the performance of the connection for you. 
    – The number of people using the connection within your house will also impact your performance. Normally when you are working from home you are home alone; in the current situation this is not the case, and this can have an influence on connection speed. If other family members or housemates are watching Netflix or using their Playstation online, this is going to potentially degrade your experience.
    – How you are connecting can play a role – wired versus wireless connections and also range extenders on wireless will all play a part.
    – The wider external network where changes in usage are causing issues for Network providers is resulting in increased latency and time out requests.
    Stay Safe, Stay Well