{"id":2723,"date":"2020-04-27T17:32:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T13:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/?p=2723"},"modified":"2020-07-28T08:24:57","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T04:24:57","slug":"remote-working-navigate-as-a-start-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/remote-working-navigate-as-a-start-up\/","title":{"rendered":"The shift to remote working: how to navigate as a start-up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nick Offin, Head of Sales, Marketing and\nOperations, dynabook Northern Europe<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remote\nworking has become the norm for companies of all sizes during these trying\ntimes. Over the past few weeks, we\u2019ve seen a significant rise in remote workers\nnever seen in the business world before. Even businesses that haven\u2019t had\nremote workers in any great number are now having to make the transition to\nsupport an almost entirely remote workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most start-ups <\/a>remote working isn\u2019t exactly a new concept. The start-up<\/a> scene is scattered with examples of innovative new start-up organisations encouraging working from remotely as they look to find new ways of building a unique company culture, attracting and retaining top talent and achieving unparalleled mobility. However, the rise of remote workers doesn\u2019t come without potential obstacles \u2013 especially for start-ups with potentially limited budgets and team members. Having the right employee technology in place, remote-access network capacity and perhaps unsurprisingly, security, are all potential stumbling blocks. Here are three tips for start-ups looking to navigate the main challenges associated with remote working. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose the\nright technology for continued productivity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start-ups<\/a> are leading the way when it comes to mobile and remote working. While large enterprises have long- formed methods of working, and often have legacy processes, start-ups<\/a> are much more agile, flexible and open to change. For start-ups, remote workers not only lessens the amount of resources spent on securing fixed office space but also boosts employee engagement and productivity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to keep productivity high, there are common requirements that all remote and mobile workers need. Most importantly, employees need to be equipped with the right technology. In the last month laptop demand has risen sharply in response to a greater demand for remote working, with device manufacturers seeing significant increases in sales. Start-ups<\/a> need to ensure they are investing in lightweight and portable, yet powerful devices designed to accommodate the remote workforce. Connectivity and performance are critical, so employees can connect with colleagues through web-enabled collaborative tools, preserving collaboration within teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purchasing\nand managing new devices can be expensive and complex. For start-ups, there are\nmultiple purchasing options which can help to overcome this. PC-as-a-Service\n(PCaaS) refers to an Opex (operational expenditure) subscription-based model\nthat often includes services such as purchasing, configurating, managing,\nrefreshing and retiring devices. This model can help start-ups benefit from new\ntechnology, whilst having the ability to scale up and down as needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Utilise new technology to overcome network\ncapacity concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question many businesses are facing as\nthey add more connected devices and solutions to their network is how will they\nmanage and process the amount of data these devices will create effectively and\nsecurely? Start-ups are certainly at an advantage over larger enterprises in that\nthey are often newer companies and have less reliance on legacy infrastructure.\nHowever, they still need to have the right technology and systems in the first\nplace. Completely overhauling networks can be time and resource-intensive,\nespecially for start-ups who have limited budgets. \u201cRipping and replacing\u201d\noften isn\u2019t an option so they must find another way of being able to cope with\nincreased network capacity demands. The answer? Edge computing offers a viable\nsolution and at the same time creates new methods of gathering, analysing and\nredistributing data and derived intelligence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take\nsecurity seriously<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably the most important challenge which\ncomes with remote working is security. The NCSC recently warned of\ncybercriminal groups exploiting the coronavirus outbreak with sophisticated\nphishing, malware and ransomware campaigns. Start-ups are prime targets for cybercriminals\nas they often have weaker security systems than larger enterprises who can\nafford to invest in protection technologies like strong encryption. According\nto Verizon, 43% of\ncyberattacks<\/a> are aimed at start-ups but only 14% are prepared to\ndefend themselves. With the average cyberattack costing over\n\u00a3160,000 (AED725,000)<\/a>, almost sixty percent of smaller businesses go\nout of business within six months of being victimised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remote working at scale presents unique\ncybersecurity challenges that start-ups won\u2019t have come across before. As more\ndevices access potentially sensitive corporate data away from the office, this broadens\nthe threat vector for cybercriminals to compromise networks. With\nthis in mind, security needs to be a continued concern for start-ups, and needs to be reviewed and\nupdated regularly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start-ups need to\nensure employees are equipped with technology that has robust security features\nto reduce the risk of cyber-attacks. Devices with facial or fingerprint\nrecognition and hardware-based credential storage capabilities provide a secure\nfirst defence against cybercriminals, reducing the risk of unsolicited login.\nOther defences such as zero client solutions ensure these devices never retain\nsensitive information. Instead, information is stored on a central, cloud-based system so if a\ndevice is lost or stolen, this information remains secure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current global situation has undeniably bought us into a new phase of remote and mobile working. As with any business change, there are number of challenges to tackle, more so if you\u2019re a start-up navigating the current crisis. Employee devices, network availability and cybersecurity<\/a> are all potential obstacles for getting remote working right, and businesses of all sizes can\u2019t afford to delay in overcoming them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For most start-ups remote working isn\u2019t exactly a new concept. The start-up scene is scattered with examples of innovative new start-up organisations encouraging working from remotely as they look to find new ways of building a unique company culture, attracting and retaining top talent and achieving unparalleled mobility. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":8528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[518,1264,854,838,814,692],"contributor":[],"class_list":["post-2723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startups","tag-cyber_security","tag-dynabook","tag-productivity","tag-remote_working","tag-security_","tag-startup"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Remote-working-techxmedia-1.jpeg","author_info":{"display_name":"Rabab","author_link":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/author\/rabab\/"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2723"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=2723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}