Getting Work Done Remotely

So we’re in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic and your staff is now working remotely -- something you likely didn’t plan for and certainly were not ready for. Before you let your first worker connect to your office network from home, you probably installed new security measures to make sure they could work safely and securely. But now they have to learn how to get work done remotely. They need to learn how to work efficiently, follow your standard operating procedures, and collectively log into dozens (hundreds?) of different websites and accounts to get their work done. How are you going to make sure that your staff can do all of that right away?

The Problem With Getting Work Done Remotely

Getting work done remotely with someone who is working at home or across town is very different than working with that same person in the next office or cubicle. All sorts of casual interaction happens when people are close that just doesn’t happen when they’re far away, which means that training and guidance is much simpler and efficient the way things used to be -- in the same office -- than the way they are now.

Who Does What? When? How?

How are you going to share all of the new procedures and processes among your handful (or hundreds) of employees? You could send emails to everyone, but that creates a problem with feedback, revisions and version problems. “When did Joe send out the new Sales Proposal process? Was it the email on Thursday or was I not included in the CC list on the next one?” and “Did we decide to do it the way Sally proposed or are we sticking with the original process?”

Of course, you could store a Microsoft Word doc on the company server, Dropbox or some other sharing system...but you are likely going to have the same version and update problems because you will end up with different copies of what is supposed to be the same document. Plus, you will have dozens or hundreds of copies of valuable and proprietary company information in your employees’ email boxes (some of whom might inadvertently be using an insecure home computer or email address).

Poor Password Practices

And then there’s the problem of password management (which is as much a problem when you’re all sharing an office as it is when you’re working remotely). Shared passwords. Password resets. Insecure Passwords. Unknown answer to “challenge questions” when resetting passwords. People storing passwords insecurely on Word docs, Excel sheets, sticky notes...or trying to memorize them. “Hey, does anyone remember the password for the company Amazon account?”, and “Who reset the Admin password for the accounting system?” or “Jane, I can’t log into the CRM system. Can I use your login?”

And invariably, passwords get lost, reset, or emailed back and forth. And in the confusion of all those emails, Phishing attempts on bank logins and other company resources becomes an even greater risk.

How can a company coming to grips with working remotely make password and document management easy?

The Digital Uppercut Remote Office Efficiency System

Digital Uppercut can help you get work done remotely with our Remote Office Efficiency System, a collection of tools to make any business more efficient and productive, whether you’re sitting across the kitchen table, in the next office, or across the country.

Coordinating Your Team With Our Document Vault

Any team that works well has Standard Operating Procedures that declare “this is how we do it here.” Having your SOP’s written instead of passed around by word-of-mouth has many benefits, including:

• Training new employees quicker
• Helping everyone do things the same way
• Setting expectations for what other employees are doing
• Planning & scheduling
• Reducing questions and support requests
• Increasing efficiency

And perhaps most importantly these days...

• Helping to quickly and accurately spread the word when the process changes

...which is extremely common with the move to remote work.

That’s why an important part of our new Remote Office Efficiency System is our Document Vault, a secure place to edit, store and share all of your SOP documentation, including related files, documents and other resources.

With our Doc Vault every folder and file is password protected so that only the right people can access them. But they’re all easily linkable, just like web pages, which means that attaching valuable, proprietary company files and documents to an email is a thing of the past.

So when you’re trying to get work done remotely, instead of sending that important company business plan to the whole team’s inboxes, all you send is a link to the plan in the Doc Vault. If the email is intercepted by someone who shouldn’t see it -- a competitor, an ex-employee, or a hacker -- they won’t have access to the valuable information you’re sharing because they won’t have the password.

And for your SOP documentation, our Doc Vault allows online editing with all of the document editing tools you’re already used to. Plus, you can see version histories, change logs, and even access logs for everyone who has ever viewed or changed any Doc Vault resource.

So now not only will everyone on your team know that the SOP or other document they have is the most recent document, they’ll also know exactly where to find it.

And that makes collaboration easier, faster, and more efficient.

Password Management for Security and Efficiency

But not everything in a business is in a document or file. Many company resources are found in other websites and services, and that means you need passwords to access them and keep them secure. But far too often, companies don’t handle passwords securely or in any kind of coordinated way.

That’s where our Password Vault can help.

Just like our Document Vault protects every one of its resources, our Password Vault protects passwords. Each user will have access to his or her own password. But users can belong to Groups (Accounting Dept, HR, Sales, etc) who can be given access to passwords with just a few clicks.

Looking up passwords takes just a click or three, and the passwords can even be entered into web pages without a bystander being able to see them.

One of the most serious problems with passwords is that they aren’t secure or random enough. When hackers try to break into your systems, they’ll try all of the most common passwords first: well-known dates, personal dates like birthdays or anniversaries, “ILoveYou”, “Password”, “12345678”, “987654321”, and so on. These simple passwords are not secure and your company password policy shouldn’t allow them. But without a password policy, the more complex passwords are hard to remember and hard to store securely.

A password like “3-AqC&572l.m!5” is far more secure than “MyPassword.”

But with our password vault, you can store passwords of increasing complexity as easily as a simple one.

So now, when someone new to your team needs a password, there’s no emailing of the password. Better yet, there’s no reading the password over the phone, either. (You know how it goes: “Three hyphen Uppercase A lowercase q Uppercase C Ampersand -- no, not the AT sign but the AND sign -- Five Seven Two lower case L...wait, is that a lower case L or is that an uppercase i? I think it’s a lowercase L. Try that. Wait. Did I say period lowercase M exclamation Five?”)

Instead of all that inefficient, time-consuming and insecure nonsense, all you need to do is give them access to that password in the Password Vault and you’re done. They’ll have instant access to the password, and then instant access to the resource it protects.

And now, when passwords are reset, when passwords are added, when access needs to be removed...it’s all done in the Password Vault. And just like with the Document Vault, every edit and update, every viewing and use...it’s all tracked and logged so your IT and Management teams have complete visibility.

The Problem With Personal Password Managers

Some of your employees might already be using a personal password manager on their own home computers. But the problem with that is that access to your company resources is being stored on the employee’s personal computer. So if you need to replace that employee, or they leave for some other reason, they’ll be taking access to your shared company resources with them.

If one of your critical team members becomes ill and can’t work, it’s an easy task to not only share new SOPs with another team member, but to share the required passwords as well.

With your own Password Vault, all of your company resources remain as part of a company-controlled system.

Start Collaborating Better Today -- Free

We recognize what a challenge it is getting work done remotely during this time, and Digital Uppercut wants to help. So for a limited time, we’re offering both of our Remote Office Efficiency System tools for Free. Both the Document Vault and the Password Vault are yours for the asking. There’s no charge to set up the system or use it. To find out the details of this offer, how it works, and how easy it is to get started, just call our office at 818-913-1335 or contact us online. Whether you take us up on this offer or not, we hope, your company and your family stays safe and healthy.