Following the government’s announcement advocating telework during the COVID-19 global epidemic, many of us are implementing solutions to work from home. In this context, how can companies be responsive and agile without compromising IT security?
How to Set Up Telecommuting for your Employees?
Due to these unforeseen circumstances, some employees will discover telecommuting under challenging conditions. The usual experimental phase, which allows necessary adjustments to be made before telecommuting is extended to widespread use, is now impossible. In such situation, to best support your teleworkers, we suggest you proactively decide on which method to use to communicate and monitor the progress of projects. Indeed, with telework, there are fewer direct interactions between your employees and you, therefore everyone has to make extra efforts to ensure adequate communication. There are numerous messaging, video conferencing and project management tools which facilitate interactions.
How to Ensure Your Employees’ Home Workstations are Secure?
In this period of crisis, it is important to act quickly to ensure business continuity, but also to protect your employees. However, these quick actions must be planned in a manner limiting IT threats.
In this article (French only), we had already talked about virtual private networks (VPNs) and how they have many advantages in terms of security. Here are three secure ways to work remotely using a VPN:
1. Setting up Remote Desktop on your employees’ workstations at the office
Remote Desktop is a program that allows employees to open a session on their office workstation from any Internet-connected device (a Windows or Mac OS computer, an Android tablet, etc.). They gain control of their computer and work files while remaining at home.
2. Setting Up Remote Desktop on a Terminal Server
Another secure option is to connect to a remote server. Software installed on the server provides your employees with applications and access to their files. Each application needs only be installed once, on the server, thus saving you a lot of time and effort. This option requires a high-performance server as well as the installation of a terminal-server infrastructure.
3. Sharing Files Directly via VPN
VPNs also provide secure remote access to your company’s file server. This last solution requires a very good Internet connection at both the office and the employees’ end, because the volume of data that passes through the VPN is much higher.
Need help setting up a telecommuting solution? Contact us.