If you’re running your business from home right now, you’re far from alone. The past year has been full of many changes that few of us would have ever anticipated that we’d have to make. But a worldwide pandemic wasn’t on the cards and none of us was really prepared for it.
Major changes to our day to day lives vary from not being able to spend time with those we love to not being able to engage in activities or visit places we’d like to. Many of us are now confined to our own homes in a bid to slow the spread of the virus and this also means that many of us are working from home.
If you’re a small business owner, running operations from home may feel like a bit of a challenge. But it is definitely possible. You just need to make a few changes to your working protocol and standard operating procedures and you need to settle into this alternative mode of work, management and customer service.
Here are a few things you can do to help make a success of your business – even when you are running it from home.
Maintain Communications with Your Staff
The most important thing you should be doing as a business owner right now is maintaining communications with staff.
Hold zoom calls. Make sure your team know what’s going on at all times.
Set everyone KPIs so they know what’s expected of them. This will help to make everyone feel more secure.
Make Sure Your Hardware is Reliable
Of course, when everyone’s working from home, you’re going to have to make sure that the hardware everyone is using is reliable and in good shape. At the end of the day, we’re all highly reliant on tech right now.
Whether that’s to respond to emails, hold video calls, update your website, track and analyse data or anything else.
Invest in new technology and make sure you have computer repair services at hand to deal with any issues that may arise.
Protect Yourself from Illicit Activity
Cybercrime is on the up – and it’s really not all too surprising. There are always people who will prey on the vulnerable and this pandemic has rendered countless small businesses particularly vulnerable as they attempt to switch from office-based operations to working from home. They are aware that there are plenty of weak points in this transition and cybersecurity is one of them.
When your staff start to work from home, they aren’t protecting by the same systems that they are in the office. But there are steps you can take to make sure that you minimise the chances of a cyber attack, data breaches and the negative reputation that your brand could receive as a consequence of this.
Some common techniques you should try out include:
- Training your staff in cybersecurity
- Implementing a VPN (or “virtual private network”)
- Implementing strict work from home policies
- Implementing strict bring your own device policies
Sure, switching to a remote-based business is going to be a pretty big task to tackle. But succeeding on a remote basis is possible. Hopefully, some of the above advice will help you along the way.
How are you keeping your business up and running from home? Did we leave anything out that’s important to the upkeep of your home business?
Featured Image Credit: Pexels
