Once in a few years Lincolnshire is covered in snow. Many would call it a ‘nightmare,’ ‘disease’,’ ‘unfortunate’ or a ‘pain.’ ‘I can’t get to work’ is commonly heard! Of course, this is a problem, but it may not necessarily mean the end of productivity; your business doesn’t have to be closed when the roads are.
Many managers feel that face-to-face contact is critical in day-to-day business but on the other hand, working from home is increasing so for your business it may be an excellent opportunity for a test run and extreme weather conditions may be a chance to explore new boundaries.
For the past two days we have had a number of queries from clients who have been unable to get to work and had to work from home. Even staff at Octagon Technology had to work remotely to help these clients in need. Some of the jobs we carried out in snowy Lincolnshire were as simple as providing advice on remote access for a user or instructing on the new GDPR regulations. Some clients asked us to set up new users on laptops and migrate their email. We also had to talk someone through a system to restore Windows 10. It wasn’t a problem to diagnose and fix file access in Windows 10 to a NAS box remotely or to diagnose and fix a printer problem for another person working from home. Some clients had a problem with backup, others with email spam and these were no problem for us. We had it all sorted! These are only a few of the many jobs we carried out in the last two snowy days, proving that even in bad weather conditions business doesn’t have to stop.
So, you can make it work in snow and it may not necessarily mean the end of productivity! Here are a few points to consider:
- Prioritise
Being able to identify the most important meetings and deadlines is critical. For this you need to be proactive, and keep in touch with your employees.
- Stay connected
For many a snow day is a work day, so keep communication open and use telephone, Skype or Facetime conferences.
- Have Technology without Tears
Call your reliable IT Company if you need technology advice or guidance. It is important to be able to talk to someone who can help you with your technology problems swiftly.
Kamila and Martin
