Protected Trust Blog

In our modern business world, having access to the right team collaboration software and business communication tools can be the difference between developing a competitive advantage and falling behind the competition.  Why is enabling effective team collaboration so important? What software programs, tools, and apps does your business need to stay relevant, and even get ahead of the curve? Let’s explore the rise of team collaboration and uncover the tools you simply can’t live without for modern business success. The Rise of Team Collaboration Back in the day, technology and modern communication tools weren’t as intertwined into every aspect of business. For many companies, this meant they were limited as to where they could do business. Now, we live in a hyper-connected world where organizations can easily and immediately connect with consumers and other businesses around the globe.  This hasn’t just changed where businesses can operate—it has changed how they operate as well. One of the most noticeable and major changes is the transformation from a stuffy, strict workforce into a more social, flexible, and collaborative one. Thanks to modern technology that has led to the rise of remote work, we no longer have to be face-to-face or even in the same office to connect with our team members.  So, while “collaborating” once meant every employee in the office physically sitting around a whiteboard in a boardroom, it now means chatting through collaboration apps or hopping on a video conference with a coworker that could be halfway across the world. In fact, 83% of professionals today rely on technology to connect with their teams.  Technology is now at the heart of modern business collaboration. Why? It’s more convenient, it gives us access to nearly endless knowledge, and with so many remote workers and virtual teams, it’s just plain essential to keep business moving forward.  The Team Collaboration Software and Tools You Need in Your Modern Business  If modern businesses want to stay secure and efficient, have a global presence, and keep their remote workers connected, they need to be leveraging the right communication and collaboration tools. So, here are some top picks for the online collaboration tools your business can’t (or shouldn't!) live without.  Business Communication Tools 1. Google Hangouts Google Hangouts, Google’s IM service, offers voice and video calling to users as well as individual and group chatting. Within chats, users can also securely share files and send interactive gifs and stickers for more fun collaboration. Plus, since it’s fully integrated with G Suite, employees can conveniently join audio and video meetings directly from a Calendar event or email invite.  2. Flock Flock is a communication tool that reduces the need for emails by organizing all of your conversations, productivity tools, and apps in one place. You can create both private channels for one-on-one discussions or public ones for larger teams. Plus, you can add vendors or business partners as guests and specify the chats and channels they can access. This way, you can collaborate without third-party platforms or the need to give them full access to your chat platform. Through Flock, team members can also  join a video call directly from a chat or channel, share their screen, and drag and drop files into messages for easy sharing and collaboration. 3. Slack Slack is a communication app that creates “channels” which can be segmented by team, project, client, etc. Team members can join and leave a channel as it applies to them (unlike lengthy email chains) and respond to threads that keep side conversations from distracting everyone in the channel. You can also search for specific messages, and even if you archive or leave a channel, its contents are still searchable for future reference. Slack channels can also be integrated with other software such as Salesforce and Zendesk to keep track of important alerts. 4. Flowdock Flowdock is a group and private chat platform which aggregates notifications from other channels, such as your social media accounts, project management systems, and customer support tools. Within a team “Flow,” conversations are organized by threads which team members can reply to individually to keep topics organized. Conversations are also color coded so that topics that are relevant to certain employees but not others can quickly be identified.  Task Management Tools  1. Asana Asana allows you to create tasks with priorities, deadlines, and details that can be assigned and moved from one employee to another with ease. This way, team members will know when it is time for them to contribute—minus any guesswork or miscommunications. Plus, with the ability to add followers to tasks, managers and team leaders can monitor the big picture status of individual tasks within a larger project without having to track down and micromanage each employee. 2. ProofHub ProofHub allows you to organize files, plan and monitor projects, and leave comments on tasks so everyone involved is on the same page. You can also review and approve files directly through the platform with an online proofing tool. Instead of everything being visible to everyone, ProofHub allows managers to control who can access what and create clear workflows with defined stages so each team member knows which parts of a project are their responsibility.  3. Jira Jira is a project management tool specifically designed for agile teams. With customizable boards, employees can move tasks between “lanes” so that all team members have full visibility into what everyone is working on, the status of projects, and what is coming next. Plus, Jira’s agile reporting capabilities give you access to dozens of out-of-the-box reports with real-time, actionable insights that can help you improve future productivity. 4. Trello With Trello, you can create boards, lists, and cards that allow you to organize and prioritize tasks in a flexible and interactive way. Then, you can add comments, attachments, due dates, and more directly into the cards, and integrate the apps your team already uses directly into your workflow. Plus, Trello stays in sync across all of your devices, so remote employees can login from any device on-the-go and still have access to the messages and files they need to get their job done.  Collaboration Tools 1. Google Docs Google Docs allows every employee to access, create, edit, and save documents from any location and device—even when there's no internet connection (with offline editing that syncs once a connection is made). With the ability to add edits, comments, and suggestions in real-time, collaborating on a document and giving approvals becomes simple. There’s no need for endless email chains, downloading and sending documents back and forth between employees, or waiting for edits to be acknowledged and accepted in a thread of endless emails.  2. GoToMeeting GoToMeeting is an online meeting, desktop sharing, and video conferencing software package. It allows users to hold audio or video meetings with up to 50 attendees at one time, whether they’re coworkers, customers, or clients. Through GoToMeetng, you can launch meetings directly from the business apps that you already use, including email, CRM, and messaging tools. Plus, with a smart meeting assistant tool, you can receive automatic transcripts of recorded meetings that can be easily searched and shared. 3. Quip Owned by Salesforce, Quip started as a mobile collaboration app and has since released a desktop version. Through Quip, teams can import files and work on them in-real time with automatic saving. Plus, with chat capabilities, employees can easily message back and forth about a document they’re working on together. A checklist feature even allows employees  to check off steps in a project so everyone is on the same page about what has been completed and what needs to be done next.  4. Microsoft Teams  Microsoft Teams enables cross team collaboration with real-time access to files through built-in Office 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint. This allows multiple employees to make edits and comments at the same time, and decision-makers to quickly give approvals so that a project can continue moving forward. Plus, with group chat, audio calling, and web conferencing capabilities, employees can brainstorm and work together without having to leave the Teams platform and use a third-party app. Which Team Collaboration Tools Are Right for Your Business? The team collaboration software and tools you choose to implement in your business will depend on a variety of factors. Your company size, industry, budget, and the kinds of software and apps you currently use that will need to be integrated all play a factor. It’s important to make this decision based on your individual needs and processes rather than general trends as no software is one-size fits all. If you’re not sure which team collaboration tools are the right match, reaching out to experts can be helpful when determining and carrying out your software strategy! At Protected Trust, we want to simplify technology and provide businesses with the team collaboration tools they need for success, and this vision of a modern digital workplace is built on an ecosystem of Microsoft Teams and the Microsoft 365 platform. If you’re ready to learn about the benefits of utilizing Microsoft hardware and collaboration tools in your business, reach out to a PT expert today!

The Surface Hub 2S is a powerful tool that enables teamwork without boundaries or constraints. No matter where your team members are located and what devices they’re using, a Surface Hub 2S can help bring everyone together so business can move forward—minus any miscommunications and/or technical glitches. However, implementing a new device into your business and its daily processes can be a struggle. That’s why we’ve compiled the resources you need to see success with a Surface Hub 2S, all the way from your original purchase decision, to set up, deployment, and long-term support! Considering Purchasing a Surface Hub 2S? Purchasing a Surface Hub 2S is an investment for your business, so you want to make sure you’re making the right one that will yield a positive ROI. The following resources can help you make a more well-informed purchase decision: What is Microsoft’s Surface Hub 2 and Why Should You Care? If you’re not super familiar with Microsoft’s Surface Hub 2, check out this blog post to learn more about its features and what they’ll mean for your business. A Definitive Guide to Choosing Microsoft Surface Devices. Microsoft’s family of Surface devices includes various kinds of computing and business collaboration tools. If you’re not sure whether the Surface Hub 2S is the right one for you, this blog can help you compare it against others so you can be sure you’re choosing the right device. How the Microsoft Surface Hub 2 Enhances Mobility and Collaboration. How can your business benefit from a Surface Hub 2S? Learn about how its valuable features will improve mobility and collaboration in your digitally-driven, modern organization in this blog post. Before Your Surface Hub 2S Arrives Once you’ve purchased a Surface Hub 2S, there are simple steps you can take before it even arrives to set your business up for a smoother, more successful implementation and deployment. Here are a couple of tools you can utilize to help guide you through this process: Surface Hub 2S site readiness guide. This Microsoft guide will tell you all you need to know about getting ready for your new Surface Hub 2S, including how to review room considerations and plan for peripherals and an overview of how to unpack and start the device for the first time. Prepare your environment for Surface Hub 2S. Microsoft’s guide will help you get your office environment ready for its newest addition, such as affiliating your Surface Hub 2S with an on-premises Active Directory Domain Service or Azure Active Directory. Setting up Your New Surface Hub 2S Now that you’ve prepared your office and processes for the Surface Hub 2S and it has arrived, it’s time to get it set up so you can start reaping its benefits! Check out this video page and the following articles to make your setup process smooth and simple. A few featured resources include: Install and mount Surface Hub 2S. You’ll want to have your mounting solution already set up before unboxing your Surface Hub 2S. Microsoft has partnered with Steelcase on the following certified mounting solutions: Roam Mobile Stand and Roam Wall Mount. If you’re using one of these mounts, this article will teach you how to set it up. Customize wall mount of Surface Hub 2S. If you’re not using licensed accessories to mount your Surface Hub 2S, this article will explain how to set up a customized solution to fit your unique needs. Unboxing and Setting Up Your Surface Hub 2S. Once your mounting solution is set up and your Surface Hub 2S has arrived, it’s time to unbox it! This video will show you what to expect and how to unbox the device properly. Steelcase Mobile Stand and APC Battery set up. This video will show you how to set up the Surface Hub 2S’ certified mobile accessories, the Steelcase stand and APC battery. These accessories will allow you to get the most of its features designed to be used on-the-go for true business mobility. Create Surface Hub 2S device account. Creating a Surface Hub device account (also known as a Room mailbox) allows your Surface Hub 2S device to receive, approve and join, or decline meeting requests using Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business. This article will show you how to get your account set up with ease. Surface Hub 2S Deployment  Once your Surface Hub 2S is all set up, you’ll be excited to dive into using it. However, having an adoption plan in place is essential if you want other users in your organization to be as comfortable with the device as you are. These resources can help: Surface Hub 2S adoption and training guides. Microsoft’s comprehensive adoption toolkit and downloadable training guides, end user guides, and quick reference cards can prove invaluable when deploying your Surface Hub 2S. They can help both leadership and employees get excited about the new device and feel more comfortable using it throughout the day-to-day. Surface Hub 2S deployment checklists. This convenient pre-deployment checklist will keep you on track with setting up the most important aspects of your new Surface Hub 2S device. Then, the post-deployment checklist will help you finish the rest once the device’s main capabilities are up and running smoothly. Using Your Surface Hub 2S Now that your Surface Hub 2S is fully setup and ready to go, you can use it daily to streamline operations, enhance collaboration, and improve business mobility. Check out this video page for resources you can continue to refer to as you use the device to help make the most of its features. Some featured videos include: The Microsoft Whiteboard experience. Microsoft Whiteboard is an innovative collaboration tool that allows teams to brainstorm with ease no matter where each employee is located. With its large screen display, the Surface Hub 2S even further amplifies the collaboration features of Microsoft Whiteboard. Watch this video to find out how! The Microsoft Teams experience. Microsoft Teams for Surface Hub devices includes advanced calling and meeting capabilities so you can boost collaboration and improve workflows. This video will teach you how to make the most of Teams on a Surface device! Sign in to see your meetings and files. This video will show you how to sign in to your Surface Hub 2S to join the meetings and access the files you need to keep business moving forward. Connect and project from your device. With the Surface Hub 2S, you don’t need to deal with pesky cables to connect your laptop, smartphone, or tablet and project content onto the large screen. This video will show you how to do so via Miracast. Support for Your Surface Hub 2S If you run into issues when using your Surface Hub 2S, don’t worry—you aren’t alone. Here are some resources you can turn to: Top support solutions for Microsoft Surface Hub. If you’re looking for support directly from Microsoft, this article can help with issues regarding setup and install, Miracast, downloading updates, and connecting apps. The Protected Trust experts. At Protected Trust, we want to simplify technology while empowering your team members to communicate so they can achieve their greatest potential no matter where they’re working from. We do this with a vision of a modern digital workplace built on an ecosystem of Microsoft software and hardware. Whether you’re looking for guidance as you select the right collaboration tools for your business, or you already have a Surface Hub 2S device and want to find out how to make the most of it, we can help. Reach out to us today to get started!

Striking that perfect balance between personal life and professional life has always been a challenge. As the business landscape becomes more competitive, modern professionals’ working schedules are only getting busier—which can cause both their workplace productivity and personal lives to suffer. As an employer, you can help by putting policies in place that promote a strong work-life balance for your employees. This doesn’t just result in a more satisfied staff right now—it can also go a long way in helping you attract future employees! Here are the basics of work-life balance and five ways you can improve it in your own organization. What Does Work-Life Balance Really Mean and Why is it Important?  Work-life balance is a term that describes the balance of time that working professionals are able to allocate between work and other aspects of life, such as family time, personal care, hobbies, and social or leisure activities. There are numerous benefits of work-life balance for both employees and employers that simply cannot be ignored. Here are a few for each. The Benefits of Work-Life Balance for Employees According to Gallup’s State of the American Workplace report, 53% of employees say a role that allows them to have greater work-life balance and better personal well-being is “very important” to them. Why? A strong work-life balance helps employees feel like they are more in control of both their personal and professional lives, which can lead to: Increased productivity Lower absenteeism Reduced stress Improved health and overall well-being Higher motivation Greater loyalty and long-term commitment to their employer Overall, a positive work-life balance will boost morale, job satisfaction, and productivity amongst your staff. In fact, employees who believe they have a good work-life balance will work 21% harder than those who don’t.  On the flip side, employees who believe they have a poor work-life balance are likely to feel the affects both at home and in the office—38% said they have a lack of focus and engagement at home, 51% report missing important life events, 41% claim feeling burnt-out and fatigued, and 36% report poorer productivity. Therefore, if you want your employees to be happy and efficient while producing quality work for your business, work-life balance must be a priority.  The Benefits of Work-Life Balance for Employers A strong work-life balance isn’t just an advantage for your employees. Flexible working practices can help your business to: Boost employee accountability, loyalty, and commitment Improve teamwork and communication Increase morale and foster a more positive company culture Increase engagement and productivity  Reduce staff turnover and recruitment costs Improve your employer branding to become recognized as a business that people actively want to work for Overall, instilling a culture where work-life balance is important can be an incredibly powerful employee retention tool. When employees are happier and less stressed, they’ll be more productive workers, and when your staff feels like you genuinely care about their personal lives as much as their professional lives, they’ll reward you by staying loyal and committed to your organization.  After all, if an employee is satisfied with their job and work-life balance, why would they look to go work for someone else who may not offer the same benefits? Plus, job satisfaction will increase their chances of posting positive reviews on sites such as Glassdoor and telling their social circles about their positive work experience. This will improve your employer branding and make it possible to attract top talent.  In fact, 45% of employees surveyed in a Randstad Employer Branding report claim good work-life balance is an important attribute when gauging the attractiveness of working for an organization.  5 Tips for Improving Work-Life Balance for Your Employees Finding a balance between career and personal life is a struggle for many modern Americans. Of the 38 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the U.S. is ranked near the end at number 30 for work-life balance.  Why? With so much competition in the business landscape, many employees are working longer than 40 hour workweeks. In fact, 11.4% of Americans work over 50 hours per week and 33% claim to work on weekends and holidays—leading 66% of full-time employees to say they don’t believe they have a strong work-life balance.  What can you do to improve work-life balance in your own organization so both you and your employees can reap its benefits? Here are five simple tips that can help you boost work-life balance. 1. Offer Flexible Working Schedules  Confining every employee to a 9-5 job can make it incredibly difficult to have a strong work-life balance and be there for important life events, especially for those with families. Allowing employees to take time off to pick up a sick child and stay home with them or attend school events during the day can create a more family-friendly work environment that reduces stress for your employees.  Additionally, offering flexible start/end times for parents who drop off or pick up kids from school or have other responsibilities, such as caring for a sick family member, can be a simple way to improve work-life balance. 2. Allow Remote Work Remote work policies benefit both employees and employers in a variety of ways. Organizations will see more productive employees, higher retention rates, reduced overhead expenses, and access to a wider pool of talent. Due to reduced travel time, flexible working times, the ability to choose their own work environment, and money savings, employees who work remotely will be happier and more productive. Due to all of these benefits, the number of employers with remote work options has grown 40% in the last 5 years alone—and those who do allow remote work policies are seeing 25% less turnover than those who don't. 3. Provide Exercise Access  One of the most positive ways to reduce stress is to exercise, but for full-time employees, trying to find time to exercise after work or fit a gym membership into the budget can actually add stress. If your office doesn’t have onsite gym facilities that your employees can use during their lunch break or after work before commuting home, there are other simple ways to provide exercise access.  For example, you could offer to cover the costs of your employee’s gym memberships or bring an instructor into the office for a once a month yoga or workout class, which can double as a fun company culture event! Investing in your employee’s health will pay off in the long-run, as healthier employees are more productive and at lower risk of getting sick and missing days from work. 4. Establish Meeting-Free Blocks of Time Actually getting work done in the office can be difficult with so many distractions like water-cooler gossip, loud coworkers, and endless meetings. When employees aren’t able to get their job tasks done during the workday, that means they must take work home to complete at night or on the weekends, which can lead to stress and a poor work-life balance.  One workload management solution is to establish meeting-free blocks of time so that your employees can get longer chunks of heads-down work done without being pulled away every hour for another meeting. Whether that’s making the first two hours of each workday meeting free or having one large chunk, for example no meetings from 9 am to noon on Mondays, minimizing the amount of work your employees are bringing home can go a long way in boosting productivity and improving work-life balance. 5. Set Communication Boundaries In our digitally-driven world, it can be incredibly hard for employees to disconnect after work hours when they’re always attached to their laptops and cellphones. After all, it’s not very easy to enjoy family time or leisure activities when your email inbox is overflowing and messages from a boss or coworker are pinging incessantly.  To minimize the stress that results from employees feeling that they are expected to be working and available 24/7, it’s important to set clear communication boundaries. Create a culture where employees know that it’s okay to answer the next morning if they get an email at 3:00 am, and where disconnecting after work and taking time to enjoy personal relationships and interests isn’t just acceptable, but encouraged.  By prioritizing work-life balance in your organization, both you and your employees will be less stressed and more productive! At Protected Trust, we believe that technology shouldn’t be stressful or contribute to a poor work-life balance. Instead, it should be simplified and enable your teams to achieve their greatest potential no matter where or how they work.  Are you ready to transform your organization into a modern digital workplace that empowers its employees? Reach out to one of our experts today!  

In our technology-driven business world, digital transformation has become essential for success. No matter an organization’s size, location, or industry, if they want to resonate with modern consumers and develop a competitive advantage, they need to go digital. In fact, it’s estimated that 40% of all technology spending will go toward digital transformations, with enterprises spending over $2 trillion on these initiatives throughout 2019. If you’re aren’t currently working towards your digital transformation, you could already be falling behind your competitors. So, what is digital transformation? How can you develop an effective digital transformation strategy? What success stories can you learn from to improve your own initiatives? Keep reading for the answers to these questions and more! What is Digital Transformation? While you’ve probably heard this buzzword thrown around before, it has become so broad and widely used that many aren’t sure what it actually means. So, you may find yourself asking: “What is digital transformation? Why does it matter, and what does it really mean for my business?” The digital transformation definition is: “The integration of digital technology into all areas of a business resulting in fundamental changes to how businesses operate and how they deliver value to customers.”  However, it’s also important to note here that this isn’t just an operational change. A true digital transformation is also a cultural change that requires cross-departmental collaboration and experimentation—and a willingness to adopt new technologies and practices that are far different from the traditional, long-standing business processes that many companies were built upon. In a digitally-driven, highly competitive business market, falling behind on technology and digital trends can quickly mean business failure. So, a successful digital transformation is vital for all modern businesses, from startups to enterprise level. How to Structure a Digital Transformation Process The digital transformation process for each company will look totally different based on their specific industry, challenges, and budget. However, there are a few constants and common themes that can be used to develop a general framework for your digital transformation process. The following framework created by Cognizant can be used to develop a digital vision for your organization—simply tailor the specifics to your unique needs! It breaks the digital transformation framework into four major buckets: 1. Customer Experience  Improving the customer experience has become a crucial goal for organizations looking to resonate with modern consumers and drive long-term brand loyalty. In fact, 86% of buyers are now willing to pay more for a great customer experience, and 73% point to customer experience as an important factor in buying decisions—which makes enhancing the user experience a crucial part of digital transformation. So, be sure to consider how customer insights acquired through digital tools technology can also be used to elevate your marketing, sales, and customer service efforts. For example, will you use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform to identify which items a customer has historically purchased so your sales team can recommend complementary products? Will you participate in social listening to determine the hidden pain points for consumers in each of your target audiences–and then use innovative digital marketing tools (such as targeted paid advertisements) to tailor the promotions that pop up on their feeds to match? Figuring out how you will digitize your customer experience to make it more engaging, seamless, and personalized will go a long way in attracting new customers, satisfying current ones, and building long-term brand loyalty. 2. Products and Services In such a saturated business landscape where multiple companies offer very similar things, organizations are realizing it is now nearly impossible to differentiate based on products and services alone. So, instead of simply selling a one-off product, they need to sell the complete experience around purchasing and using that product.  For example, running shoes are a common good produced by hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide. The experience of buying running shoes isn’t particularly special, personalized, or memorable—you either walk into a store or go online, pick the pair you want, and purchase them. However, sneaker giant Nike differentiated its products by creating the Nike by You platform, which allows users to digitally customize a completely unique pair of shoes with the colors, materials, and design of their choosing. This effectively makes selecting and ordering sneakers online creative, engaging, and individualized—giving them a competitive advantage over other producers who haven’t yet taken this process digital. As organizations implement more sophisticated ways to understand their customers (like through a CRM or social media as we previously mentioned), those customers will expect product and service offerings that are tailored to meet their individual needs. Going digital can help you keep up by providing the data insights you need for thoughtful, well-informed personalization. Then, unique tools and technologies can be leveraged to actually carry out changes and updates to your product and services offerings. 3. Operations  Advanced digital technology and tools can be used to improve both you day-to-day operations and big picture business processes in several ways. For example, big data analytics can be used to streamline shipments and deliveries by tracking product movements, the cloud can be used to foster cross-team collaboration by storing important data that can be easily accessed by multiple departments, and mobile platforms and business apps can enable employees to work remotely from any device. By automating processes, streamlining repetitive tasks, and leveraging innovative digital tools to improve daily operations, you organization can become more nimble. This allows you to more quickly adapt to changes in consumer demands, digital trends, and industry best practices. Digitizing daily operations also makes it easier to increase and sustain profitability by cutting manual labor costs for repetitive, tedious processes. This agility and cost-savings can help you develop and maintain a competitive advantage in an ever-changing market. 4. Organization  In order for your digital transformation to be truly successful, your employees will need to learn to work together in a new way. You digital transformation can’t be done in a vacuum or only apply to one area of the business—breaking down silos and fostering collaboration across teams and departments will be essential. So, it’s important that you’re properly educating your staff about what digital transformation is and why it’s important, clearly outlining what your digital transformation strategy entails and each person’s unique role in carrying it out, and putting policies in place to keep everyone on track. Beyond just logistically digitizing your organization, giving remote employees the business collaboration tools they need to access and share documents on-the-go, it’s also important to “digitize” your company culture. This means adopting a digital mindset where innovation and new ideas are rewarded, and trial and error is not seen as a failure. Create a culture where your employees feel comfortable sharing and discussing both their wins and mistakes so that everyone else on the team can learn from them. How to Build a Digital Transformation Strategy Now that you have a better idea of what a general digital transformation framework should include, here are a few tips for building a strategy to effectively carry it out based on the needs of your unique organization. 1. Assess Where You Currently Stand Before you can conduct a successful digital transformation, you need to have an understanding of where your journey is beginning. To truly identify the gaps that need to be filled and areas where improvements can be made, you have to be critical and honest with yourself. Examine your current digital infrastructure and take an inventory of the tools and technologies you’re using now, then analyze how well they’re helping you address your current and future needs. This evaluation will help you determine tools needs to be updated, processes that could be optimized or automated, and which departments should implement changes first. For example, if you find your sales department is the most bogged down by inefficient processes, but is responsible for driving the most revenue, you can allocate your efforts accordingly—and investment digital transformation in the most strategic way. 2. Analyze the Surrounding Market Once you conduct an internal audit, you should look externally to analyze market dynamics and what other competitors in your industry are doing. This can be done by gathering market research, holding focus groups, sending out surveys, and scanning social media. As more and more industries are beginning to overlap, you can even look for success stories outside of your specific industry for inspiration, ideas, and insights. Since new technologies are being developed at a rapid pace and digital norms, standards, and best practices are constantly evolving, this step is essential. If a cutting-edge organization is always adopting the latest tech gadget or implementing a new form of automation, learn from their wins and failures! This can help you avoid costly mistakes, more quickly identify opportunities where others have found success, and create a more relevant and up-to-date digital transformation strategy. 3. Set Objectives—and How You’ll Track Progress Now that you’ve looked both internally and externally to determine where you stand and where you aspire to go, it’s time to set some concrete goals and objectives. What do you want to achieve through your digital transformation? Are there certain departments or areas of your business that are a priority? Consider both your short and long-term goals, then outline clear objectives that are S.M.A.R.T.—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Once you have set your digital transformation objectives, you need to determine how you’ll measure whether you’re on track to achieve them or falling behind. Select a few key performance indicators (KPIs) to attach to each goal, then be sure you’re monitoring progress, recording results, and sharing them with other key stakeholders in the organization. This way, if you’re not on track, you can identify the problem and course-correct as soon as possible. 4. Educate Your Employees and Outline Expectations Before you actually implement operational changes or change your organizational infrastructure, you need to ensure everyone on your staff is on the same page. Have an open discussion about what your digital transformation goals are, why you’ve set them, and how you plan on achieving them. It’s important that you are as transparent as possible about what is coming and clearly outline your expectations for your staff. This way, no one is blindsided by changes that may affect their role or daily tasks and understands the future vision of the company. Once your team is aware of what your digital transformation will mean for the company and their role in it, it’s time to help them prepare for it. You can rely on a variety of training methods to teach them new skills in an engaging way, such as having an expert come to the office and host a workshop, participate in webinars, or earning online certifications. Digital transformation is just that—a transformation. It will take your employees some time as well as trial and error to get used to organization changes, so do what you can ahead of time to set them up for success. 5. Implement Operational Changes, Constantly Measure Success, and Make Adjustments as Necessary Now that the foundation has been set and everyone in your organization is on board, it’s time to actually put your strategy into action. But keep in mind this isn’t the last step in your digital transformation by any means! Make sure you’re regularly checking your progress by monitoring the KPIs you previously set, and discussing the results with other key decision makers in your organization. This way, everyone will have full visibility and can agree on any changes that need to be made so they can be implemented quickly. Remember that when it comes to technology, tools, and trends, best practices are constantly evolving—which means a true digital transformation never ends. Instead, the way your business uses technology will evolve as your business grows and the market changes. Following these steps to lay the foundation and get informed now will help you to be more strategic and agile long-term! Digital Transformation Examples Now that you know what a solid digital transformation strategy entails, here are a few examples or organizations that have executed successfully. 1. BMO Harris Bank Traditionally, bankers at BMO Harris Bank would spend up to an hour drafting loan applications while their customers waited. After realizing this didn’t deliver a seamless and engaging customer experience, they decided to accelerate this drawn out loan origination process with a software from startup Blend. With Blend, the application process could be completed in just moments. Plus, applications can be filled out on weekends or at night after work so customers aren't confined to the bank's working hours. The result of this digital transformation? Online mortgage and home equity application volume at the bank rose 275% over the same period from the previous year, and more than 80% of all mortgage and home equity applications are now submitted using Blend. This digital change drives revenue, satisfies customers by providing convenience and accessibility, and empowers bankers to spend more time developing relationships with their clients rather than filling out and filing tedious paperwork. Source: BMO Harris Bank 2. The Home Depot While you may think of The Home Depot as just your typical hardware store, in reality, they’re leveraging robust data and a skilled IT department to fuel its ongoing digital transformation. In late 2017, the company announced that it would invest more than $11 billion over the next three years to create an improved, cohesive physical and online shopping experience for its customers, plus hire 1,000 IT and user experience professionals. They also created a program where contractors and DIYers could shop online and conveniently pick up their order in the store, rather than having to take the time to walk up and down store aisles to find what they’re looking for. Home Depot also improved the way it uses data to better understand customers. By tracking local trends, they are able to ensure that the right items are in stock during the appropriate seasons without losing money on excess inventory. They also added visual and voice search to their app so that instead of being overwhelmed by product options, customers can search for a specific item and quickly be matched with what they’re looking for. Their app also provides educational resources that add value to the shopping process by giving guidance on how to make home repairs or complete a DIY project. This investment in creating a cohesive, engaging shopping experience is certainly paying off—Home Depot’s revenue has grown from $94.59 billion in 2017 to nearly $110 billion today. Source: The Home Depot 3. Microsoft  Microsoft products such as Windows and Office suite are commonly used by both businesses and individual users alike. However, lagging stock prices and increased competition from companies such as Apple, Amazon, and Google led the company to invest in a digital transformation to create a more cloud-based business. After CEO Satya Nadella took over in 2014, the company began a shift towards its cloud networking systems. They also moved away from the traditional annual Office 365 software in favor of a more fluid subscription model for both personal and enterprise use. This effectively changed the public’s perspective: while Microsoft was once seen as an outdated, stagnant, and stiff company, it was now being seen as an innovative and forward-thinking cloud solution. In early 2014, right before Microsoft’s digital transformation began, their annual revenue was $93.5 billion—in 2019 it has reached $122 billion. This year, Microsoft also became the third company to get a $1 trillion market cap—before its major competitor Google. Source: Microsoft  Digital transformation may sound overwhelming—but it certainly isn’t impossible. At Protected Trust, our goal is to simplify technology while empowering people to communicate so they can achieve their greatest potential from anywhere on the planet. We do this with a vision of a modern digital workplace, built on an ecosystem of Microsoft Teams and the Microsoft 365 platform. Whether you’re looking to learn more about how technology can affect your workplace or are ready to start implementing Microsoft products and services today, reach out to a PT expert!

Remote work is all the rage amongst modern professionals and has even been coined “the future of the workforce.” While “work from wherever” policies provide a lot of benefits for both employees and businesses, managing virtual teams can certainly present a unique set of challenges for leaders. That’s why we are here to uncover some of the most common challenges when it comes to how to manage people remotely! Then, we’ll explain our top tips for overcoming them, leading to satisfied and productive remote employees—and more engaged, less frustrated managers! Let’s get started. Remotely Monitoring Productivity and Work Output When you can’t physically walk up to your virtual teams and see what they’re working on or check in about the status of a task, it can make you question their productivity levels. Here are two simple ways to ensure their work output is aligned with your expectations. Set up a Project Management System Project management systems are an incredibly helpful tool when it comes to managing virtual teams. They can help you not only monitor the status of individual tasks, but quickly see an entire project from a big picture perspective. They also help to organize and store documents, outline workflows, and keep records of any comment made on a task so it can be easily found and referred to later.  These capabilities will help keep every member of your virtual teams on the same page about collaborative tasks, help each individual employee feel more organized, and give you full visibility into the real-time status of a project. Track Basic Measures of Productivity With virtual teams, you need to be able to actually quantify productivity. The first step towards doing so is determining indicators of success for each team member’s role and clearly outlining expectations for workload. Without this step, you won’t know what you’re actually trying to quantify. Once you do, it’s time to leverage modern tools to track progress towards these goals and measure productivity.  There are lots of tools out there for specific roles—for example, SalesHandy is useful for streamlining communication and tracking analytics for a virtual sales team. For more generic productivity tracking, employees can use free apps such as Toggl to monitor the time spent on each task, then pass along those reports to you. Many project management systems even feature time tracking within tasks so both of these best practices can be carried out in one convenient place! Finding Effective Ways to Communicate with Virtual Teams Perhaps the biggest roadblock to effective remote work policies is communication. It can be incredibly hard to connect and collaborate with your virtual teams when you’re in the office and they’re in another city, state, or even country—so here are a few ways to overcome this major challenge. Leverage Modern Business Communication Tools As more and more businesses are implementing remote work policies and relying on virtual teams, new tools and technologies are popping up to meet their needs. Utilizing these modern and mobile tools such as business apps, instant messaging platforms, and video conferencing tools can help you have more interactive and convenient virtual conversations.  However, it’s important to note that the key here is finding a balance between “just checking in” and micromanaging your virtual teams. Limit messages and emails to only what is necessary, and instead opt to chat over the phone or video for bigger, more important conversations. This makes your employees feel like you trust them to be self-sufficient, plus limits the frustration of an overflowing email inbox or the constant pinging of new messages. Know When to Use Each Tool There’s a lot of different business communication tools out there. Instead of communicating with your virtual teams through just one, it can help to use different tools depending on the type of conversation you need to have. Here’s a quick cheat sheet that outlines best practices for when to use various communication methods:  Email. Emails should be used for quick interactions, but be wary that you aren’t sending an email for every little thing. If you have a lot of information to flesh out or discuss with your virtual teams, it’s often more productive to hop on a quick phone call or video chat. Instant messaging. Tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams are great for chatting when you need a real-time response or have a simple question or comment. These quick, one-off communications can often replace an entire email. Video chat. Sometimes, face to face communication is just necessary. Any kind of emotional issues (such as discussing performance problems) or important conversations about a project should be handled over video. This way, you can pick up on body language cues and have more productive conversations without the risk of miscommunication or things getting lost in translation.  Phone calls. Often times, hopping on a phone call for 10 minutes to discuss a task is much simpler than sending 15 separate questions and answers back and forth. If you need to have a quick, concise, and efficient conversation, this is frequently your best bet. Project management tools. If your organization uses virtual project management tools such as Wrike, Asana, or Jira, you’ll be able to leave comments on tasks. This can be especially helpful on collaborative projects as every team member tagged on the task will get a notification and be able to see the comment. Managing Virtual Teams across Different Time Zones Having employees working around the world can be an extremely valuable way to access new markets and give your business a global presence. But, communication is already a challenge for virtual teams—and when none of your working hours match up, it can become an even larger obstacle. Here are a few tips for bridging the time zone gap.  Clearly Outline Task Delivery Expectations As a manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure your virtual teams are clear about expectations when it comes to task delivery times. For example, let’s say you have a remote employee working on a project in Australia, but your meeting to deliver it to the client is on U.S. Eastern time.  You need to be very transparent with this employee about when the meeting is, factor the time difference into their deadline, and regularly sync up as they work to complete the task to ensure you’re both on the same page. This way, there won’t be any confusion when your employee thinks the project needed to be done by 5:00 pm their time, but really the meeting to present it was 5:00 pm your time. Set Realistic Communication Boundaries  When managing virtual teams, you could have employees working from the other side of the world—which means their work hours are your sleep hours, and vice versa. Surveys have shown that the biggest struggle for remote employees is unplugging from their work, so you don’t want to amplify this problem by expecting that your virtual teams will always be tethered to their laptop and able to answer you immediately.  To combat this, try to find overlapping periods where everyone is working, even if it's just a few hours each day. Schedule your main team meetings during these times to discuss anything major going on, then send chats or emails for smaller things throughout the day. Remember to be understanding and accept that they may not answer a message for a few hours if it’s 10 am your time but 3 am their time. Trusting That Your Remote Employees with Flexible Working Hours Are Actually Working In an office, you can clearly see when your employees are coming and going, but this isn’t the case with virtual teams. It isn’t always easy to see how long each employee worked per day and what they accomplished—which can cause some trust issues. Here are some tips for improving accountability amongst virtual teams so you can have peace of mind that your important tasks will always be completed.  Allow Flexible Work Hours, but Also Keep Some Consistency Virtual teams will rightly want flexibility with their work hours—that’s likely the reason they took a remote position in the first place. As a manager, it’s important to allow a degree of flexibility, but you don’t want an employee’s working schedule to be so erratic that you never know when they’re working or when you’d be able to get a hold of them.  We recommend having your virtual teams set loose working hours—while they may not always work those exact hours each day, it will give you a better idea of when they’re typically online. Then, they can use a virtual calendar (such as the Google Calendar tool through G-Mail) to post their planned working hours at the beginning of each week, then update as any changes come up so everyone has clear visibility into when they’re actually available.  Hold Regular Check-Ins Managers of virtual teams aren’t able to just walk up to an employee’s desk to ask them what they’re working on, or bump into them around the office for a quick check-in. To combat this lack of in-person communication, it’s important that you’re leveraging modern business communication tools to connect regularly.  This could include scheduling main briefings at the same time on the same day to create a routine, then video conferences or phone calls as needed for smaller check ins throughout the week. This way, you can receive regular status updates that help you gain confidence and trust in the work your employees are doing.  Managing virtual teams isn’t easy, but it certainly isn’t impossible if you follow these best practices, constantly work to make improvements in your processes and communications, and leverage the right business communication tools. At Protected Trust, we want to help your virtual teams reach their greatest potential, and we believe a modern workplace built on an ecosystem of Microsoft Teams and the Microsoft 365 platform can help get them there.  Ready to learn how Microsoft devices and software can improve satisfaction and efficiency amongst your remote employees, while also helping you overcome the challenges of managing virtual teams? Reach out to an expert today.

Remote work is no fleeting trend. It’s here to stay, and more businesses are getting on board. In fact, the number of employers with a remote work from home option has grown 40% in the last 5 years alone—with no signs of slowing down. As organizations start offering flexible remote work policies, they’re looking to those who have already done so successfully for guidance. That’s why we are here to give an overview of what remote work is and why it’s beneficial, then provide three solid examples of the best work from home companies so your organization can learn from the best!  What is Remote Work?  Thanks to modern business tools and evolving technologies, work no longer needs to be physically done in an office. This started the trend of “working remotely,” or doing your job outside of the traditional office setting.  Companies that offer remote work policies allow their employees to work in whatever setting is most productive and comfortable for them, whether that means their home, a local coffee shop, co-working space, or virtually any other location.  Why is Remote Work Such a Popular Trend? Remote work is such a popular trend because it benefits both companies and their employees.  Benefits for Employers Some of the greatest benefits for work at home companies that offer remote work policies include: More productive employees. Without typical workplace distractions like water cooler gossip, being grabbed for an impromptu meeting, and loud coworkers in common spaces, employees are able to stay focused and get more work done. In fact, employees who work from home at least once a month are 24% more likely to feel happy and productive at work than those who never work remotely.  Higher employee retention rates. Happy and productive employees are more likely to stay loyal to their employer rather than looking to make a career move. Companies are catching on and using remote work policies as a powerful employee retention tool to keep top talent long-term and lower turnover costs. Those who do allow remote work are seeing 25% less turnover than those who don't. Reduced overhead expenses. Companies of all sizes can reduce their operating and real estate costs by letting their employees work from home. After all, with fewer employees physically in the office, organizations will need less space, desks, and materials, and use less water and electricity. Access to a wider pool of talent. Before remote work, employers were limited to hiring local talent or a candidate that was willing to relocate for the job. Now, businesses can break down talent barriers with the ability to hire the best talent and industry specialists for remote positions no matter where they live. Benefits for Employees Some of the biggest perks and advantages for remote employees include: Reduced travel time. Remote work means zero commute, which reduces the amount of time employees spend on a stressful trip to the office. Instead of arriving to work already frustrated from an hour in traffic, employees can wake up refreshed and hit the ground running right away, boosting productivity, morale, and satisfaction. A more flexible working schedule. Little things like being able to walk the dog without having to drive all the way home at lunch, fit in a mid-morning gym session, or scheduling a doctor’s appointment without having to take time off are a huge draw for remote employees. In fact, 40% of remote workers say a flexible schedule is the biggest benefit of remote work policies.  Ability to choose your work environment. With remote work, you could choose to work in a silent co-working space on a day where you really need to focus—then work from a bustling coffee shop the next day if you’re in need of some background noise. This flexibility allows remote workers to work in an environment that is best for their working style as opposed to having to adapt their working style to fit their office.  Money savings. It’s estimated that people who work from home only half the time can save $2,000-$6,500 a year on expenses such as gas, car maintenance, parking fees, a professional wardrobe, eating lunch out, and child care. This means they can spend more of their money on the things they love—resulting in happier and healthier employees. 3 of the Best Work from Home Companies A recent study has revealed that 70% of employees globally work remotely at least once a week, with 50% working remotely for half the week. That’s a lot of companies offering remote work from home policies—but which come out on top?  Here are three of the best work from home companies that are offering the innovative remote work policies modern employees are looking for. American Express Source: American Express American Express created their BlueWork program to help assign employees to one of four remote work categories through survey results. “Hub” employees are required to be in the office every day. “Club” employees are able to split their time between the office and remote locations, partaking in a mix of both in-person and virtual meetings. “Home” employees are based from home offices, which American Express helps to set up. They can work from home three or more days per week, and only need to come into the office for in-person meetings. “Roam” employees are typically traveling and working from customer’s offices, and are rarely required to come into an American Express office. American Express claims this program has drastically improved worker productivity and morale. It’s also saved them between $10- $15 million annually in real estate costs! By allowing customization based on each individual’s preferences and job role rather than a “one-size-fits-all” approach to remote work policies, the company has been able to effectively take advantage of this workplace strategy. The result? A happier, healthier, and more engaged workforce. Appen Source: @lifeatappen Facebook Page Appen is a technology services company with offices in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines. They directly employ over 400 professionals and support almost a million contractors across the globe, and have made FlexJobs' top 100 list of work from home companies multiple times. The company prides itself on its "always accessible global workforce," and allows its employees to work from anywhere to "consistently meet the needs of its clients.”  Appen has a number of flexible roles that allow for remote work anywhere from five hours per week to full time, depending on the project. They say this flexibility enables their employees to customize their schedules to "fit the work around other commitments" or “supplement their income through a second job.” While many companies might try to discourage their employees from taking time away from work for other passions, commitments, or sources of income, Appen has taken the opposite approach. Realizing that their employees have other responsibilities, empowering them to do everything through flexible remote work policies, and being transparent about it all makes their staff feel genuinely valued. Ultimately, this boosts workplace satisfaction, long-term employee retention, and productivity.  Amazon Source: Amazon Amazon offers “virtual locations” (or work from home positions) to qualified individuals who live within 50 miles of their physical customer service sites. While some are full-time, they also offer part-time remote positions that provide a lot of flexibility and valuable perks. For example, a “Work from Home Seasonal Customer Service Associate” is a part-time position that typically entails 20-29 hours of work each week. However, during peak season (such as the holidays) or a major event (such as Prime Day), these employees could work up to 60 hours a week with overtime pay. This position also includes an employee discount, access to the Employee Assistance Program that provides 24/7 support and professional and personal growth resources, plus healthcare coverage after 90 days of employment. Amazon’s various remote work options appeal to both full-time and part-time job seekers, and allow freelancers to work more or less depending on their availability and the time of year. This helps the company attract top talent that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to hire due to geographic limitations. Overall, Amazon is using technology and flexible remote work options to break down talent barriers in an innovative way! What Makes the Best Work from Home Companies so Successful? The best remote companies all have a few things in common when it comes to their work from home policies. If you want your organization to make the list of best work from home companies in the future, here’s five simple things yours should provide: Flexibility. The main draw of remote work is that it allows each employee to work in whichever way is best for them. But, implementing a one-size-fits-all policy that is the same for every single employee, regardless of their role or preferences, takes away from this flexibility. Make sure you’re working to create policies that are adaptable and customizable for various departments, job functions, and team members for optimal success and employee satisfaction across your entire organization. Clear expectations. While you want your remote work from home policy to be flexible, you don’t want to give employees so much free reign that they aren’t able to get their work done or can’t be held accountable for their tasks. Be sure each remote employee knows who they’re directly reporting to and working with, what their tasks are each week, who to reach out to if they have any concerns, and what the consequences are if they’re not meeting goals or completing their workload.  Regular communication and feedback. Seeing as 17% of remote workers say their biggest struggle is collaborating and communicating, ensuring managers are consistently reaching out to their remote teams is essential. They should be regularly scheduling set times to check in about workload, progress on projects, and satisfaction, as well as reaching out through IM platforms such as Google Chat for quick reminders, comments, and questions throughout the day. Provide time for collaboration and teamwork. With 19% of remote workers claiming loneliness is their biggest struggle, helping them collaborate and build relationships with their team members is important if you want them to be as creative, engaged, and satisfied as possible. Managers can set aside time for their remote team members to get to know each other by hosting online group trainings so remote teams can learn new skills while also getting to know one another. You could even start virtual interest-based groups, such as a book club, to encourage remote workers regularly video chat about non-work related topics and build more personal relationships. Access to the right tools and technologies. If you want your remote work policy to be successful, you need to equip your employees with the tools they need to work on-the-go. In fact, companies that make the necessary business apps easily accessible from any device or location report 17% less time spent on manual processes, a 16% increase in collaboration, and 16% faster decision-making. After all, if your employees can’t pull up files, access business apps, or join conference calls remotely, it would be nearly impossible for them to get their jobs done outside of the office. Do you want to be one of the best work from home companies so both your organization and its employees can reap the many benefits of remote work? Setting up a remote work policy is only the first step—giving your employees access to the right business workflow and collaboration tools necessary to carry it out effectively is the key to long-term success.  At Protected Trust, we believe a truly mobile and modern digital workplace is built on an ecosystem of Microsoft Teams and the Microsoft 365 platform. If you’re ready to implement these valuable tools and transform your remote work from home program, reach out to one of our experts today!

Gone are the days where employees were glued to their desk in a corporate office for eight hours a day, five days a week. The new norm in our modern, digitally-driven workforce is remote work! In fact, a recent study found that 70% of professionals work remotely at least one day a week, and 53% do so for at least half of the week. But working remote isn’t just a trendy fad—it’s here to stay.  With 99% of respondents in a Buffer study saying they would like to work remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers, it’s clear professionals are realizing the benefits of remote work and don’t want to go back to their cubicles anytime soon. To be even more productive, engaged, and satisfied with this style of work, we’ve compiled a few tips and best practices for remote working. We didn’t forget about you, managers—keep reading for training tips for remote employees too! What Does Working Remote Mean? Working remote allows employees to do their job from outside of the traditional office setting. This working style is based on the idea that work no longer needs to be done in any specific place to be completed successfully thanks to modern tools and technologies. Remote work enables professionals to work in an environment that makes them the most comfortable, on the timeframe that is best suited to their lifestyle. This offers nearly unmatched flexibility. How to Work Remotely  There are numerous ways that people can work remotely. That’s the main draw of remote work: it allows you to work in whatever way best fits into your everyday life. While remote workers who have their own business or freelance typically have the complete freedom to create their own schedule, those employed by an organization will likely have to follow the remote work policy laid out by leadership. For example, some companies allow their employees to work remotely full time. Others give them one work from home day per week or month. Some let their employees work remotely for the majority of the week, but require them to come into the office once a week for all their in-person meetings.  No matter how often you can work remotely, there are nearly endless options of where to do so. Here are two main categories of remote work:  Remote Work from Home When working remotely, many employees will choose to stay at home, which has its fair share of perks. You can work in sweatpants on the couch, in bed, or whatever makes you feel comfortable and productive. Most professionals also have reliable Wi-Fi in their home, which eliminates the need to find a secure public network. Working from home also eliminates the need to lug your computer, charger, and any other work materials around town. You could even cook a fresh meal at home rather than having to bring leftovers to the office or spend money on eating out. Perhaps the biggest perk of working from home is that it requires zero commute, which saves time and gas money while also minimizing your environmental impact.  The main negative of working from home is that it can potentially lead to a lot of distractions: the TV, loud neighbors, or a needy pet are a few examples. However, as long as you’re focused and following a schedule, you should be able to reap the benefits of working from home while also being highly productive.  Remote Work from Anywhere Many companies have referred to their remote work policies with the term “Work from Anywhere.” This might mean working from a coffee shop or cafe, coworking space, community room in an apartment building, hotel, airport, etc.  Working from anywhere gives employees nearly endless flexibility. You could choose to work in a coffee shop because you like background noise, or opt for a silent library on a day you really need to focus. It also gives you the ability to take work on-the-go while traveling for either business or pleasure. However, remote work from anywhere can present a few challenges and risks because you’ll need access to Wi-Fi, and not every place has it. Connecting to unsecure public Wi-Fi networks can create risks for data breaches or “man-in-the-middle” cyber attacks. However, you can skip the need for an internet connection altogether and stay more secure while working remotely by using a personal password-protected hotspot or an LTE device, such as a Microsoft Surface with LTE. Just keep in mind that hotspots could result in higher data usage and costs, and LTE devices are more expensive than regular ones.  Best Practices for Working Remotely There are numerous tips for working remotely that can help you maximize productivity, engagement, and satisfaction. Here are three simple-to-follow best practices for remote workers! Have a routine. Flexible working conditions sound great, but can create a lot of distractions when it comes time to actually get work done. To combat these distractions, it’s important that remote workers establish some sort of a routine to keep them on track. While it may not be the exact same every day, and certainly doesn’t have to, having some sort of schedule can help you feel more organized—without this, you might find yourself tempted to do other things (like clean the house, take a nap, or go run errands) during working hours. Set dedicated working hours. According to Buffer’s 2019 State of Remote Work Report, the most common struggle faced by remote workers is unplugging from their work. Since remote employees are typically looking at their screens and are “plugged in” to digital devices for the entire day, it can be difficult to detach and put them down after working hours. However, it’s important that you’re able to set healthy boundaries and aren’t online 24/7. For example, if your coworker is constantly sending late-night emails, answering at 3 am will give them the expectation that you’ll always answer at 3 am. Remember that you need personal time to unwind after work—answering that email the next morning is totally acceptable. Track your time. By doing a time audit, you can understand how long it takes you to complete different kinds of tasks and what distractions could be wasting your time, such as checking Facebook every 30 minutes. You can use a digital time tracking tool such as RescueTime or Toggl to track time spent on certain websites and categories. After you know how you really spend your time throughout the day, you can proactively schedule your tasks in realistic, manageable blocks with time built in for breaks and unexpected delays. Physically remove distractions from your workspace. To maximize efficiency when working remotely, you’ll want to physically remove any distractions from your work environment. For example, if you’re frequently scrolling through your Instagram feed, you can use apps like StayFocusd to block access to certain websites and apps during work hours. If you find yourself constantly checking your phone, turn it off and put it in another room while you’re working. Finally, you’ll want to keep a clean workspace so you won’t be tempted to organize and tidy up as a way of procrastinating. Training Tips for Remote Employees Training remote employees can present unique challenges for managers, but it’s certainly not impossible. Here are a few training tips for remote employees that can help businesses get the highest ROI on labor costs from their remote workers. Use a variety of training methods. As you create a training program for remote workers, it’s important to include a balance of platforms and methods. For example, there are some generic topics that can be covered in group conferences so remote workers can learn new skills while also interacting with their in-office and fellow remote coworkers. You can mix this is with self-guided training modules, webinars, or online exams for further professional certifications. You might even consider investing in a Learning Management System to develop custom training curriculum for each employee based on their role and skill set. Drive interaction when training remote workers. When hosting a training webinar or online conference, ask for feedback and questions regularly. This turns training into an interactive experience rather than just a manager preaching at a remote employee who is silent on the other end of the line. Work to establish a fun and engaging training culture that makes remote workers feel comfortable. Ask the rest of your team to contribute to the conversation by sharing examples, stories from their own career, and best practices they’ve learned along the way. Create time for team bonding, not just skills training. Buffer’s remote work report found that 19% of remote employees feel loneliness is their biggest struggle, and 17% say it’s collaborating and communicating. Managers can help combat these problems by giving remote workers time to get to know their team on a more personal level. If employees are working remotely in the same city, it can be helpful to have an in-person meet-up at a coffee shop or shared workspace every so often. You could even start a virtual book club or other interest-based groups where your remote workers can schedule time once a month to video chat about non-work related topics so they can get to know each other better, build trust, and develop personal relationships.  Check in regularly. When managers aren’t working in the same physical location as their employees, it becomes even more essential that they regularly make time for check ins and two-way communication. If you utilized a Learning Management System to create a training curriculum, log in every so often to monitor their progress then hold a quick call to recap what they learned and see if they have any questions. Schedule weekly or biweekly video chats to check in about their overall satisfaction and specific workload for that week. In between calls or video conferences, leverage an instant messaging app to send quick reminders, comments, or questions about a project. The more touch points and face-to-face interactions you have with your remote workers, the more engaged they’ll feel! Remote work is the future of the workforce, and if you’re a business owner or manager, offering the remote work policies that modern professionals are looking for can help you attract and retain top talent. Protected Trust can help by providing your organization with the Microsoft tools that enable your remote employees to achieve their greatest potential from anywhere on the planet, such as Teams, Office 365, and Surface devices. Interested in transforming communication, security, and mobility in your remote workforce? Reach out to a PT expert today.

The Importance of Technology in Business An innovative business on the cutting edge of technology is able to empower its remote workers, reap the cost-savings benefits of BYOD policies, and connect its employees no matter how and where they work. It can provide higher-quality products or services, enhance customer service and the user experience, and reduce waste while improving productivity for higher profit margins. All in all, properly utilizing technology in the workplace creates a competitive advantage.  In an incredibly crowded and competitive business landscape, any chance to get ahead is worth capitalizing on. If you’re not taking advantage of the benefits of technology in your organization, you’re likely already falling behind the competition. It’s important to realize that technology in the workplace has become essential for business success. A Timeline of Technological Advancements in the Workplace In order to understand how the current impact of technology in the workplace is so strong, let’s look back to see how we got here. 1960s. Technology wasn’t very present in the workplace. Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), a computer chip that drastically changed the evolution of computing power, was invented in 1967 but wouldn’t have a serious effect on companies until years later. The way that people communicated was evolving as more households gained access to televisions and phones, but this was still a challenge for companies. Between the lack of communication tools and infrastructure available, organizations were very limited as to where they could do business. 1970s. Even with the introduction of email in 1971, the impact of technology in the workplace remained stagnant as most large corporations were too focused on revenue to bother trying new tools. However, this decade saw booming technology innovation with inventions such as the daisy-wheel printer, floppy disk, and the first ever video game, Pong. The biggest invention of all arrived in 1973 when Ethernet (which is now the most widely used local area networking (LAN) technology in the world) was invented by Xerox. 1980s. With the rise of tech-giant companies like IBM, Microsoft, Apple, and AT&T, technology in the workplace finally started to gain some traction. The laptop was invented in 1981, and the world’s first cell phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 800x, was launched in 1983. With these new communication tools, organizations were finally able to expand where they could do business beyond their geographic location.  1990s. With the introduction of the World Wide Web in 1989, technology was essentially everywhere by the time the 90’s rolled around. Companies could now use the web to show off their products and services and stay connected with their customers. They could also find and communicate with other suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors that they wouldn't have been able to previously due to geographic limitations. This became even easier once Google was invented in 1998. 2000s. Google was now used daily by businesses and consumers alike across the globe. Devices such as the Apple iPod and iPhone were created, and social media sites like Myspace and Facebook began to pop up. These innovations started the wave of being able to access everyone and everything online. Consumers were now able to find and contact businesses who offered solutions to their problems, even if they weren’t located close by. At the same time, businesses were now able to do research on their customers to market to them more effectively and create products aligned with their deeper needs.  2010s. We’re all caught up! Welcome to modern times, where technology has become fully integrated into nearly every aspect of both consumers’ lives and businesses’ operations. Workplace trends and business best practices are constantly changing as new technologies are evolving at a rapid pace. 5 Benefits of Technology in the Workplace There are nearly endless benefits of technology in the workplace that can transform your business into a more successful, mobile, and modern organization. Here are five major ones! 1) The ability to streamline repetitive processes with automation. Over 40% of workers surveyed in a McKinsey report say they spend at least a quarter of their work week on manual, repetitive tasks such as sending emails and entering data. Leveraging automated technology in the workplace puts these tedious processes on autopilot so your employees can spend more time focusing on higher-return business ventures, such as building new client relationships or providing more attentive customer service. Automated processes are also more accurate. For example, using a software solution to automatically collect, upload, or sync data into a system of record reduces the risk of an employee accidentally inputting the wrong number that could skew an entire data set. 2) Overhead cost savings with remote work and BYOD devices. Companies of all sizes can experience significant decreases in operating costs by letting their employees work from home and use their own devices. It makes sense—with fewer employees in the office, organizations need less space, materials, and utilities. With BYOD device policies, you aren’t on the hook for purchasing expensive new hardware every time you hire an employee. As a large-scale example, American Express claims their remote work program has not only improved productivity, but also saved $10-$15 million annually in real estate costs. A Cisco study also found that companies save an estimated $3,150 annually per employee that uses their own device between hardware costs, data plans, and the value of time savings. 3) Higher employee productivity and satisfaction. When you give your employees access to the tools and technologies they need to do their jobs, and let them use them in the way that works best for them, they’ll be more efficient and engaged—and therefore much happier. In fact, highly-engaged business units have 41% less absenteeism, 17% more productivity, and achieve 10% better customer ratings and 20% more sales. When both a higher quantity and quality of work is being produced by your employees, it drives revenue and boosts profit margins. Happy employees are also more likely to stay loyal to your company long-term rather than going to work for the competition, which also saves you on turnover costs.  4) The ability to better serve customers. Technology in the workplace has allowed businesses to better market to their customers and provide faster and more personalized customer service. From leveraging data to determine where to place targeted ads, to participating in social listening to uncover your customer’s pain points, to providing immediate service through live chat bots or automated emails, and more, there are nearly endless opportunities for technology to enhance your user experience. This can go a long way in differentiating your brand from others, leading to long-term loyalty and higher revenue. 5) The opportunity to tap into non-local talent. Remote work policies can help businesses break down talent barriers by opening up a wider pool of candidates. Before the rise of remote work, employers were pretty much limited to hiring talent that was already in their local area or willing to relocate for the job—but this usually meant having to reimburse their relocation expenses, which could drastically increase the cost of a new hire. Now, businesses are able to attract and hire the best talent and industry specialists no matter where they live with attractive remote work policies.  Negative Effects of Technology in the Workplace While there are many benefits of technology in the workplace, it’s important to know what the negative effects can be so you can work to combat them in your modern office. Here are four major side effects of the impact of technology in the workplace. 1) The inability for employees to “unplug” after work. A strong work/life balance is important for employee productivity, satisfaction, and mental health. When employees are so “plugged in” to their devices for the entire day, it can be difficult to detach and put them down after work hours—especially if they get a late-night email from their boss or can see the notifications popping up on their screen from across the room as they’re trying to unwind. This is especially challenging for remote employees who often feel like they need to be reachable at all times to prove they’re actually working. In fact, Buffer’s 2019 State of Remote Work report found that 22% of remote workers claim their biggest struggle is unplugging after work. 2) Higher loneliness rates for remote employees. Buffer’s report also found that 19% of remote employees say loneliness is their biggest struggle with working remotely. 17% said it was a lack of communication with their team members. If your remote employees are unhappy and unable to effectively communicate with their coworkers, their productivity and quality of work will suffer, and they’ll likely start looking for another job. To combat these issues and reduce turnover expenses, it’s vital to give your remote employees access to the tools they need to not only do their job, but to build and maintain meaningful relationships with their team members. 3) Cybersecurity threats and data breaches. Security in “the Age of Mobility” is a challenge for nearly every modern office. Organizations are now using multiple platforms and devices at once to manage various aspects of the business. When employees have access to all this interconnected data, it can expose the business to cybersecurity threats. For example, if a hacker gets into one employee’s user account for a specific software, they’d likely be able to gather data from the other apps it is integrated with. To combat this, make sure your employees are using strong passwords and two-factor authentication for their accounts, and set up administrative controls to limit confidential data access to only those who really need it. 4) Privacy lines can be crossed. There’s a constant debate over whether employers should be allowed to monitor their employee’s personal social media accounts. If they do have something inappropriate on their profile, can you ask them to take it down if it was posted in their free time? This can be a blurry line that has led some companies to adopt formal social media policies, while others take more of the, “We’re only going to address social media use in the workplace if it starts to affect productivity and performance” stance. There’s no clear answer here—it’s up to each individual organization to determine how they want to handle this (as long as they’re following all privacy laws).  3 Examples of Technology in the Modern Workplace There are lots of businesses on the cutting edge of technology in the workplace. Here are three examples of organizations using technology in innovative ways to help their employees succeed.  1) HCL Technologies. HCL Technologies offers services such as IT consulting and remote infrastructure management. They believe in “ideapreneurship,” or empowering their frontline workers to turn their ideas into real value for their clients. To make this possible, HCL has created internal platforms where employees can collaborate to brainstorm and nurture new ideas. For example, their Value Portal is a place to post customer-centric ideas, then enables management to review these ideas. This eventually leads them to implementation. Another platform called Intellectual Property Monetization (IPM) allows employees to submit ideas that they want to be patented, where it then identifies realistic opportunities and supports product design thinking. Overall, HCL has effectively aligned its use of technology with its core values in an exciting way.  2) Salesforce. Salseforce, a cloud-based software company, debuted a CRM solution called Einstein that uses machine learning to build comprehensive customer profiles based on data, identify crucial touch points in the sales process, and uncover additional sales opportunities. The goal is to make life easier for the sales team, customer service reps, and management. The platform helps salespeople identify areas to drive additional revenue, customer service reps better understand the needs of the customer they’re dealing with, and managers gain deeper insights into the big-picture operations of their department.   3) Unilever. Unilever, a transnational consumer goods company specializing in nutrition, hygiene and personal care products, uses Microsoft technology to connect its global team of nearly 155,000 employees. They utilize Microsoft 365 (a bundle of services that includes Windows 10 and productivity apps such as SharePoint, Word, and PowerPoint) and collaboration tools such as Teams and Yammer. These tools effectively empower their remote employees to connect with one another to share information and ideas. Unilever leadership claims this suite of tools has made a huge impact on productivity and collaboration in the workplace. The Impact of Technology in the Workplace Overall, the impact of technology in the workplace is incredibly strong. There’s now an application, software, or platform that can help enhance almost any business initiative—whether that’s to foster collaboration between remote employees, improve customer satisfaction, build a stronger company culture, drive revenue, or eliminate wasteful inefficiencies.  If you aren’t taking advantage of the benefits of technology, your business can quickly become stagnant or even worse, fall behind the competition. In a world where organizations are rapidly investing in new workplace technologies and adopting the latest and greatest business tools, this can be incredibly detrimental.  Ignoring future workplace trends and being slow to implement technology in the workplace can give your competitors who have prioritized getting ahead of the curve a huge advantage over you. This can negatively affect workplace morale, decrease revenue, and give your brand a poor reputation amongst consumers.  So, do you want more efficient employees who are able to produce both a higher quantity and quality of work? Are you looking to improve engagement and job satisfaction to reduce turnover costs and keep your top talent working for you? Is driving revenue and business growth a major goal for your company? If you want to accomplish these objectives, having access to the right is absolutely necessary. Ready to get started?  At Protected Trust, we simplify technology in the workplace while empowering people to communicate so they can achieve their greatest potential from anywhere on the planet. We do this with a vision of a modern workplace, built on an ecosystem of Microsoft Teams and the Microsoft 365 platform. If you’d like to learn more about how implementing Microsoft technology in your modern office can help transform collaboration, mobility, and security, schedule an introduction with one of our experts today!

  Reduce Employee Turnover 54% of CIOs believe that when their workforce can easily access business applications, attrition rates are reduced.  No employee wants to face a daily struggle to get their work done simply because they don’t have access to the applications needed to do so. By making these business applications readily available to every member of your staff, employee frustration decreases while efficiency skyrockets. This increases revenue as well as employee satisfaction and team morale—ultimately reducing turnover and its associated expenses.   Employees who work from home at least once a month are 24% more likely to feel happy and productive at work than those who do not.  More productive employees generate more value, revenue, and therefore profits for your business. Plus, happier employees are much less likely to look for other jobs or go work for your competitors. In fact, companies that allow remote work see 25% less turnover than those who don't—reducing your risk of having to take time, effort, and money to recruit, onboard, and train replacement employees. Revenue Growth & Customer Satisfaction 87% of CIOs believe digitally empowering their employees can drive at least 5% additional revenue growth over three years.  Source: VMware The number one goal of most digital workplace transformation strategies is to drive revenue. Digitally empowered employees are more engaged, productive, and satisfied, which means they can produce both a  higher quality and quantity of work, ultimately helping you drive more revenue. In such a crowded and competitive business market, this can help your organization develop an incredibly valuable competitive advantage. 28% of companies say improving customer experience is a top goal when formulating a digital workplace transformation strategy.  Streamlining process and elevating communication methods through new and improved technologies can help you better serve your customers and enhance their user experience. Stats on technology use prove it—45% of companies report having improved customer satisfaction as a result of using digital workplace technology. Encourage Workplace Collaboration 63% of companies are adding small meeting rooms with collaboration technology, 56% are adding large conference rooms with collaboration technology, and 51% are adding huddle spaces with collaboration technology to their workplaces.  Source: Dimension Data With so many employees now working either partially or completely remote, businesses realize they need to provide spaces for in-office employees to collaborate with their remote teammates. This is so vital that only 12% of enterprises say they currently do not have any plans to make physical changes to their office environment that would encourage more collaboration.    Employees working for companies that make the necessary business apps readily available and accessible report 17% less time spent on manual processes, a 16% increase in team collaboration, and 16% faster decision-making.  Source: VMware Leadership isn’t the only ones that know the importance of having easily accessible business apps—employees recognize its effects, too. These technology in the workplace statistics prove that streamlined processes, effective communication and brainstorming between team members, and more efficient decision-making can be the result of simply making business applications more accessible.   Adopt a BYOD Policy 69% of IT decision-makers believe Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies are a positive addition to any workplace as it saves employees valuable time. Employees are on the same page as 53% of all workers polled feel they’re more productive when they have their own devices. One main reason for this is that individuals typically have their own devices on hand at all times, increasing accessibility. Another is that your employees are far more familiar with their own devices than they would be with a new one they only use during work hours. Therefore, implementing BYOD policies can help improve productivity while decreasing the learning curve for new technologies. 49% of PwC survey respondents believe that wearable technology in the workplace will improve efficiency.  Source: Salesforce Whether its smart watches, digital badges or lanyards, or smart glasses, more and more companies are starting to implement wearable technology in the workplace. 67% of those that have already done so report improvements in business performance—which is likely why 86% of companies expect their wearable technology spending to increase this year.   A Digital Workplace Transformation We hope diving into these stats about technology in the workplace helped you better understand how leveraging the right tools and technologies can improve efficiency, productivity, and employee satisfaction in your organization.  At Protected Trust, our mission is to simplify technology so your business and its employees can achieve their greatest potential from anywhere on the planet. We do this with a vision of a digital workplace transformation built on an ecosystem of Microsoft Teams and the Microsoft 365 platform. Are you ready to implement Microsoft technology in your modern workplace? Is your business already using Microsoft products or services, but would like to learn how to get more out of their features? Reach out to a Protected Trust expert today!

Each year in Las Vegas, Nevada, Microsoft hosts Inspire, a conference held for its partner community. At Inspire, Microsoft partners from across the nation gather to learn valuable tips, tricks, and strategies that they can apply in their own businesses for increased success throughout the year ahead. What Are the Benefits of Attending Microsoft’s Inspire? Partners are able to receive personalized advice and one-on-one guidance from Microsoft experts and sales reps, attend breakout sessions and workshops to learn how to get the most out of their software and devices, and gain insights into Microsoft’s plans for the upcoming year. Protected Trust at Inspire A group of our team members enjoyed the recent Microsoft Inspire conference. We enjoyed watching the talented keynote speakers, learning what other Microsoft partners in the industry are up to, and uncovering all the exciting things Microsoft has planned for next year.  However, it’s no surprise that our favorite part of the conference was being awarded the Microsoft Surface Modern Deployment Partner of the Year at the Surface Pre-Day Event! We are so honored to have been chosen for this coveted award recognizing the Surface partner that has fully embraced Autopilot and driven their customers to take advantage of DAAS (desktop as a service) and other modern deployment techniques in 2019.  But how did we accomplish this? At Protected Trust, the conversations we’re having with our modern, digitally-driven customers are no longer just about email and Office 365. Instead, they’re about how we can help organizations completely transform their overall workforce technology strategy in order to achieve a more dynamic, reliable, and secure platform.  What Teams on Any Surface Means Over the past year, we delivered on our mission to help businesses and their employees achieve their greatest potential from anywhere on the planet through our “Teams on any Surface” campaign. This campaign effectively “iPhoned” the PC, allowing users to rely on one single communication device with the power and versatility of a PC: the Microsoft Surface.  We made it our priority to show our customers how their businesses could be cloud connected and managed by using Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, AutoPilot, and Intune together on their Surface devices. This effectively enhances mobility, collaboration, and security for optimal business success.  We admit that becoming a digital transformer rather than just another MSP wasn’t always easy. However, we took the necessary time to build a strong foundation of knowledgeable workers, licensing capabilities, and service offerings, as well as elevate our sales and marketing strategies. These efforts certainly paid off, We experienced 423% overall revenue growth with Microsoft from 2018 to 2019! These are just some of the accomplishments that led us to be named as the designated “Partner of the Future,” as well as the “go-to” partner for Surface LTE by T-Mobile’s “Sell with” program earlier in the year. So, when it was our turn to showcase what we have to offer how it’s helped transform our clients into modern and digital businesses at the Surface Pre-Day Event, we were feeling confident. We are so honored and excited to take home the 2019 Microsoft Surface Modern Deployment Partner of the Year award, and can’t wait to take what we’ve learned from the Inspire conference and use it to further enhance the way we help our clients build more engaged, productive, and connected workplaces.  See What You Missed at Microsoft Inspire 2019! If you didn’t attend and would like to relive the experience, click here to watch full-length videos of the event’s core speakers on-demand! If you’re a current Microsoft user who would like to get the most out of their investment, or aren't currently leveraging Microsoft tut are interested in seeing how it's devices and services could transform your business for the better, reach out to a Protected Trust expert today or read on to learn how we found success with Microsoft Surface.

Every business can benefit from effective teamwork. Teams that can collaborate efficiently and consistently are more likely to complete tasks on time and make meaningful contributions to the success of the business as a whole. To facilitate business communication and collaboration, companies need effective teamwork tools to help their employees work better together—especially in modern workplaces where many employees may be working remotely rather than in the office. Here are three key Microsoft teamwork tools that can help transform your business into a more effective environment for collaboration: Microsoft Teams App Teams is Microsoft’s dedicated teamwork tool for businesses to help their team members collaborate more effectively. Microsoft Teams collaboration software allows employees to create custom team chat channels, edit Office 365 documents together online, and even set up and conduct videoconferences from their computer or smartphone. With Teams, you can create “Group flow,” or the state where your teams achieve peak performance by giving your people a place to chat, meet, and share files—regardless of whether they’re in the office or working remotely. Check out the Microsoft Teams collaboration study for more details about how you can leverage Microsoft teamwork tools to improve productivity and creativity in your company! Microsoft Surface Devices Microsoft’s Surface family of devices are built from the ground up to work with Teams and Office 365 to provide the perfect platform for improving teamwork and business communication. In particular, the Microsoft Surface Pro and Surface Go with LTE can be invaluable teamwork tools for remote workers. With their LTE connectivity, these Microsoft Surface collaboration devices can maximize your enterprise mobility with secure connections from virtually anywhere they can get a cell phone signal. Every Microsoft Surface collaboration tool is built with the requirements of Office 365 and Teams in mind, creating an optimized platform for enabling secure and efficient business communication and teamwork. For example, the Surface Hub 2 is an in-office teamwork tool that can be used as a large-scale digital whiteboard for in-office meetings, display up to four simultaneous video feeds for teleconferenced presentations, and employs an array of microphones and speakers to maximize audio quality so everyone can understand what’s being said during videoconferences. Office 365 Features Office 365 takes the traditional suite of Microsoft Office tools and makes them more convenient and collaborative than ever. With the subscription software comes free and instantaneous updates to the software each time a new feature is released—ensuring that all of your employees always have the latest version of Office. Compare this to the old method of buying each new year’s Office version as it came out, which would leave employees using incompatible versions of the software so documents had to be converted (and then have their formatting checked) each time an employee with Office 2009 wanted to edit a file from someone with Office 2013 (and vice versa). One of the biggest benefits of the new Office 365 features is the ability to put Office 365 files into Microsoft Teams and edit them live with another team member in real time. Instead of having to send edited documents back and forth repeatedly, two (or more) team members can edit the document live and leave comments or notes for one another without having to wait for someone to email the latest version of their edits. This can save an enormous amount of time (and headaches) for your team members while making their collaboration more effective than ever! Curious about how you can leverage Microsoft teamwork tools like Surface, Teams, and Office 365 for your organization? Get in touch with Protected Trust today to learn more.