The last two years have been extremely difficult for us all, as individuals and as businesses. With several lockdowns, working from home orders in place and supply chains impacted, the pandemic has been a real challenge for many businesses.

With more people resorting to shopping online, eCommerce was booming. Cloud solutions also became increasingly popular with most people working from home.

Prior to the pandemic, working from home was rare. Only a few businesses had suitable infrastructure in place to support flexible working. For all the other businesses that stuck to traditional working methods, the transition to WFH has been a stressful experience, yet has proven to be an important learning curve for us all.

From remote IT support to new tools; herein we will summarise the top lessons learnt from the pandemic.

Flexibility is Key

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is the importance of being flexible. With guidelines and rules changing all the time, especially during the peak, companies were forced to change and adapt very quickly. Those companies that were more flexible in their approach, across all their departments, had survived the pandemic – some were even flourishing.

Remote Security and VPNs are Essential

The majority of companies weren’t prepared for the sudden change to remote working. Although some had a VPN, security measures were lacking prior to this. During the pandemic, the demand for tighter security tools for remote workers had grown significantly.

Remote IT Services are Important

Remote and hybrid workforces require remote IT support. If a computer or device malfunctions, you will need a team to access your computer remotely to fix the issue immediately.

Cloud Working and Storage is the Future

During the lockdown, workers needed full access to files and data away from the office. Providing hard disks and flash drives (or hard drives?) was not feasible, impractical and unsafe.

Many companies therefore made the migration to the cloud platform. Not only could all employees access the files whenever and wherever they are, but managers could restrict access based on permission levels. To find out more about this, read our post about the 5 Benefits of Utilising Cloud Storage.

Clear Communication is a Vital Part of Any Business

Communication was a weakness for many companies, even before the pandemic hit. During the past two years, we have learnt that to function properly, internal communication must be clear and concise.

Communication was no longer face-to-face, companies had to enforce new methods of communication, whilst ensuring messages were received by the right person and clearly understood. Through the implementation of remote IT support and tools such as video conferencing and collaboration platforms, this was easier to achieve.

Employee Wellbeing is Not Something to Be Ignored

The social aspect of the workplace was an integral part of the company culture and was a significant part of many people’s lives. With employees working from home, the social aspect of work was diminished, and many were struggling with isolation and lack of human contact.

Employee wellbeing was pushed to the forefront of many managers’ minds during this time, and must be maintained moving forward.

Make sure you check in with your employees regularly, especially those working from home to ensure they have all the support they need. Asking for help is not as easy as before. Ensure your staff know you’re approachable and can ask for help and advice whenever required.

Although it has been extremely difficult, we have learnt a lot over the past two years and it is important to keep these learnings in mind for the future.

How Minerva Can Help

We offer a vast range of tailored IT solutions, from cloud platforms to cyber security to software solutions, we can provide services to suit your particular requirements, no matter the size of your business or whether you are office based, hybrid or remote working.

Contact us today to find out how we can help your business.