5 Essential Technologies for Effective Remote Working

Whether through necessity or choice, more and more people are working from home. While at first, this might appear to be as simple as plugging in a laptop and having a cellphone nearby, the reality is that it takes more than that to be able to work from home effectively.

It can be difficult to stay motivated and productive when working from home, particularly if you are balancing family commitments at the same time. The right home office environment can make it easier to connect to your colleagues, but you also need the right equipment at hand. Here are five essential technologies that all remote workers should have at their disposal.

1. Laptop and accessories

You need your laptop, of course, but you should also consider other pieces of hardware for your home office environment. For example, it is often much easier to work on complex projects with multiple tabs when you have a second monitor. You should also have a headset so you can take calls efficiently and an ergonomic mouse mat to prevent your wrist from developing repetitive strain injury (RSI).

Note: While not technically technology, it is also important to invest in a comfortable and supportive work chair to prevent back injuries.

2. High-quality Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is obviously essential, but you may find that your domestic Wi-Fi speed is not enough for your work needs. To ensure you can attend virtual meetings and work without interruption or delays, consider upgrading to a more reliable, secure, and faster connection. You might also want to consider adaptive Wi-Fi, which will automatically allocate bandwidth depending on which devices require the most.

3. Virtual meeting platforms

The virtual meeting is here to stay. Emails and phone calls are fine, but sometimes only a ‘face to face’ meeting will do. There are lots of examples of video calling software to consider, but all will enable you to connect with colleagues, clients, and customers wherever you are in the world.

4. Communication and collaboration software

Of course, it is not always necessary to arrange a virtual meeting or type out an email, as often you want to be able to communicate succinctly and quickly with colleagues when collaborating on projects. This is where instant chat tools, collaboration, and project management software come into their own. The best platforms enable you to chat privately with one colleague or in groups/teams. Working from home with software like CoAmplifi enables you to share and edit documents in real-time, track your progress, and stay on top of multiple projects at once.

5. Digital/voice-activated assistant

Digital assistants like Google Assistant or Amazon Echo are often thought of as a domestic product, but they have the potential to support home working as well. You can tell a digital assistant to make a call, send an email, take notes, and check facts on the internet while carrying on with another task or making a coffee. Used as multitasking tools, digital assistants can significantly improve efficiency and productivity. Click here to find out which is the best digital assistant product on the market.