When most of the companies are working remotely, it is the role of IT leaders to ensure the teams are productive and working collaboratively
Owing to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, enterprises across the globe are working remotely. In times like this, IT leaders will have to ensure their teams are working without any interruptions.
The majority of the IT work can be managed remotely as long as it does not involve hands-on interactions with physical enterprise assets. IT leaders need to assemble a remote IT team for the smooth functioning of the business. Now that the majority of teams are working from home, it is for a leader to have people skills so that that team members can continue to work in sync. It is also essential to have a functional strategy while managing remote teams. Team members who are working from home should be provided with autonomy and authority to execute tasks quickly and effectively. It is important to get weekly updates about the work once the team has agreed on scope, time, and quality of the work.
Another important task for IT leaders is to ensure there are the right people with the right expertise on the team. A clear set of goals and targets must be set with the teams when they are working remotely. One of the significant challenges for leaders is to select a collaboration platform that is suitable for all team members. Remote collaboration tools such as Zoom and Slack most popular at present; however, there are several online task boards and project management tools.
As the majority of the workforce is working from home, it is essential for organizations to ensure that each individual can securely access the enterprise systems and resources to remain productive. Along with using a VPN, the use of multi-factor authentication is important to validate employee identities and prevent unauthorized access. Enterprises need to ensure that their corporate network has the latest anti-virus, spyware, and malware protection.
Lastly, not being available in one office at the same time, creates a possibility of misassumptions and misunderstandings that can affect performance and productivity. People working at home lose access to observations, insights, and updates.
Trying to deliver professional commitments remotely without proper communication enablements bound to leave a lot of gaps in understanding. It then becomes the responsibility of the executive leadership to ensure there is a seamless and smooth working order for teams- and work goes on in a BaU manner.
Sneha Bokil is a Senior Editor with OnDot Media. She writes editorials on an array of topics ranging from IoT, AI, ML, and cloud computing, among others. She has over 9 years of experience in the field of content creation, where she has written on technology, both enterprise and consumer, and finance.
