Cloud

Tools That Improve Telework Also Strengthen Daily Office Routines

The strongest remote collaboration tech also enhances productivity for agencies when employees are in-house.

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Ryan Petersen has worked in publishing for more than two decades, most of it spent creating award-winning content and strategy for CDW’s family of tech magazine brands. As editor-in-chief, he works with his team to develop compelling and useful industry-focused stories to share with the technology world. Outside of work, Ryan enjoys spending time with his children, traveling, online gaming, and following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs baseball.

In 2020, many state and local government agencies have found themselves augmenting tools for telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And many of these telework technologies offer powerful solutions for meeting everyday objectives, both inside and outside of the office.

Take, for example, conferencing tools. Microsoft Teams and Google Hangouts provide the means to collaborate while also opening a channel of ongoing communication about the status of projects. Whether teleworking or not, consistent use of this tech enables coworkers to hold conversations throughout the life of a project.

While those applications support videoconferencing, enhancing video with software such as Cisco Webex, for example, can strengthen the power of broadcasting presentations to work communities.

Perhaps your agency adopted conferencing solutions to empower telework. But you’ll surely find they augment regular, in-person communications when their use continues through the daily rituals of the office and beyond.

Security and Uniformity in the Cloud

The power of cloud computing, of course, makes the collaboration happen, and the cloud also supports uniformity and security for agencies.

Agencies can ensure that employees have the same experience in the office or remotely when deploying virtual desktop infrastructure or Desktop as a Service. Organizations may run VDI solutions by VMware or Citrix from their data centers, tying user devices to a common environment and ensuring security with centralized management.

Cloud also opens access to government resources through identity management systems inside and outside the walls of an agency office. Identity management services such as Okta allow agencies to shield resources behind a secure login. Employees can access applications through computers or smartphones with real-time multifactor authentication. Agencies can control a user’s access or authorization on the fly.

Agencies that embraced around-the-clock use of these tools and others only this year surely will discover their utility for both in-office and remote workforces. Lowering barriers to telework and remote work will only enhance productivity in the office and across the organization.

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