With the COVID-19 pandemic, companies across the globe are being required to rapidly introduce remote home working to enable them to continue to operate.
Centrality are a Microsoft partner specialising in Microsoft 365 and Azure; here we discuss how we use the modern solutions we’re passionate about to ensure our team are empowered to work productively, securely from wherever they are.
User Identity and Access: A key element is having our user identities unified so that we can ensure only the appropriate levels of access are granted to the appropriate systems. By having a single identity we can reduce password use whilst ensuring we have alerting of any specific security incidents.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): We ensure MFA and is required to access any corporate resource at Centrality, we do this through two authentication methods Windows Hello for Business (with PIN or bio-metric sign-in), and Azure Multi-factor Authentication, all underpinned by Conditional Access to make sure that the right people are accessing the right resources at the right time.
Managing Devices: All our own devices run Connect by Centrality which is our solution for Microsoft 365 native secure working. This means we have AutoPilot deployed, InTune managed devices which remain evergreen, secure and compliant, whether we’re working in the office, or remotely for extended periods of time.
Productivity Applications: We have leveraged the power of Microsoft 365 to enable our staff to access resources and share files with Office apps across the web, mobile, and desktop, storing their content in the cloud by default. The users are also able to do real-time co-authoring and commenting in documents in the cloud, which has proved useful for a distributed workforce. We ensure the master copy of all data is stored in the cloud by default.
Meetings and Collaboration: We love Microsoft Teams! We use it for daily stand ups across our internal departments, and within departments, to collaborate with one another and for our customer. We hold regular staff COVID-19 webinars and have even created our own virtual pub with different rooms for different interests to ensure everyone keeps informed and able to have water cooler chat.
Access to Line of Business (LOB) Applications: Even with most of the applications accessible in the cloud, some still require us to connect back to base. To support some of our customers we leverage Windows Virtual Desktop to allow secure access through a browser ensuring no customer data is saved on the Centrality device.
Service Monitoring: With the increased load and usage from so many people working remotely, service monitoring has proven crucial to making sure everything is operating as it should.
Culture: Remote work can create challenges to maintaining a healthy work culture and managing change. To make sure of the shared best practices, our teams have held live events to drive employee connections, engagement, and learning. We have set up Microsoft Teams to share pictures of our working environments, promote video use on calls to increase social interaction. We encourage staff to take regular breaks, take time to get fresh air while at home, and to limit the time they are sat at their desk.
Designing for Specific Roles: We recognise that different roles across our organisation have different needs, and they are not all tech savvy. We ensure that the working environment aligns to the individual’s role, and that they have the right support to ensure that they maximise their productivity. We pride ourselves on driving user adoption cross the company and empowering our teams.
To get in touch to discover how Centrality can support your organisation in enabling your workforce in successful and productive remote working, contact us here for a discovery call with our team.