4 Questions to ask your IT Consultants when re-opening post COVID

In the before times (pre-COVID), planning your IT budget focused on in-office activities as a general rule. When COVID first hit, there was a mad scramble to make remote work possible and support over the past year focused on bouncing back and forth as waves came and went. With vaccinations on the rise, it is now time for companies to determine what reopening means for them.

Here are the questions we are asking our clients:

1. How are you going to approach re-opening in terms of remote work?

Each company is going to have to determine what level of remote work will be available to their employees moving forward. Will your company require everyone to be in the office full time? Will you provide flexibility to your staff to have a hybrid approach - choosing when and if they are working from home? Or will you be moving entirely to remote work?

2. Depending on which approach you are taking, what technology and tools are you going to take responsibility for your employees? What will be your standard package?

When everyone was in the office, companies took care of providing everything from keyboard and computer to monitors and monitor stands, desks to chairs. As you plan for re-opening and more formally defining work environments, what are you going to be responsible for providing your team and where will it be provided? No organization will want to provide duplicate technology for those working both in the office and remotely, and having a standard of what is provided and what can be taken home will save you from tough conversations.

3. What assets went home with employees and need to come back into the office?

Many employees took home extra monitors, chairs, and technology - how are you going to approach having those assets returned to the office? Or can they choose to keep them at home if they are going to work remotely more often? It’s a good idea if you did not track this to start taking note.

4. What changes do you need to make in terms of technology and security to support hybrid work moving forward?

Depending on what route you are taking for your post covid work environment, an IT Assessment is an important step to take to ensure that you are set up to succeed. Your IT Support Team or IT Consultants should be a part of any re-opening discussions to ensure that they are aware of the decisions being made, and how it can impact your budget. An IT assessment should look at how your team will be working moving forward. For instance, did you take any shortcuts to get people working from home quickly? This is the time to catch them and ensure that you have addressed any potential risks. If more of your team will be working from home, are there technology changes you can make in your office to reduce costs? Does everyone need a desk in the office? Or can you change how your space was used?

Interested in an IT Assessment? Ascent3 IT is an Edmonton based IT Support and Consulting company focused on helping small and medium businesses get the most out of their IT budget.