Office Environment to Remote Working.
The stale terrain of the stereotypical workplace with it’s sealed offices and cramped cubicles has morphed over the last few decades giving way to an open-plan cooperative culture. With the introduction of informality through shared space, hot-desking and other flexible working practices, today’s office environments feature collaborative and social settings alongside the more formal private office or meeting rooms. With an array of mobile devices from which to choose, married with fast, reliable internet and Cloud connectivity, modern workers are making the most of a less restricted style of working.
Alongside this metamorphosis, another way of working has emerged – remote working. Buoyed by the same benefits which enhanced mobility within the office arena, remote working is no longer perceived as a privilege but an invaluable instrument in the infrastructure of an organisation.
Now thanks to COVID-19, prepared or not, entire industries were pushed into promoting remote working from a privilege to a prerequisite. Organisations that had already invested in modern device and infrastructure management and instilled flexible working practices empowered their workforce to head for home practically overnight.
It’s hasn’t been all smooth sailing though, and there are always some wrinkles for companies to iron out. But judging by the fairly smooth transition to remote working it wouldn’t be remiss to say that, for many, working outside the office is here to stay.
Remote Onboarding hurdles.
Supporting existing employees in this transition to remote working or welcoming new employee’s to the company whilst working from home, remote device deployment and onboarding will be one of the most difficult hurdles for a business to hop over.
Having moved to remote, organisations will still need to address the tricky task of managing time and effort, whilst maintaining an equilibrium in their technology and compliance capabilities, security stance, staff engagement and day to day operations outside the security of their corporate firewall.
And as we now focus on Apple hardware in the enterprise specifically, the ease of use and growing employee demand is putting pressure on businesses to support & offer Mac, iPad and iPhone as a more commonplace offering for remote workers. This Apple trend has tremendous benefits for employees, IT and the entire organisation.
Efficient Onboarding & Management for IT.
Apple and Mac Centre simplifying the challenges to make it easy for you to transition to a remote working environment:
- Remote device delivery direct to end user- Mac Centre are making it easier to direct ship the tools they need, direct to their door or location.
- Secure automated device enrolment and configuration – easy onboarding for employees performed unaided straight out the box via modern Mobile Device Management (MDM) tools.
- End-user personalisation and productivity – after unboxing, powering-on and a simple configuration process, immediate productivity can easily be achieved via secure streamlined access to business approved Apps and content.
Remote Device Delivery
We understand the need for devices, in real time and direct to locations outside of the company head office address, is critical to supporting your modern workforce. MacCentre have been a leading Apple services provider for over 17 years and use that insight to help procure, deploy and manage fleets from 50 devices to 5,000. We’ll recommend the best solution and have delivered direct to you or your end-users.
Device Enrolment and Configuration
Gone are the days of IT needing to unbox individual devices, physically power them up, to personalise and configure for individual employees.
Remote device enrolment (utilising the Apple Business Manager portal) works to automate and simplify the device setup process, through the addition of a third-party MDM tool (such as Jamf Pro). Pre-defined configuration profiles specific to your organisation, down to an end-user level, can be assigned to each device through the procurement and configuration process, eliminating the need for IT physical intervention. It is through the automation and streamlining of such manual workflows, IT teams are empowered to focus on the more strategic requirements of day-to-day.
Personalisation and Productivity
The first days of any new employee can often be overwhelming, let alone adding in the unnecessary worry of technical issues or lack of accessibility to key information required to get up and running from day one.
Over the past few years Apple has developed a device-based licensing program (Apple Volume Purchase Program), which no longer requires an individual Apple ID for the deployment of mandated company Apps, and when partnered with an MDM solution, can now be automatically provisioned from the Apple App Store direct to a device via the same company defined configuration profiles and workflows. Those same Apps can also be remotely wiped from a device at any stage, with the license being reclaimed and reissued.
Additional company approved productivity apps and critical resources can quickly and easily be made accessible to remote workers via an MDM company curated app portal (like Self-Service from Jamf Pro), empowering the end-user to remotely personalise their device for immediate productivity, wherever they are.
Enabling the User
Once you have determined your process for the remote provisioning of the device, you are left with one final step: remote user enablement. This is an extensive area, and how you best approach it will depend on a range of factors. Which sector your organisation operates in? What your IT infrastructure looks like. Any legal requirements you must meet etc. MacCentre can guide you through these processes.
So, you want more for your Remote Workforce?
Successfully implementing the technology is paramount to a productive remote onboarding process but the importance of a positive organisational culture cannot be understated.
When push comes to shove, just sending an employee home with a managed laptop isn’t going to cut it. Security requirements are harder than ever to satisfy, in turn making it paramount for businesses to have modern workflows along with the right tools to ensure their people, devices and networks are secure yet able to maximise the remote working landscape.
Mac Centre are experts in helping organisations shape technology to suit their business and their end-users for long term success. We’re trusted by some of Australia’s most successful brands to help their people be more productive and engaged at work using Apple technology.
If you want to take your remote working to the next level… you’ll be in good company.
