What Businesses Learned About Remote Work Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak

Remote work

The COVID-19 outbreak left many businesses scrambling to find ways to shift their employees to remote work safely, efficiently, and effectively. Many companies were forced to make this transition without IT support, which, looking back, created numerous problems for many of them.

But despite facing significant challenges, many of these businesses reluctantly adapted to the regularly changing demands from government authorities and customers, and somehow made things work; however, they also learned a lot about where they could improve from a technology standpoint. And that’s why many of these businesses have been and are assessing their remote access needs.

IT member trade association CompTIA in March surveyed 500 professionals about remote work. One of the more significant findings from the study revealed that only 41 percent of respondents said their company had strong technical capabilities when it came to remote work. While alarming to some, this statistic probably didn’t shock many members of CompTIA’s community of IT professionals, many of whom had to assist their customers with transitioning to remote work during the COVID-19 outbreak.

While only 20 percent of the survey’s respondents worked from home full time before the coronavirus crisis officially hit the U.S., 72 percent said they planned to increase investments in remote work capabilities because of the pandemic. From their own experiences, these businesses are now aware of the following: There’s more work to be done.

Many of the professionals surveyed learned during the COVID-19 crisis that the company they were working for wasn’t adequately prepared to transition its workers to remote work, which prevented them from executing. Forty-two percent of respondents said they needed better support options; 41 percent had budget constraints, and 36 percent lacked the technical know-how among their workforce.

Going forward, to adapt to a workforce that has become increasingly remote, many professionals are already looking to make changes to their organizations by purchasing virtual private network (VPN), cloud, collaboration applications, and cybersecurity solutions.

Unlike before the COVID-19 crisis, many companies are now planning to seek the assistance of IT professionals when implementing technologies in the future. Sixty-seven percent of the survey’s respondents said they were very likely or somewhat likely to explore third-party help for building remote work capabilities.

The COVID-19 outbreak was a learning experience for many businesses. Even though there wasn’t a tremendous interest in implementing work-from-home technologies before the crisis hit, many companies have already changed their minds.

They’re now rethinking the way they operate and seeking IT professionals’ advice who can assist with developing remote work policies, implementing work-from-home technologies, and addressing concerns arising from operating in what we’re now calling “new normal.”