Many companies operating with remote and hybrid work schedules are attracting employees with desired skill sets, strengthening company culture and expanding technology infrastructure. They can get a stronger foothold, Forrester recently advised, by putting focus into four key areas and viewing these shifts as pieces of a bigger picture.
Quality In-Person Meetings
Part of the allure of working from home is the ability to focus and complete work in a distraction-free space. Handled right, meetings can be informative, empowering and directive, giving attendees something that furthers a project or other work. But without a clear purpose, desired goal or post-meeting action items, employees may feel that their time is being wasted.
This can even more so be the case during in-person meetings. Since they are likely to occur less frequently in a hybrid work model, managers should distinguish in-person meetings and reserve them for certain topics, projects, purposes. They are, in a sense, special events. Treat them as such.
Get to the Root of Obstacles Hindering Employees
The key thing is for leaders managing in a hybrid work model: plan with intent and keep communication channels open. Putting a feedback loop in place, for example, not only helps you hear what is working or not working for employees working remotely, it also helps you get ahead of obstacles and plan for a better outcome before disruption occurs.
One way to remove technical obstacles is to give employees an easy way to get help. Tikit, a Microsoft Teams-based IT service desk solution, helps employees submit requests and engage through resolution using their preferred channel: Microsoft Teams chat or Outlook email. The beauty of this approach is that both channels offer a conversational but direct way to request, define and fix technical issues from channels employees and analysts work in. Employees don’t have to log into a portal and deal with passwords, repetitive forms or additional requests for information. They can reach out as they would for other forms of business communication.
Invest in the Right Digital Tools
Collaboration and communication platforms like Microsoft Teams bring people together and provide flexibility. They accommodate video/audio calls; dynamic digital whiteboards; individual, group and team chats and meeting resources like video recordings and real-time documents. They are a general necessity for remote and hybrid work.
To make sure the workforce stays connected and able to perform, however, IT service desks need to be able to reach employee devices and problem-solve across on-prem and cloud-based technology. Disparate platforms can be challenging to manage, but service desk teams can leverage Microsoft Teams to manage ticketing using Tikit and:
- Securely connect to employees wherever they are located
- Take advantage of its communication channels
- Create a structure for managing ticket volume and further streamline the process
- Improve response time, employee engagement and analyst efficiency with virtual agents and artificial intelligence
- Extract ticket data so that more time can be spent on data analysis and planning
Tikit represents a cost-effective way for Microsoft customers to get greater value from an existing Microsoft investment, tackle the challenge of hybrid work and set the IT department up to succeed.
Regular Reviews, Tweaks and Maintained Focus on Strategy
Because hybrid work involves ongoing change, leaders may need to remain agile and occasionally shift course. Various strategies, especially hybrid work, will require regular review and possible adjustments to guide the business and employees through transitions.
Check out a demo of Tikit to see how it works. Or better yet, explore Tikit in a free 14-day fully-functional trial with no credit card needed!
