Discover the Concepts and Benefits behind Smart Working

Smart working is a popular concept that sees technology as a tool for enabling employees to perform better when they are allowed to work on their own, from anywhere. Smart working upends the traditional notion that it is better for office-based employees to work fixed hours. Its benefits are varied, with the most obvious ones being that it allows organizations to save on rent and office-related expenses while giving employees a higher sense of well-being and motivating them to become more productive.

Definition of Smart Working

Then and now, organizations try to equip employees with the best tools to maximize their productivity. However, organizational success can truly happen only when the culture and leadership are receptive to new ideas brought about by the changing times. Smart working is one such idea, helped along by the surge of technological advances in recent years.

Before smart working, there was telecommuting, which brought about the home office environment. Work could be done from home, so long as the employee had access to a telephone. Sales and marketing activities benefited most from this setup. Not all activities were suited to telecommuting though.

Smart working came about with the advent of technologies such as the internet, email and virtual private networks (VPNs). With smart working, the home office has been extended to practically any location where work can be performed, e.g., coffee shops, airports, bus terminals and even the beach. Unlike telecommuting, smart working is applicable to almost all types of work. As long as employees are able to deliver results and meet deadlines, employers do not mind when, where and how they work.

Smart working’s distinguishing characteristics compared to traditional offices include its emphasis on results, increased collaboration between employer and employee and their external networks, and more empowered and autonomous staff.

Benefits of Smart Working

Smart working brings flexibility of work locations and hours, allowing work to be carried out more efficiently to the benefit of both employer and employee.

The benefits of smart working for employers include:

Fewer expenditures and more cost savings: Organizations that continue to maintain physical offices can forego with space that they would have otherwise rented for employees now working from home or somewhere else. Cost savings are even higher for organizations that choose to go totally virtual.

Greater employee satisfaction: Flexible work schedules and remote work arrangements often lead to more satisfied, loyal and healthy employees. It also reduces employee turnover and absenteeism.
Unconstrained location requirements: There is a wider talent pool for sourcing potential employees since location is no longer a constraint to hiring. And companies don’t have to pay for relocation expenses.
Lower environmental impact: Gas savings and reduced emissions result from no longer needing to commute from homes to offices and back.
Better employer reputation: Family-friendly and environmentally-friendly organizations get much respect from families and the community.

There are benefits for employees as well. These include:

Higher productivity and sense of satisfaction: Generally, employees become more productive when given the freedom to work from anywhere and at any time. They also are more satisfied with their employers.
Better work-life balance: The time saved from not commuting to work anymore can be devoted to family. Since you’re not required to work on a schedule, you also get to spend time with your family when most needed.
Lower stress levels and better health: Managers looking constantly over your work can boost stress; so does traffic during long commutes. Healthier employees mean less sick leave. This also means more employment options for persons with reduced mobility.

Some Tips to Manage Smart Working

Below are some tips to make the shift to smart working more successful.

Identify the roles that can be performed remotely. While smart working is suitable for most roles, organizations with customer-facing positions might want to retain those jobs on premises.
Treat office and remote employees equally. Avoid treating remote workers differently than office workers. Regardless of work location, treat every employee as equally important.
Set regular staff meetings. This is important to ensure that everyone is kept informed of the latest developments within the organization. It also fosters a feeling of connectedness between employees.
Keep channels of communication open. Ensure that anyone can bring up important matters at any time.
Foster a sense of community among team members. Keep everyone involved and informed of what is happening among the workforce.

Set an example. Managers should follow the rules set for smart working faithfully so that staff follow suit.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Simplifies Managing Remote Workers

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is perfect for managing your smart working organization. For one, it makes software licensing for your smart working teams more manageable. It does this by ensuring that licenses are maintained in the datacenter, rather on the individual machines used by your remote workers.

Another benefit of VDI is that it is intrinsically secure. Thus, it helps avoid potential security issues that might arise from an employee’s use of a home PC for business use. While personal machines can still be used, employees connect to their own corporate desktops instead, essentially making them thin clients. This prevents them from exposing the corporate network to potential malware.

Finally, VDI ensures that help tickets from remote workers are attended to promptly. Technical support doesn’t need to know the specifications of personal machines to help their users. Since PCs used by remote workers connect to corporate desktops, the entire troubleshooting process takes place within the corporate network.

Parallels RAS Enables Users to Work from Any Device

Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) provides a remote desktop client that ensures a seamless work experience for your users, regardless of the device they are using to access your network. With Parallels RAS, your users can access any desktop application as a full-screen and highly-detailed mobile application that supports native touch gestures.

Parallels RAS supports multi-tasking, allowing users to run multiple applications simultaneously on their devices. It also features Parallels RAS Universal Printing, which enables out-of-the-box printing from any device without needing to install local printer drivers.

Parallels RAS has a Quick Keypads feature that allows IT administrators to define custom keys for commonly used keystrokes, significantly enhancing the user experience. It also supports the Samsung Desktop Experience (DeX), which transforms Samsung phones into full-fledged workstations.

See how Parallels RAS can enhance your user experience by downloading the trial.