Last week Microsoft joined a host of international companies encouraging their staff to work from home in light of COVID-19. And with the technology at their finger tips it’s no surprise that this has been very easy for them to achieve.

But how simple is it for other businesses? From a technological point of view the answer is ‘very’.

There are loads of solutions available to facilitate remote access; so major events like floods, snow and infection should not have a huge impact on businesses when their staff could work from home.

Cloud computing for home working

Cloud computing can support employees to work from anywhere as long as they have an internet connection. Even if your company doesn’t already use cloud computing and has an on-site server for storing data, this can be transferred to the cloud and accessed securely by a staff who are home working.

The Microsoft cloud solution is Azure. It is continually updated so it can support your business’ IT systems and requirements, as well as safeguarding against cyberthreats. Your storage can be scaled up or down based on your business needs. Plus, using it is more cost effective than maintaining your own data centre.

Find out more about the benefits of cloud computing with Microsoft Azure.

More things to consider when supporting staff to work from home

The tech side of home working is really very easy to set up. But there’s more that you need to consider and have in place to make working remotely possible.

For example, a computer usage policy might be necessary to cover anyone accessing your company’s cloud system using personal hardware. This needs to cover who is responsible for anti-virus software, data security and computer issues.

You may already have these policies in place or can build on existing procedures to support your staff when home working is necessary.

If home working would help your business now or in the future then Fruition Systems has the expertise to help you set up cloud computing to enable staff to work remotely. We can also advise on computer usage policies, cloud hosted phone systems and hardware for your team to use off site.

Contact Fruition Systems for all your Microsoft cloud computing needs by calling 01489 890820 or emailing info@fruitionsystems.co.uk