Productivity and collaboration – identify easy to use cloud-based productivity tools that facilitate collaboration and document-sharing. Videoconferencing and collaboration tools are not the only examples of how the cloud can help organizations in these moments of forced distance between people. Cloud means fast and secure remote work management, control over network access and user connection to VDI, secure access to on-premises core services and systems with federated access, enhanced flexibility and scalability of mobile and remote environment and overall control of the total cost of ownership. Augmented Reality Cloud technology could help in the post-pandemic scenario as well as increase collaboration thanks to Digital Twins, on-site design reviews in AR/MR, location data to visualize a heat map in AR/MR, immersive training, augmented intelligence for object recognition and much more.

Communication – keeping employees aligned with the decision process and openly sharing information within the entire team in an efficient and reliable way is important to avoid inefficiency. Reply is helping companies in identifying the needs and the best communication tools to allow people and teams to improve communication efficiency. Conference calls, video calls, chat, e-mail not only have to be available, but more importantly have to coexist and be leveraged based on the real needs of the decision process. Last but not least, these tools have to be reliable and easy-to-access for all. Immersive telepresence can provide a much more life-like experience, with holographic meetings using 3D volumetric video streaming and collaboration tools.

Data access – data is crucial to the decision-making process. Allowing easy and distributed access to data while working remotely is a key factor in making the right business decision.

Cybersecurity – this is an area that usually is under-evaluated by remote workers. Remote working brings an increased risk of scams and cyberattacks attempting to exploit less-secure connections. For this reason, organizations should focus on setting up and protecting the entire infrastructure – security, bandwidth, access permissions and hardware. Ensuring data security does not negatively affect the daily routine is of enormous importance.

In a period of forced remote working basic IT support might be overwhelmed. Reinforcing the IT Support Team with facilitators that can help other employees (less-experienced colleagues, new-joiners, …) overcome hurdles might decrease the pressure and improve efficiency.