The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has accelerated a transition in the way many of us work and go about our daily lives. Public sector organisations play a key role in enabling citizens to do the things they need to do on a day-to-day basis, and their responsibilities have never been broader or more complex than they are today. At Six Degrees we have been supporting public sector organisations in managing a significant transition in the nature and volume of remote working whilst continuing to deliver essential services to citizens.

To date, many organisations have focused on the logistics involved in ensuring people and departments can carry on functioning with minimal disruption to the citizens they support. However, now that we’re beginning to embrace the full implications of this new reality, we have a chance to make longer term considerations around our remote working strategies. In this article we will provide an overview of the remote working strategy decisions your public sector organisation should be making.

Making the Right Remote Working Strategy Decisions

In order to get the most from your remote working solutions, you should have enterprise grade services in place that maximise the security, capacity, redundancy and resiliency of your infrastructure. These will support a full set of communication channels for voice, chat, video, file share, meetings and collaboration between your people and your eco-system of citizens, service partners and suppliers. Some decisions we should all be making include:

• Should we replace free remote working solutions with paid for versions? There’s some great free and freemium remote working technology that has enabled many organisations to get on their feet when it comes to staying productive and communicative whilst away from the office. But is this fit for purpose in the long-term? Does it align with your wider digital transformation and organisational strategies? Consider reviewing free software applications and replacing them secure, feature-rich paid for versions.
• Have we embedded agile workspace technology into our working culture? Microsoft Teams and Windows Virtual Desktop usage have increased massively over the past few months. However, although Microsoft Teams has all the communication and collaboration functionality an organisation could ever want, it’s not enough for IT teams to simply deploy the software and leave their people to it. In order to maximise your Microsoft Teams adoption and ensure optimal productivity throughout your organisation, you should work to embed the software as part of your working culture.
• What are the security implications of remote working? You’ve probably read about the security issues users have experienced with the likes of Zoom and other teleconferencing solutions. Expanding your working environments increases the threat vectors cyber criminals can attack you through. Review your cyber security posture with a trusted, accredited cyber security partner.
• Do we have the capacity for remote working? Six Degrees recently helped a UK Police Force transition its remote access away from a 100MB circuit that was being overwhelmed to a new, high capacity 1GB circuit that has supported over 700 concurrent connections to date. We should all be asking if our network infrastructures have the capacity to cope with a massive increase in remote access demand.
• Is our cloud data backed up and protected? If your organisation stores data on Microsoft servers, Microsoft will not take responsibility for data loss that results from accidental deletion, malware or operational errors. Office 365 Data Protection delivers cloud-to-cloud backup that enables your organisation to access, control and protect Microsoft Office 365 data.
• Should we consider transitioning to a cloud-based model? This is a question that deserves at least another article on its own. With so many transformational applications and technology becoming cloud-native, and considering the inherent security, performance and availability benefits of the cloud, there are compelling arguments for transitioning away from local infrastructures to embrace the potential of cloud technology.

Your Remote Working Strategy

Agile workspace technology holds the key to facilitating citizens’ digital journeys throughout their interactions with your organisation. It will also ease communication with related agencies, including local NHS trusts, emergency services and housing associations.

Get in touch with the Six Degrees team for more information about how Windows Virtual Desktop and Microsoft Teams will enable you to foster a more connected workforce and deliver a joined-up approach to citizen services. Visit hub.6dg.co.uk/smarter-working to learn more.