By Damian Hanson, Co-Founder & Director of CircleLoop

Being able to keep operations running smoothly during these unprecedented times has become a challenge for businesses of all sizes. Nevertheless, the pandemic has provided a newfound level of benefits for businesses such as reduced infrastructure costs, lower employee turnover and access to a wider pool of talent.

However, from the employee’s perspective, the line separating work from life at home has been blurred during the pandemic, causing an unhealthy problem that negatively impacts an employee’s mental wellbeing. Despite the flexibility of work that can be offered, employees are at a greater risk of burnout due to the blurred boundaries between work and home.

As we approach the upcoming festive season, it will be important to look at how cloud-based business tools can support a remote working structure, allowing employees to maximise family time this Christmas without compromising on work productivity.

Why businesses need to ensure better support for remote employees

With physical office presence no longer being a necessity, communication remains key to business operations and success. Closing the office over Christmas is now an easy possibility compared to life before the pandemic. However, being able to measure the effectiveness of your team and ensuring that their well-being and productivity are measurable is one of the many things that need to be considered.

Updating your technology with the cloud is just one way to make project collaborations easier. However, it will be important to provide your employees the same one-on-one time and brainstorming opportunities similar to if they were in the office to ensure they are not feeling neglected and isolated.

At a time where people can work from anywhere, as obvious as it may seem, respecting an employee’s availability via their online status will be key to recognising boundaries and respecting the wishes of your staff. As businesses, we need to recognise that it’s just as important to have time away from your screen as it is to work productively, and many cloud-technology products, like CircleLoop, have built this into their products as a result.

There is no doubt that cloud-based communications have opened the door for a hybrid workforce. However, businesses still crave the team interaction that the office is best suited for. In the age of Zoom fatigue and remote burnout, this means that your strategy may have to change from time to time. It’s important to consider the additional perks of cloud-based technology, whilst also ensuring that business provides a human element in a digital workspace.

Cloud-based phone systems vs traditional phone systems

With the number of different cloud-based technologies on offer, the cloud-based communication industry empowered employees to stay connected and productive from wherever they decide to work.

Cloud-based phone systems for example provide complete flexibility because they can be used over the internet from anywhere, at any time whereas a traditional phone system can only be used in the building it’s set up in. You can’t typically use traditional phone systems externally or from another location which adds to the importance of having a model that works for the hybrid working approach.

Cloud-based technology also focuses on the advancement of features that would otherwise become obsolete to encourage businesses to continue to upgrade their systems and future-proof their technology. With the switchover of traditional phone lines and infrastructures that work on ISDN and PSTN in 2025, businesses will have to invest in alternatives and consider their options sooner rather than later while there is still plenty of time to adapt to the cloud.

The benefits to businesses of implementing cloud-based technology

We have seen strong demand for cloud-based systems during the pandemic as it works from anywhere which supports the hybrid or remote working model. It’s also very easy to set up and get running which has been a huge benefit to any business switching from office-based work to remote.

Cloud-based technology is becoming the future of business and has become a popular option because of its long list of benefits. Flexibility, cost savings, increased productivity, speed, performance, and security capabilities are also pros to using this technology versus traditional phone systems.

In addition, many new business apps and platforms are already being integrated with cloud-based phone systems to make the day-to-day work even easier. This technology is now a part of major business innovations that will shift how we see the office space forever. Being an adaptable business in 2022 and beyond, is about supporting remote working but also offering employees the opportunity to work in the office as much as they want to if preferred.

Final thoughts…

As organisations continue to adopt the hybrid working model beyond the pandemic, the shared experiences across the country will undoubtedly establish cloud-based business tools as an enabler for the futuristic work structure. The cloud solution can ease concerns over the ability to handle increased levels of remote working as well as offer financial reliefs to small and medium-sized businesses.

Cloud-based phone tools will inevitably become more integrated with other business apps to streamline internal processes. I expect this technology will continue to adapt and innovate in this space as business integration grows in demand from our customers. Now has never been a better time to assess if it will work for your business as you expand and grow to make sure it’s as future-proof as possible.