Forrester just released an updated paper, The State Of Remote Work, 2020: Flexible Work Is Now A Business Necessity. And since we at LogMeIn happen to be experts in making remote work possible through our solutions, we are proud to offer exclusive access to this paper for a limited time. (Note, the research paper is 100% unbiased on remote work technology solutions, unlike us.)

The survey data and interviews reveal companies can’t afford to ignore remote work for the long term. If you don’t have a solid plan for a flexible working program that allows your business to scale, improves the employee experience (EX), and enables business continuity through any crisis, this report walks you through formalizing one.

Here are the highlights:

Jumping numbers

Previous survey data shows that just 5% of workers primarily worked from home in 2019. We sure have come a long way, fast. In March 2020, entire businesses were forced to embrace remote work models in response to the pandemic. Now, 48% of businesses anticipate a permanently higher rate of full-time remote employees.

Big benefits

The benefits of business continuity in the wake of the pandemic have been clear. Remote work also has a notable impact on people. Employees are more engaged and productive, which boosts retention rates. And remote work decreases real estate costs – by an impressive sum of $12 million a year for one company.

But to get there, you need a plan. It starts by clearing out some barriers, namely removing any stigma around remote work, addressing infrastructure obstacles, and defining who, when and where guidelines around remote work. Forrester provides all the details.

A new way forward

A successful remote work program will facilitate productivity and enable agility to respond to future crises. That requires addressing four pillars of remote work: structure, culture, technology and compliance.

Did someone say technology?

Supporting employees with the right technology is key to enable remote working. Four imperative areas to address (along with our admittedly biased suggestions) are:

• Communication and collaboration: Can your teams work seamlessly with one another and your customers/clients and partners?
• Unified communications and collaboration solutions keep everyone in the loop.
• Remote access: Do employees have access to the systems they need to do their work? Can IT teams instantly access any device they need to support?
• Ensure you have proactive and reactive remote support solutions as well as ways for employees to access remote devices, regardless of location.
• Security: Are you certain that your remote support connections are secure and lock out malicious actors? Are your employees’ identity, passwords and data secure?
• Safeguard your workforce with solutions built with enterprise-grade security measures. And protect sensitive passwords and access points.
• Hardware: Can you support the physical equipment and environments your employees need for remote work, like printers, routers and other peripherals?
• A camera-sharing solution gives you instant eyes on the scene.

Check out the full LogMeIn product suite for more information on solutions that fit within these categories.