Are your employees struggling to connect, collaborate and stay secure while working from home? Renew your efforts and keep productivity high with these helpful suggestions.
Just like any day at the office, IT professionals receive various tiers of requests from users. Some of these action items are extremely simple and likely could have been solved by users performing a quick web search while others are much more in-depth and require research and multiple steps to resolve. During the current working conditions caused by the COVID-19 crisis, IT help desk support professionals are being inundated on all sides by requests, causing user frustration with slow responses and leaving IT leaders feeling overwhelmed.
Eric Weast with Fort Lauderdale IT services company, ECW IT and Network Solutions says to try providing these simple solutions to your remote users with solutions to their most common issues so they can quickly regain productivity — allowing your technical teams to move on to more involved tasks.
Problems With Connecting to Remote Platforms
When you are attempting to connect to a remote platform and are unsuccessful, there are a few tasks that you can work through that might help you regain or establish access.
- Try navigating to www.Google.com and typing in any search term. If you do not receive results, your computer or mobile device may be offline. Re-establish your internet connection and try again.
- Restarting your device often works to clear any cached files or issues that could be blocking connections.
- Disconnect and reconnect your device to any WiFi hotspot to ensure the connection is working as expected.
- Reach out to your internet service provider such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and ensure that your network is functional.
When all else fails, you may need to reach out to your IT team for further instructions.
Difficulty Printing or Scanning Remotely
Printing problems are an issue for individuals within an office setting — and they only become worse when you are working remotely. Ensure that printer cables are correctly connected both to your printer and to your device and that your device is getting power. Disconnect and reconnect to any remote sessions, powering off your computer between connection attempts. Reach out to your IT help desk if you’re still having difficulties with printing or scanning.
Network Connection Glitches or Disconnections
Many IT departments limit the amount of time that a system can have an idle, remote connection which can cause problems for users who do not realize how much time has passed since an activity. If users are having trouble staying connected to remote devices, try rebooting the machine and then running a quick speed test online at https://www.megapath.com/speedtestplus. Once the page loads completely, you’ll be able to start a test that can help determine if your internet speed and quality are as expected or causing problems. Slow connections can be caused by overuse of WiFi within your home or home office, so try connecting your device via an ethernet cord if available and then retest your connection. Still, having problems? Contact your IT help desk for further instructions to resolve the issue.
Copying Files Remotely
It’s important to note that copying or removing files via a remote location may be an activity that is banned by your IT department. If you are attempting to shift multiple files at a time over a remote connection, your IT department may flag your activity and restrict you from taking these actions. If you’re repeatedly unable to copy or move files remotely, reach out to your IT department to determine if there are rules in place that will stop you from moving forward.
The COVID-19 crisis hit hard for businesses of all sizes, causing companies to suddenly switch gears to support substantial numbers of employees working from home. While this may cause some companies to struggle, it was also a solid test of the ability of American businesses to support widespread remote work. Supporting your clients during this evolving situation requires the ability to reach out to the community, spreading education and compelling suggestions that are targeted to help companies be successful. Want to learn more about how you can expand your reach to new clients even during the coronavirus upheaval?
