5.03.2020
Remote work

COVID-19, better known, and feared, as coronavirus, is marking the news since the beginning of 2020. There are already tens of thousands of cases and the number of countries affected is growing exponentially. Without getting into medical and social implications, we can already see that it is having a significant effect on businesses in different ways worldwide. No day goes by without hearing that some company is sending home all the workers – what can have major repercussions on that firm and on business in general.

Business results get infected too

In a world like today, if a company is not prepared to face situations in which offices are forced to close, it is pretty much doomed. The economic impact of stopping the activity for weeks - in the case of the coronavirus, the quarantines range from 15 to 40 days - can be dreadful, even bankruptcy is on the table.

Large companies, where elaborate telecommunication is common and the risk of losing their activity is much greater, usually have their survival plans ready to go. But when we turn to smaller firms, they are rarely prepared to continue working on 100% with all employees outside the office.

How to prepare your company for everyone to work from home

Cloud services are essential for such cases: if the necessary data can be accessed from any location and any device it significantly simplifies the transition to remote working. Depending on the type of business, you might need to move several systems to the cloud. Some of the more apparent systems to transfer would be emails, access to records and activity history - something as simple as Gmail and Google Docs can do the trick for the time being. But it might not be immediately obvious that your phone system can be moved to the cloud as well. And if your company’s work relies on voice communication it can be a difference between success and failure.

You can move voice telecom to the cloud by setting up a virtual PBX – Private Branch eXchange. It will allow you to not depend on the location of your employees and have them make and receive calls as if they were at the office. This will not require any additional equipment - a smartphone app or a program for a computer or a laptop and a stable internet connection will be more than enough. Virtual PBX has all the advantages of a deliberate phone system, such as IVR (Voice menu), numerous extension numbers and an ability to transfer calls between them, work hour set up, call recording etc.

When it comes to keeping track of records, a CRM system with cloud access will be a life-savior. Such CRM will allow your employees to access client cards, carry out operations, create task lists, listen to recordings and much more from any location and using any device. This way you also do not need to worry about losing your data, it is securely stored in the cloud.

How long does it take to set everything up if we detect a case of coronavirus?

The truth is that it is better to be cautious and have these systems in place beforehand. However, the good news is that, even if it catches you by surprise, the process is not only fast and, above all, cheap. Or at least it is with Zadarma solutions.

The Business Phone System and the Teamsale CRM are free, they can be set up online in just 5 minutes and are fully integrated. Zadarma PBX is also compatible and can be integrated with top CRM systems in the market, so if you are using a solution from another provider you will not be forced to change it.

Coronavirus is bringing a lot of uncertainty both to everyday life and to the business world. Of course, for many companies, it is quite difficult to continue working remotely in case of an emergency. But with a little bit of creativity and advance planning, you can keep the main services running smoothly.