This week journalist Niamh Campbell speaks with Adam Cree, CRO of Holywood-based 3EN Cloud Ltd (the Bangor-based Holywood, not the US one!)
Adam discusses his career, which began with him being the youngest ever Belfast Giants ice hockey player. He is now the chief revenue officer of "one of the world's leading NetSuite partners", with clients like FitBit, Mile High Labs, and Fairtrade.
The company solves business efficiency problems through cloud technology and recently received a £1.2m investment from Invest NI, which will help them hire 16 new employees by the end of the year - even with the current lockdown!
The podcast is also available here on Spotify and on iTunes/Apple Podcasts when you search Sync NI, along with all previous episodes. Make sure to subscribe/follow for updates on new episodes also!
Check out more of Adam and 3EN's tips on working remotely below!
Working Remotely: Tips and Tricks
Businesses often choose to implement remote working for two main reasons. They may be facing external pressures, or they simply have the wish to implement a flexible working environment for their staff.
This can bring challenges in organisations that don’t have experience with remote working, but help is at hand. At 3EN, we’re cloud computing-obsessed. However, we’ve also implemented progressive working practices that aren’t technology-focused to allow our staff to work remotely with ease. In the current climate of more businesses adopting remote working, we want to share some of our experience with some handy tips and tricks.
Please remember, if your business is having any problems working remotely, we’re here if you need any advice. No questions asked. At no cost or commitment, 3EN will do the best we can to help navigate you through these trying times. Contact us at: engage@3en.cloud.
Working from home, you’re no longer sitting among your colleagues, and can’t ask casual questions about the status of a report or where a document is saved. It’s really important that your team works as proactively as possible and checks in, even more than if you were sitting beside each other. Keep an eye on the smaller details and ensure you’re paying close and careful attention to emails and messages. Simple, free workplace technology can be used for instant messaging – check out Slack.
We know what you’re thinking – business IT equipment is expensive. It can be. However, if you don’t have the budget to invest in a new suite of tech, can your team take their desktops home?
Sure, it’s not as portable, but if they have the space to accommodate it, then why not? Access to a decent internet connection at home is also a big bonus. Outside of traditional IT equipment, many remote workers also invest in wireless headphones (to cancel out the background noise at home) and wireless keyboards and mice to help them work remotely.
We need to be able to differentiate between being at home and being at work. In the last few weeks, some of our team have been trying to wake up at the same time each morning and filling their ‘commute’ time with a walk outside. Then, when they get back in, they know they’re stepping in to do work, and it helps them to reset. Another handy tip is to try and set up a work environment somewhere in your home that you can step in and out of. For some this is attainable, and for others, it means setting up at the unused end of your dining table, or, as we’ve seen on social media this week – using an ironing board as a desk. The resourcefulness of entrepreneurs never ceases to amaze us!
You’re working at home and bringing your work life into your personal life, so as much as it’s important to be able to work remotely, you need to be able to step away from work whilst still at home. Try not to set the expectation that you’re free 24/7 and have a set time to log off.
Using cloud-based servers, software and other tools means employees in your company can access documents, information and internal systems anywhere in the world, as long as they’re connected to the internet. There are many cloud computing options, some of which offer free trials or free packages up to a certain number of users.
Using a virtual private network (VPN) will help keep your staff and data safe when they’re working remotely. These can be easy and cost effective to set up and are essentially secure connections between an employee’s laptop at home and your company’s information at work.
Consider insurance, policies and procedures. These sound fairly daunting but can be relatively quick to put in place. Consider reaching out to business support organisations like FSB or your local Chamber of Commerce to see if they have any guidance in place you could make use of.
Try not to panic when faced with the task of getting your workforce online in the current climate. There are lots of great guides online aimed at helping SMEs to get to grips with using technology to help workers get online remotely, and we’re here to help if you need it.
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