More of us are working from home than ever before – the latest estimates show that a third of UK workers now do so exclusively from home.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show this increase”can be attributed to the formal announcement of national lockdowns in England and mainland Scotland in early January 2021″.
Technology has played a massive part in the work-from-home boom – businesses have had to act swiftly to a remote-first work force to keep things going. If you need some help with working from home, here are seven tools you shouldn’t be without…
1. FalconSocial
Social media should be a big part of everyone businesses marketing strategy – the problem is it can be difficult to keep on top of things and assess performance if you limit yourself to using nothing but the standard platforms.
A tool like FalconSocial lets you to control all of your social media outlets from the one dashboard – enabling you not only schedule posts, but target them too, and it’s listening tools and analytics package mean you can make sure each post hits the right people at the right time.
2. Join.me
When working from home you may need to let other workers access your screen so they can see exactly what you’re working on, this can be especially important for meetings you have to access remotely.
Join.me is a virtual meeting and screen sharing tool that is intuitive and doesn’t require any downloads or subscriptions from other colleagues or clients.
3. Boomerang
If you do business abroad or work with international clients it can be a real headache keeping on top of all the different time zones. If you use Boomerang for Gmail, it allows you to schedule your emails and send them out at specific times on either Chrome, Firefox or Safari.
4. PayPal
If you work with any clients abroad, PayPal is an essential tool as it works like a universal currency. You can use it to securely send more to wherever it has to go without having to worry about exchange rates, mailing payments or having to pay extortionate international banking fees.
And there is also a PayPal Mastercard available which you can link to your account so you can make purchases directly from it.
5. Express VPN
If you work remotely then a reliable virtual private network (VPN) is a must as it allows you to access your main business network from anywhere in the world. And if you do business in places like China, Indonesia, or Thailand things can get tricky as these countries have restrictions on the types of sites you can access and my also have blocks on social media.
So setting up something like Express VPN before you travel means it’s BAU wherever you are.
6. Prey
The amount of kit you have to carry around when working remotely means you could be a target for thieves, but using software such as Prey means you can locate your devices quickly and easily should the worst happen.
Not only does it send you information on the location of your stolen hardware, it also sends hidden camera pictures and screenshots to help relocate your tech and catch the thief.
7. ConferenceCall.co.uk
If you’re working remotely, you’re going to need an easy-to-use and reliable conference call provider. ConferenceCall.co.uk is cost-effective, simple to use, needs no subscription, has dial-in numbers for over 70 countries worldwide, and offers conference call facilities for up to 100 participants.
