6 building blocks for efficient online teamwork

“As employees are less and less bound by specific times and places for their work, organisations need to make sure their workforce can be productive anytime and anywhere,” says Koen Van Echelpoel, Marketing Manager B2B Customer Base at Orange Belgium. “For employers, it’s also important to adapt the workplace to the new work needs and expectations. The ‘six essentials for Connected Employees’ defined by Orange Belgium last year help companies to take this a step forward.”

1. Connectivity

"Of course, a decent internet connection is a prime requirement,” Van Echelpoel says. “Give your employees quality connectivity solutions that are tailored to their needs. This means a fixed connection for their computer and a mobile connection via their smartphone.”

2. Mobile data

“This takes us to our second building block: unlimited mobile internet and quality mobile devices. Many people use their smartphones for both professional and private purposes. For example, an engineer would watch installation videos for work during the day and then stream Netflix at night,” Van Echelpoel adds. He expects that mobile data usage will keep increasing in the future. On average, this is already 3.2 gigabytes per user per month. The mobile office will push up mobile data usage even more.

3. Company policy

Not every mobile user needs the same applications and plans. For example, some employees spend a lot of time on the go, while others work in the office. “So you should use a company policy for your mobile devices. Solutions like Device Manager will help you to easily manage all your mobile devices’ access rights, updates and so on,” Van Echelpoel says.

4. The budget

Working and collaborating efficiently is also a matter of optimising your telecom expenses. The Customer and Business Zones enable mobile device managers to manage all their SIM cards and analyse their usage in great detail to make sure each employee always gets the right tariff plan.

5. Security

Digitalisation has led to a sharp increase in security risks, so a good security strategy is essential. Proper security is made up of various components and areas of focus. On the one hand, there is the security technology for endpoints like computers and smartphones. On the other hand, there is the classic, perimeter-based network security. “Also, don't forget that security is about processes and people. Forewarned is forearmed, so make sure your employees are well aware of the dangers,” Van Echelpoel adds.

6. Teamwork applications

The final crucial element is the applications that allow employees to work together efficiently. This includes applications such as Cloud Telephony, as well as video conferencing applications and Microsoft Teams.