Office life was turned on its head a few weeks ago when our Accounts Manager, Abbie Martin, misplaced a step and fractured her foot.

After a painful trip to A&E, Abbie found out that her injury was going to take at least 6 weeks to heal. The hospital staff told her she wouldn’t be able to drive, meaning she’d either need to rely on lifts from her family, friends, and colleagues to get to our HQ in Basildon, or she’d have to work from home for the foreseeable.

Thankfully – like many other companies – ECOM can accommodate remote working, because all our apps and systems can be accessed from anywhere. Advanced cybersecurity measures ensure there’s no risk to our data in these situations, either.

Abbie’s situation served as a stark reminder that without the technology we know and love, our operations would have been severely affected by her absence, and we would have struggled to continue to operate as efficiently and effectively as we do.

We sat down with Abbie – live from her living room! – to discuss what she believes is the most challenging thing about working from home.

“Sitting at home – not through choice! – has been really difficult for me,” Abbie said. “I’m very hands on and I have a fear of missing out when it comes to what’s happening in the office. I like the general buzz of working with my colleagues and our clients, and I’ve found it hard to be away from my usual work environment and routine.

“However, the tech we use has ensured that I’m not completely out of the loop. In fact, I can do all the work I’d usually do from my laptop at my own desk at home. Thanks to our up-to-date systems, I can log in and deal with administrative tasks or client queries all day long – and because my work phone is connected to the office wirelessly, I can handle my own calls, too.

“If ECOM’s work wasn’t centered on using the most agile technology available, I wouldn’t have been able to work from home during my recovery period. We haven’t had to outsource anything, which has meant minimal disruption for the business, and I haven’t gone completely stir-crazy knowing that the ECOM team is doing all the hard work without me!”

What happened to Abbie could happen to any of your employees. If you do not currently allow your teams to work from home, your IT network might not be in a position to cope with this kind of scenario. In situations like this, where temporary adjustments are unavoidable, you need to be sure that your IT setup can accommodate remote working.

If you are concerned that your systems might not be robust and secure enough to cope with WFH arrangements – or your remote staff are currently experiencing problems with apps, devices, and general connectivity – speak to the team here at ECOM. We can carry out a free, no-obligation IT healthcheck on your hardware and software, then recommend solutions that will provide better support for your staff now and in the future.