How To Set Up A New Xfinity Remote

How to prepare yourself upwards for remote working

Stay alee of the game past working remotely

How to set yourself up for remote working

(Image: © Veriato)

If yous've got a smartphone (opens in new tab) then you can work remotely, it'due south as uncomplicated as that. Add on another tech, similar a laptop (opens in new tab) or tablet (opens in new tab), download some business organisation apps (opens in new tab) and you can quickly turn yourself into a remote working powerhouse. And, with times that are changing rapidly information technology'south likely that more than and more of usa are going to desire to seize the opportunity to work from dwelling house or another convenient remote location.

Remote working isn't a new miracle and lots of freelancers and small-scale business owners have been earning a living this manner for years. Withal, bigger businesses with lots of employees are seeing that sending everyone domicile to piece of work remotely can, and does work effectively. While yous might expect it to exist counterproductive, many businesses that accept adopted this manner of working have claimed to run across productivity (opens in new tab) get up, rather than down.

Type of work

Setting yourself upward for remote working is, naturally, easier for some vocations than others. If you have to deal with customers face-to-face then information technology's going to exist difficult, just in hard times people are also prepared to compromise. As a issue, and thanks to applied science, you tin actually acquit on with many jobs using connectivity as your secret weapon even if you lot're not actually in the same room equally the person you're dealing with.

And then, if you're looking to piece of work remotely and so the start affair y'all'll desire to think about is how you'll be connected to the rest of the world. Secondly, you'll want to decide what kind of device you'll use to communicate with your global audience. In one case you've worked that out you can then keep to select the boosted tools that you'll need to get up and running and proceed things ticking over.

As we said at the beginning, y'all can actually carry out most remote working tasks on a smartphone, although for a little more than usability you're probably going to want a laptop, desktop PC (opens in new tab) or a tablet. With the hardware in place though you'll want to turn your attention to software. This is where remote working really comes into its ain, as there is a wealth of options at your disposal.

If y'all're a freelancer and so invariably it's all virtually the bottom line, then picket for free alternatives to Microsoft Function (opens in new tab) and Adobe Photoshop (opens in new tab). Alternatives practice be and some of them are very skilful indeed. However, be ever-watchful of dubious download sites and dodgy-looking programs. Stick to legitimate sites that have an obvious track record. And sometimes it'south worth paying to get the right tool for the job if it improves efficiency and productivity.

Security issues

On a related note: you'll definitely desire to recall carefully about staying safe and secure while you piece of work remotely. If you've been used to tapping into random costless Wi-Fi networks in the past while you've been on your travels and so you'll want to rethink that strategy. That's especially then if you lot're going to be remote working and besides dealing with client files or private documents from an employer.

In that respect you'll want to lock down things like passwords and your Wi-Fi router (opens in new tab), too equally getting hidden behind a Virtual Private Network (opens in new tab). And, while many of us similar to brim around antivirus software (opens in new tab) it really is worth spending a bit of cash to get yourself behind a firewall (opens in new tab) and accept up-to-date ways of dealing with the latest threats. In that location are new versions of old threats and an avalanche of fresh security bug to battle daily, so be prepared.

Joining dots

Remote working all starts to come together once you've completed the foundation steps, including setting upwards the hardware and software, and ensuring everything is hopefully rubber and secure. From there yous'll exist able to offset networking online (opens in new tab), and for this you'll find all of the same tools that you'd in one case take used in a regular office or similar work space.

In fact, working remotely, peculiarly if yous're based in a home function, can actually give you a few more than tools to get the day's work done. There'due south regular email (opens in new tab) every bit well as webmail, which means you tin can log in via your browser if you don't want to take a piece of work email client installed. In that location are video conferencing (opens in new tab) tools, including the likes of Zoom, which has been enjoying huge popularity recently. And, if y'all want to use your smartphone less so telephone calls can be done via the web too.

Squad endeavour?

While there's considerably less to exercise if you're setting yourself up as a lone remote worker, if yous're part of a team yous tin work with collaboration tools (opens in new tab). Not beingness in the role means that you'll have to schedule what needs doing and when, which is where a core scattering of software tools tin really make a difference to overall productivity.

Slack is one of the all-time options for coordinating a collaborative effort by several people. If you need to allocate dissimilar duties and keep tabs on progress then Slack can prove to exist an invaluable tool for the chore. Similarly, Trello (opens in new tab) makes a lot of sense if you're trying to manage a squad and all of their corresponding tasks. This is also a fine tool for keeping anybody on top of their respective deadlines.

Joined together

While remote working does advise that information technology might be a slightly lone being, working from dwelling house or indeed anywhere else doesn't actually demand to be like that at all. As long as you take net connectivity, which can obviously also exist maintained using your mobile telephone if you're non in possession of broadband (opens in new tab), then clients, colleagues, friends and family are all out there.

In fact, in the case of the latter group they may fifty-fifty be in the room next door. Proof positive that remote working is making the globe a much smaller, but hopefully safer place, especially during the electric current state of affairs.

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Rob Clymo has been a tech journalist for more years than he tin can actually recall, having started out in the wacky earth of print magazines before discovering the power of the cyberspace. Since he'south been all-digital he has run the Innovation aqueduct during a few years at Microsoft every bit well as turning out regular news, reviews, features and other content for the likes of TechRadar, TechRadar Pro, Tom's Guide, Fit&Well, Gizmodo, Shortlist, Automotive Interiors World, Automotive Testing Engineering science International, Future of Transportation and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology International. In the rare moments he'southward not working he's commonly out and nigh on one of numerous e-bikes in his collection.