How we successfully master the home office challenge

In times of a global crisis such as the current Corona pandemic, companies have to redesign many internal work processes in order to maintain business operations. We show you which tools we already use for our digital workflow and how your company can successfully implement measures for the home office. Because without the right conceptual preparation and well-established tools, home office can quickly become chaotic.

Themen in diesem Artikel

• Digital collaboration – today more important than ever 
• Cloud-based systems enable “social distancing”
• Remote processes and appropriate tools 
• Tools exactly for your requirements

Digital collaboration – today more important than ever

Since the founding of THE DIGITALE, we have developed strategies for the most barrier-free cooperation possible in order to meet the challenges of digitalisation and globalisation in a future-oriented manner. At that time, of course, we did not anticipate crises such as the worldwide spread of the corona virus. Now we and many of our industry colleagues, partners and customers are realizing how important digital strategies are in such times. That’s why we would like to show you some examples from our agency’s everyday work to show you which tools your company can use to operate successfully even in times of crisis.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Aleksej Andreevic Arakceev, Russian statesman

Cloud-based systems enable “social distancing

The Robert Koch Institute currently advises to avoid social contacts as far as possible. This includes the concept of the home office, which some companies have already implemented. Nevertheless, many are faced with the technical problem of transferring the diversity of daily processes on site into virtual space. In our experience, tools based on cloud technology and with strong collaboration features are the key to successful remote collaboration. Your employees can work together on digital documents, communicate with each other and even hold important meetings using live streaming. All you need is a stable Internet connection.

“We strongly recommend our customers to digitalize their business processes as quickly and completely as possible and to provide their employees with all tools for barrier-free working in their home office.

Dominique Korschinek, CEO THE DIGITALE

We would be happy to advise you quickly and comprehensively and of course up-to-date via video livestream.CLICK HERE

Remote processes and appropriate tools

Team Communication

Since we implement all projects with the support of our freelancers from the very beginning, direct communication with our external authors, designers and developers is particularly important to us. At THE DIGITALE, we make this possible with two tools that help us to effectively stem our e-mail flood.

Microsoft Teams (collaboration tool) for larger groups and enterprises

• Remote situations are quickly and easily mastered with chat, video or audio
• Direct communication internally and with customers from the entire DACH region
• Regular editorial meetings and coordination
• Connection to Outlook (save appointments in Outlook and start teams directly)

Recommendation

Under the motto “We connect Germany”, Deutsche Telekom is ensuring that everyone can stay together digitally and move closer together in the current situation. In addition to stable networks, Deutsche Telekom offers companies further support, including 3 months Office 365 and the Cisco Webex Conferencing Services free of charge.START NOW FOR FREE

Slack (online messaging service) for direct communication in small groups or project teams

• Often replaces the short call for remote colleagues
• Short-term inquiries about projects and tasks
• Query the capacities of internal and external employees
• Perfect tool for the distribution of smaller tasks

Another clear advantage of home office communication tools: If you don’t want to be disturbed at work, you can simply “mute” slack or teams when focus on a task is important – in a classic office situation this is rather difficult to implement.

Project and task coordination

Can entire projects be implemented remotely and highly efficiently at the same time? From us there is a very clear yes! For a few years now we have been using two main applications that save a lot of time and nerves every day.

Trello (ticket project management) beautiful, intuitive and also perfectly suited for complex projects 

• Web-based cloud service for our internal and all customer projects
• Processing of tasks, campaigns and coordination of complete projects
• High transparency and overview thanks to modern ticket system
• Work and project progress can be viewed at any time
• Comment function allows direct status request in the ticket (mail requests are no longer necessary)
• Participants have easy access everywhere via browser

Google Drive (free real-time collaboration tool) for fast, easy and secure document collaboration

• Simple, shared editing of documents: tables, texts, presentations, small surveys and much more
• We use Google Drive for editorial plans, content projects and our own marketing
• Direct exchange with customers and employees possible in Google Drive
• Combination with Trello-Ticket brings even more efficiency

“Our tools and processes enable our employees to work together in an agile and collaborative manner on digital channels. Every employee can work on really all business processes without functional loss – no matter where he or she is. To do this, simply open up your notebook and connect to the Internet. An important criterion for success is the most intuitive operation possible. We achieve this through a stringent structure within the tools and processes and thus achieve a high level of recognition. As a medium-sized company, we also attach great importance to cost efficiency and pragmatism.”

Peter Bilz-Wohlgemuth (COO, THE DIGITALE) has over 20 years of experience with digital processes and is therefore convinced of the power of remote work.

File management

You probably know the dilemma with hundreds of e-mails every day, often used to send documents. Even the most agile manager loses track of the situation at some point. We use two well-known tools for our file management and have never been disappointed.

Dropbox – Document management in the cloud and an interesting alternative to Microsoft Office 365 or Google Drive

• For us the easiest way to share text documents, tables or images
• Individual folders can be shared with customers, freelancers or partners
• Access rights can be distributed individually

Google Docs – Document editing in the browser can be used quickly and easily by everyone

• Browser-based document processing in real time
• Independent of the software installed on the home computer (cross-system compatibility)
• No identical versions or overlaps
• Direct connection with Trello possible

Tools exactly for your requirements

After years of working with cloud solutions and smart tools, we have learned one thing above all: It is crucial for success that you systematically align your processes and the associated tools to the requirements of your employees. We therefore advise our customers with the aim of enabling them to use their tools and methods intuitively and as efficiently as possible. Although this requires more effort in terms of set-up, it pays off several times over in the short or medium term.