It is a year since the UK went into lockdown, and businesses are continuing to flourish on a remote basis.

IT leaders quickly adopted a work from home strategy that enabled them to not only support the BAU operations of an IT function, but also to carry on with huge development projects.

From the conversations we are having with senior IT decision-makers, most are claiming the shift to home working has been successful. However, they are quick to ask us for our top tips for running a remote IT function.

So that got us thinking, how do we run an efficient remote team at Communere, and how do some of our clients do it so productively?

• We run what we call a ‘virtual office‘. Utilising all Slack features, our developers can communicate and chat spontaneously as though they were in the office. We actively encourage this constant conversation, and we feel it goes along well in cementing our company culture.
• We regularly check on our IT teams home setups and provide facilities for them to upgrade their laptops, monitors, keyboards, mouses, chairs and desks to the most suitable and ergonomic ones.
• Many clients also tell us how they have mapped out a training budget to ensure their staff continue to progress, even if on a remote basis. We love this at Communere. We feel this is an absolute must to ensure you retain top talent. Our weekly educational/technology meetings help our team stay tuned to the emerging technologies.
• To keep the fun part of the physical office alive, we introduced our weekly remote tea party. Our team gather remotely and enjoy talking about their hobbies, such as music, football, films.
• Team yoga, get the whole IT team from 1st line to the Dev team joining in. It would make for some fabulous team photos, if nothing else.
• Virtual coffees, we have always been remote and will, of course, continue to remain remote. We have regular check-ups with our developers to see how things are progressing and if they need any additional support to hit our clients’ deadlines.
• We are not for micro-management, but we do feel as though goals need to be clearly outlined when teams are working remotely. A team goal will mean everyone will have something to aim toward; this should encourage teamwork.
• Breaks are important! Encourage the team to take short and regular breaks.

If you would like a discussion about how a remote development team could help your business, feel free to let us know. We would be happy to explain the benefits of using us via virtual coffee.