Zen Blog
Working From Home Needs Robust IT Solutions...
Working from home has become one of those “new normal” features of the pandemic that we’ve grown accustomed to, however unlike closed hospitality venues and facemasks one practice that is likely to widely be embraced going forward is the work from home model that most businesses adopted over the past couple of years. However, having employees out of the office and using computers not connected to a physical internal computer network, highlighted the need for having a solid online intranet for employees to access from wherever they need.
Companies have been relying on intranet as the backbone of their IT networks for years now. Since the start of the computerisation of the office workplace companies have used intranets for the sharing, securing and organisation of worker resources from documentation through to bookings systems. However, more recently with the growth of cloud computing and relatively cheap availability of servers, many companies have decided to take their intranets onto the web becoming intranet/extranet hybrids.
Many businesses now see the benefit in offering their employees the flexibility of working from home when required. But there may be restrictions associated if you do not have the proper network capabilities. Having an online portal as part of your company website allows for your employees to be able to login and access all the resources they would from an office environment from the comfort of their home.
An online intranet can use a secure token system (SAML2) where each user is assigned a unique identifier. The tokens can then be controlled by the systems administrators to give varying levels of access to different areas and resources hosted on the network. Various levels of security can be provided, allowing for flexibility depending on the sensitivity of the information that can be accessed. Tokens can use single sign-on technology as well to follow the user across the various services you offer both internally and publicly (such as public forums for example on the customer support area of your website.
Intranets can also have integrations with other cloud software solutions such as Microsoft’s Office 365. This allows for secure delivery of productivity software as well as business storage solutions such as One Drive to be collectively hosted and controlled through an intranet/extranet system.
Content management systems running on .NET frameworks, such as Umbraco can easily integrate both the management of the public facing website and the login secure extranet systems. Allowing for easy management of all a business’ online resources from a single platform, reducing security concerns and maintenance and management fees.
Have you considered how the work from home revolution has affected your company’s working practices and efficiency. Talk to the Zen Agency today for more information about what solutions an intranet/extranet can provide.
