Even though many businesses are beginning to bring employees back to the office, the “workplace” as we know it will never look the same. Empowering remote employees with the technology they need to do their job has moved from a “middle-of-the-road” priority to a “top 5” priority for most businesses and getting your IT strategy to match your operational priority toward remote work may be easier than you think. Below you’ll find some great resources for I.T. teams to help you learn a little more about some tools that can help you implement the right technology for remote work. Here are the best educational materials to help with your remote work technology decisions. RELATED: What to Consider When Handling Your Own Cloud Migration

Our Favorite IT Resources for Remote Work

As a cloud-first IT partner, we have a unique perspective on remote work. Here are some of our favorite resources.

VMware

At Virtual Systems, we have been utilizing VMware to facilitate our remote work technology. VMware Horizon is the platform that we use to engage in remote work. Horizon is an app you can install on any device to access a cloud workspace. It allows users to connect to virtual desktops or applications seamlessly and securely to remote environments. VMware Education is currently offering a free 6-month Premium Subscription to the VMware Learning Zone, where you can access online courses, labs, and videos across the VMware product line. Whether you’re looking to improve your skills with Horizon and Workspace ONE, vRealize, or vSphere itself, the Learning Zone contains content for beginners to experts. The Premium Subscription also includes Exam Prep material to assist with gaining VMware certifications.

Microsoft

Microsoft has also been dedicated to empowering a remote workforce during the COVID response by providing education and helping facilitate remote work for businesses. They have some great ideas on how to keep businesses up and running, maintaining security while working remotely, and making their collaboration software, Microsoft Teams, available to everyone. Microsoft Teams is a great communication application that allows for remote meetings, web conferencing, document sharing, chat, and even phone calls.

HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise)

HPE is currently offering significant discounts and a 7-day free trial on their learning subscriptions. Contained within an HPE Digital Learner subscription is nearly 5,000 courses coverings topics like HPE servers and infrastructure solutions to trending industry topics and personal development with an IT focus.

Amazon AWS

Amazon AWS has also begun an educational COVID-19 initiative offering resources to educate customers on enhancing remote work capabilities, establishing virtual contact centers, and empowering distance learning. Some of the material you’ll find addresses how to quickly stand up remote access for employees via VPNs and Desktop-as-a-Service offerings. They are also offering education to help teams collaborate using Adobe Connect or Slack. Slack, similar to Microsoft Teams, is a channel-based messaging platform that runs on AWS and is providing up to 3 months of the paid application for free. For AWS Partners, Amazon has expanded the online education resources portfolio. This includes additional virtual and on-demand training as well as exam readiness training and online certification exams. RELATED: The 5 Critical Requirements for the Digital Workspace

Virtual Systems: Learn More About Your IT Options

With the right Google searches, you’ll find a lot more resources to help you build a technology strategy that empowers your remote workforce. If you have questions about your specific technology needs and how you can implement a tech strategy that allows employees to work anywhere, reach out to our team.