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Working Remotely in 2020

Erick Wilkins

Mar 31 2020

2 min read

Today it’s easier than ever to work remotely and still have total access to co-workers, clients, and data. Remote working is now especially crucial during a time that we are all being advised to social-distance and self-quarantine. If you have already migrated your e-mail to Office 365, like Sikich has been prompting you to do for the last several years, you already have access to communication, collaboration, and file-sharing capabilities built into Office 365.

Working Remotely with Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is the fastest growing business application in Microsoft history for a reason. It provides the ability for remote workers to Instant Message, place PC to PC calls, create and join conference calls with numerous users and share and collaborate on files. Your organization can do all of this without adding any additional Office 365 licenses if you currently have Business Essentials, Business Premium, or any Enterprise licenses.

If you want the ability to include a dial-in number to Teams meetings, all you have to do is add an Audio Conferencing license for the user or users that will be creating the meetings. All other users can join and participate in the meeting without having to add any licenses. Other users can also join the meeting via their web browser, which means they won’t have to install Teams on their workstation. These licenses are $4.00usermonth. You can choose a local area code for the dial-in number as well.

Other Microsoft Solutions for Working Remotely

Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, and or OneDrive for Business can be used to house all of your shared files that generally would reside on a file server in your office. These solutions provide fast, secure remote access to files without the need for any cumbersome VPN solution. You can share these files with co-workers as well as users outside of your organization if you wish.

Sikich would be glad to help you set up any or all of these additional services in your current Office 365 environment. We can also help you set up Office 365 for the first time and migrate your e-mail and shared data if desired.

Remember being fully equipped to work remotely, especially now, is more important than ever. Please reach out to your Sikich sales rep for more information or to request a quote.

This publication contains general information only and Sikich is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or any other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should you use it as a basis for any decision, action or omission that may affect you or your business. Before making any decision, taking any action or omitting an action that may affect you or your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. In addition, this publication may contain certain content generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) language model. You acknowledge that Sikich shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by you or any person who relies on this publication.

About the Author

Erick Wilkins

Erick is a Senior Network Solutions Architect with Sikich providing designs and proposals for a variety of both on-premises and cloud-based IT solutions. He has over 35-years of experience in IT, starting as a field engineer and moving onto managing a team of engineers, assisting with technical sales and currently focusing on the Microsoft platform, including on-premises solutions, Office 365, and Azure.