One of the legacies of the pandemic is looking like it’s going to be more people working from home.
During the height of the stay-at-home orders, a majority of employees at businesses in Framingham, Natick, and the rest of the country were working remotely. It was a necessity if businesses wanted to stay operating.
Companies quickly put in place things like remote IT support, collaborative cloud applications, and VoIP phonesystems, and now they feel like they’ve gotten the hang of a remote workforce.
Now that things have begun to open back up, many of those companies have realized there are several benefits to allowing employees to work remotely, either part or full time. 77% of businesses say they’ll have more employees working from home 3+ days per week even after the pandemic is over.
Cost savings on both sides is a big driver for continuing a remote working environment, and perhaps the biggest reason is the boost in productivity.
Remote employees are more productive than in-office counterparts, producing the equivalent of three extra weeks of work per year.
If you’re one of those people that is now calling home your office, you may be trying to balance home and work life. One thing that can help you optimize your work from home experience is to enlist the help of your smart devices.
Enlisting the Help of Smart Gadgets for Remote Working
When you work from home, you get to set up your own routines and workflows. Why not enlist the help of some smart gadgets that you may already have around the house to make your work-life even easier?
Here are several ideas for using those IoT devices to support your home office.
Voice Assistant Becomes Personal Assistant
Approximately 1 in 4 people in the U.S. own a smart speaker voice assistant, like Amazon Alexa. They’re great for playing your favorite playlist or checking the weather. You can also put Alexa to work as your personal assistant.
Add your work contacts and calendar into your voice assistant and then pull up details instantly via voice command.
Use Alexa skills to connect to a variety of business apps such as a to-do list, work time tracker, Slack chat bot, and more. You can end up typing much less and just speaking to Alexa and letting your voice assistant handle several manual tasks for you.
Make Anything “Smart” with a Smart Plug
Using a smart plug, you can turn “non-smart” electronics into smart devices to make your life easier. Smart plugs allow you to control them via a smartphone app and thus you can turn on or off anything that is connected to the plug remotely.
This can be incredibly helpful when you’re stuck on a video call and can’t easily get away. For example, say you’re on a longer than planned video conference, but you need to turn off the coffee maker in the kitchen before it starts scorching that last bit of coffee in the bottom of the carafe.
If you have it plugged into a smart plug, you can just pull out your phone and click it off without leaving your chair.
Elevate Your Mood with Smart Lighting
While turning your cubicle orange or blue might not have been possible when you worked at the office, you can do what you want when you’re working from a home office.
Studies show that light impacts mood. Take advantage of this by using colored smart lighting in your home office and program it to rotate colors based on your activity.
For example:
- Orange sparks creativity
- Blue is relaxing
- Green boosts immune system response
- Yellow is cheerful
Keep Track of Your Devices with a Smart Tracker
Smart trackers are small devices, some as small as a sticker, that attach to things like keychains and wallets to keep them from getting lost.
When you’re working from home, you’ll most likely be working in various areas of your home at different times throughout the week. This can lead to you misplacing important things like your iPad or the headphones you need for an upcoming video call.
Use smart trackers to help you keep track of your work electronics, so you don’t have to waste time searching the house for them.
Treat Yourself to Smart Earbuds
When you’re working from home, you’ll be on the phone or a video call much more often than you were at the office. If you’re using a wired headset, it’s only a matter of time before you get up and walk off, forgetting you have them on, possibly crashing your laptop to the floor.
Make things much easier on yourself by getting a decent pair of smart earbuds that allow wireless connection to both your computer and your smartphone for handsfree, and wire-free, calls.
Keep Your Smart Home Office Running Efficiently with Help from Pro Tech Guy
Do you have the security and wireless connectivity you need for a productive home office? We can help with solutions for remote support, data backup, Wi-Fi help and more.
Contact us today to learn more. Call 508-364-8189 or reach us online.