Scaling an Agency Remotely: The Unsung Role of Secure Hosting and Collaboration Tools
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Since COVID-19, most businesses have started working from home. It saves cost on office space, commuting, and offers a more flexible routine for employees to be productive. But, as most found out, the rules of running a business remotely are pretty different from on-site work. Apart from co-workers being easily distracted and unproductive, there’s a costly need for tools to manage remote work. What’s more; cyberattacks have grown more frequent, and the average employee isn’t cybersecurity conscious. So, issues like data theft, leaks, and ransomware attacks on employee devices meant business and customer information are at risk.
Ultimately, scaling a digital marketing agency remotely relies on two key things; web security and tools for collaboration.
The Importance of Remote Work Tools for Collaboration
When operating remotely, communication, project management, and file sharing are the key areas that must be covered for effective collaboration. As such, using the right collaboration tools is the backbone of successfully running an agency remotely. They allow employees to communicate, work together on projects and share information in real-time.
Types of Tools for Remote Work
There are three major categories of tools for collaboration. They cut across communication, project management, and file sharing.
Communication & Messaging
This is the backbone of remote operations, your employees have to stay connected irrespective of their varying locations. Thankfully, there are a ton of professional communication apps that are fast, secure, and affordable. You should use a combination of two or more of the following for optimal communication:
It’s professional, secure, and also free to use. Creating a dedicated agency mail helps with avoiding clutter, prompt notification, and blocking third-party access.
Slack
It’s great for organized communication, direct messaging, and file sharing.
Microsoft Teams
This works with Microsoft 365, and offers video conferencing besides other collaborative features. You can alternatively use Zoom or Google Meet for live team meetings.
While this might be an informal messaging app, it’s great for fast communication between team members and clients.
Tasks & Project Management
Effectively communicating and monitoring tasks are essential for working remotely. To ensure productivity and effectively managing tasks, here are the tools you should consider:
Asana
It’s a popular project management tool that helps with assigning tasks, monitoring progress, and automating workflow.
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Trello
This is a visual project management tool that’s based on Kanban boards. It allows teams to organize tasks into lists and track their progress.
Productive.io
Is a full-service project management platform with assistive AI for documentation, time tracking, and managing resources.
Bonsai
It’s a business and project management platform that helps to manage business operations, collaborate on tasks, and manage multiple clients.
File Sharing & Collaboration
Collaborating online is incomplete without a secure file sharing channel. Some of the best options to work with are:
Google Workspace
This is a full suite of online productivity tools that are essential for collaboration. The tools simulate regular work tools in the office, but with the edge for online collaboration. It includes Google Drive for storage, Google Docs for typing, Google Sheets for data entry, and Google Slides for presentation.
Microsoft 365
This is similar to Google Workspace. It includes OneDrive, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Secure Hosting and Why It’s Important
Note that every website on the internet is hosted on at least one web server. Web servers are the foundation upon which websites are built. So long as the hosting server is secure and functional, the websites will be secure and function optimally. Basically, when there’s a risk to the web server, there’s a risk to the hosted websites. It’s why having a secure web hosting service provider is important.
How to choose the right web hosting solution
When choosing a web hosting solution, here are the key security features to look for:
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Regular security checks and updates
Your hosting provider should have a consistent routine for monitoring server security and patching vulnerabilities quickly. -
Firewall
This is a non-negotiable first line of server defense. It’s a shield that vets all traffic between websites, local browsers, personal computers, and the server. Once it detects a suspicious input, it blocks it automatically. -
Secure internet protocols and SSL encryption
Your hosting provider should have a list of standard web security protocols that it implements to protect your website’s data. An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption ensures that web traffic between the server and websites are protected against third-party interception. -
Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Besides the basic internet security protocols, it’s important that a hosting solution should also adopt multi-layers authentication to prevent server-side attacks like SSI, DDoS, and SSRF. Here, server PINs, one-time passwords (OTPs), and time-limited sessions should be adopted to prevent unauthorized access to the web server. -
Regular backups
Automated backups are essential for data recovery in case of a cyberattack. As such, your hosting provider should provide a periodic backup feature against data theft or loss.
Pro Tips on Working Remotely
When choosing the tools for remote work, prioritize five things: ease of use, integration, security, real-time collaboration, and scalability.
Train your employees on the tools, and provide real-time support. No matter how intuitive a tool looks, it might not be so straightforward for others. Glitches may happen too.
Train your team members on being cybersecurity conscious. Most cyberattacks happen due to ignorantly clicking on malicious links or connecting to unsafe WiFi networks. As such, employees need to learn to detect suspicious links, messages, and unsafe networks.
Implement VPN usage for additional web security. Besides being great for encrypting internet activity against data theft and spies, it’s useful for accessing geo-locked content which might be useful in handling projects. Cybernews Surfshark review pits it as one of the affordable yet high-end VPN you can use.
Conclusion
Scaling an agency remotely is possible. What matters is carefully implementing the right collaboration tools and choosing a secure web hosting solution for your agency. While these tools are designed with productivity in mind, you should provide adequate training to your team on how to use these tools effectively. Set your goals and provide clear rules to guide your team on communication and collaboration.
