The Art of Remote Working using TruMethods + myITprocess

While going onsite to review your client’s environments is of high value we need to focus efforts more strategically during these changing times. This means continuing to provide high-value services but in a remote manner. To that end, here are some tips to make the most of this shift in how we all work.

Standards Library:

Continue to update your standards library to best represent your company way. Meeting virtually as a team can still accomplish the goal of modifying your questions to add value and truly differentiate yourselves from the competition.

1. Pick a team member that has access to your standards library. This is typically an IT Provider Admin at your company but roles can be customized here: Permissions.
2. Pick your top 5 to 10 questions in one particular area like the Core Infrastructure or Security keeping in mind how they’ll be utilized in a remote manner.
3. Make modifications to those questions and then for your next client use those to create a review.

Standards Library (continued):

Sometime in these environments you want to create more specific and tailored reviews. The following video goes over to quickly add a category specifically for remote reviews.

Creating Reviews:

There are some great remote monitoring tools and now is the best time to rely on the information they provide. Additionally, the use of tags in the standards library can help segment those areas that can be covered remotely.

1. Go to your standards library, click on the three vertical dots and click Manage Tags. Create a tag labeled Remote.
2. Decide which sections or categories are most appropriate and then click on that section or category. On the right-hand panel that appears, click the three vertical dots and then choose Edit Section (or Category).
3. Highlight that Remote tag for that item. 
4. Repeat this for all relevant sections or categories.
5. Create a review based on that tag.
6. Go to Reviews > Add New Review. Select your client, provide a title and assign your resources. On step 2 of the add new review process, click the Filter icon and choose your Remote tag. This will apply only the items you associated to that tag. 
7. Keep in mind: Items cannot be added to or removed from a review once you click the Create button.

Complete the engineer and vCIO portions of the review. For the vCIO portion, take note of those items marked as either marginal or more importantly, vulnerable that best represent strategic initiatives on which you want the client to take action. Mark those as Unassigned when you click the Add to strategy link within the review.

Strategic Roadmap: 

Create strategic roadmap recommendations for both near and long-term items you see necessary. 

Presentation Mode (Live):  After creating your meeting, use a popular way to share your screen; Google Hangouts, Webex, Zoom, and Skype are but a few video conference and screen-sharing tools to utilize. Our presentation mode was designed for this very purpose, giving you the ability to present your findings in a clear and concise manner while showing the impact those vulnerabilities have on their environment.

Presentation Mode (Recorded): If you cannot find a time that works for you and the customer, consider making a recorded presentation to share with customers to view offline. Tools like Zoom, Loom, Soapbox , and SnagIt are perfect for offline recording and sharing via direct link or video sharing sites.

During times of crisis, meeting face to face or via teleconference with a decision-maker may not happen as scheduled. Luckily, there are ways around the need for a one-on-one that give the vCIO the flexibility to continue their scheduled strategy sessions. The video below is an example of how to record a strategy meeting session and share it with a decision-maker for offline viewing. 

Business Continuity myITprocess Templates

• Business Continuity for Remote Employees is a template designed to assist customers with transitioning to a remote work environment quickly. It details the basics of securing remote connections and devices while ensuring the company's policies, procedures, and IT infrastructure is, and can be, adapted in a short period of time.
• Contingency Planning & Business Continuity focuses on the long game approach to securing and deploying a mobile workforce. Physical security, third-party management, capacity planning, and other categories allow for a proper roll out of a work from home strategy. Using the Strategic Roadmap and Budget Report ensures the project is properly budgeted and adequately planned.

Both templates are available for myITprocess in your standards library under myITemplates (Setup > Standards Library > Click Add Standard button). We also made the files available as PDFs for reference.