The Value of Providing Real-Time Data to Your Remote Team
Teams become well-equipped for high performance when they have access to real-time data. Tapping into such information is especially crucial for remote workers. If off-site employees are out of the loop, they risk acting based on outdated information.
Here are six reasons why promptly delivered data could keep your remote workers connected.
1. Real-Time Data Sets Worker Expectations and Informs Their Decisions
Some live statistics help remote workers decide how to proceed — especially when a distributed team operates within multiple time zones. For example, a company might use information from a time-tracking app to create a dashboard that shows whether people are on the clock or are not currently working.
A remote worker can use that information to shape decisions about how to get the help they need during the workday. If they require assistance with an urgent matter, the dashboard could show them which manager is in the office. Then, it’s easy to contact that individual rather than someone who may not start working for several hours.
Such an interface could also indicate vacation periods. If it shows a team member as being away through the end of the week, colleagues know not to expect immediate responses.
2. Remote Teams Can Assess Threats From Afar
The value of instantaneously updated information is especially apparent from a security standpoint. Many government employees engaged in cybersecurity-related telework utilize intrusion detection and prevention tools that enable ongoing system monitoring from home. They can bring attention to unusual events, including excessive numbers of failed login attempts or strange network activity patterns.
These benefits extend to the physical realm, too. People working on remote teams may see video footage of intruders breaking into an office building. They could then choose to lock down entire floors or wings using a connected interface to restrict the burglar’s access before notifying law enforcement officials.
3. Real-Time Data Aids in Better Care-Related Decisions
Applications ranging from air traffic control systems to connected medical devices gathering urgent information use real-time operating systems (RTOS). If companies plan to invest in one, they must consider numerous aspects before reaching conclusions. System memory is one example. An RTOS memory footprint can range from about 8K to 2MB, the equivalent of three-700 pages of plain text.
Reliability is another crucial concern, particularly when the information from the device with the RTOS will directly influence someone’s well-being.
Austin Health, which operates in Victoria, Australia, uses a remote care system for health care providers. The tool enables remote patient visits, plus multidisciplinary meetings and ward rounds handled by staff members virtually.
Remote working for physicians’ practices has become a topic of interest, but it requires accurate information. When medical teams have real-time data, they can give input on challenging cases and work together for the best outcomes.
4. Updated Data Facilitates Improve Customer Service
Many customer service experts around the world are part of remote teams. They can do their jobs anywhere with internet connections. A company’s likelihood of having high-performing customer service agents goes up when those workers have current data feeds to access. For example, cloud-based systems assist omnichannel retailers by showing real-time inventory counts.
They can help customer service agents, too. If a representative helps a person place a bulk order for an in-demand product, real-time data could show the number of items on hand. That total facilitates setting customer expectations rather than the representative calling them back with an update after checking availability.
When remote work entails giving technical support for a website or software product, immediate alerts about disruptions or heavy traffic levels could help customer service agents give people the most accurate details. Offering the right information at the right time boosts satisfaction.
5. Live Statistics Motivate Remote Sales Teams
Data can become an effective tool for encouraging people to do their best while engaging in remote work. A leaderboard may help salespeople meet their targets and give them opportunities to cheer on their co-workers.
Seeing the up-to-the-minute changes helps everyone feel connected while giving them targets to hit. Naturally competitive people could rely on the live data to see how they stack up compared to peers. A successful career in sales requires being continually driven and goal-oriented, and having information to track through the day supports those characteristics.
If a company establishes benchmarks for its remote sales professionals to meet before receiving bonuses or promotions, the leaderboard could feature historical data to indicate whether such a perk is within someone’s grasp. Even if a person does not want to advance right away, seeing both real-time data and information collected over time can show progress and areas for improvement.
6. Remote Teams Can Assess Worksites With Instantly Available Data
Data shown to remote workers in the moment also lets them evaluate environments without traveling to them. Such details could be crucial for confirming that contractors follow safety rules on a construction site, for example.
A construction tech company called Quartz Systems recently announced having $7.75 million in preseed and seed funding. Its product is a multicamera wireless system that streams high-resolution, low-latency video of live and historical site data to anywhere in the world.
Such a system lets people monitor progress without going to a site. They can also use the app for security purposes and get motion-detection alerts. Construction is not typically an industry with a high percentage of remote workers, but there are certainly cases when managers may want to inspect sites from home. This technology lets that happen.
Information in Real-Time Improves Remote Work Potential
Working remotely offers many benefits, although one of the often-cited downsides is that people feel isolated from what happens at their companies.
As these examples show, real-time data can eliminate that issue, plus provide other advantages you may not expect.
