We’re all looking forward to future days when we can enjoy worry-free sun and fresh air, visiting face-to-face with friends and family, and seeing familiar faces in the office. In the meantime, employees are faced with the new norm workplace while also trying to help Partners and their customers remain productive in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whether it’s about business continuity suggestions, pandemic trends or ways to stay healthy, there is an enormous amount of data to synthesize. And while it is truly inspirational to see so much support and leadership coming from the channel and from people around the world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to sort through the information and resources relevant to you.
Our Taking Remote Action blog series is laser-focused on highlighting key topics that equip our Partners to make rapid yet impactful decisions for their customers. While our first two blogs covered the most popular remote work technologies being asked for by end customers and how Partners can make a difference for their customers, this blog centers around the resources and productivity tips that are most relevant to you as a Sales Partner.
Take care of those that need it
Taking care of yourself, your family, and the people that occupy your world allows you to be the best version of yourself. Eddie Acosta, Director of Partner Sales, Southwest Region, speaks to this well with his helpful WFH basics walkthrough on setting your schedule, defining your workspace, and focusing in on your work mindset. Another relevant challenge Eddie addresses is how to leave that mindset when your workday is done.
Prioritizing and focusing on your tasks at hand allows you to devote your energy to your work in the right way. Patrick Chen, Solutions Engineer, breaks down how to truly focus when working from home, through setting up attention “zones”, a prioritization matrix, and being intentionally present in web conferences.
On top of keeping yourself intact while going remote, there are also resources available that make big differences for your customers who need immediate guidance they can trust. ScanSource’s Comprehensive Resource Guide provides distilled information on COVID-19-related information, , employer health and safety information, and much more that may apply directly to Partners as well as end-customers. The Small Business Loan Guide sheds light on which businesses qualify for loans, how much they can receive and opportunities on payment plans.
Be the most productive “you” that you’ve ever seen
Working remote is very new to many. Learning how to conduct business through the web is being learned “on the fly” by many teams who have previously only known face-to-face communications.
Heather Shelby, Sr. Manager, Strategic Partner Development in the Southwest, shared the fundamentals of conference call etiquette with us to make sure we’re all representing ourselves in the best way possible. Tracy Hali, Sr Director, Order Management, also laid out the importance and opportunity of using webcams for online meetings. Izaak Schipper, User Success Manager, walked us through every step needed to install and use Teams on mobile devices so that work can get done from wherever your sweatpants take you in your new home office.
Focus on the good
In spite of it all, amazing instances of teamwork, resilience, and selflessness are rising up from unexpected places to beat this pandemic. Focusing on these inspiring efforts from our community will help us see our way through this crisis and come out stronger than we ever imagined.
Industry-speaking, this is a monumental time in the channel, where master agent leaders are coming together to talk about how we can help each other as well as the Sales and Supplier Partners we all support. We are connecting with each other and leveraging the technologies available to us in creative ways, whether it’s a Zoom happy hour or a digital Poker night with our Suppliers, or sharing our Spotify playlist to rock on to while taking care of business from anywhere.
This is a defining time in our history. Our Partners are helping shape the future with support, creativity, strength, and taking action to make a difference for the world around us. If you haven’t already, visit our Go Remote Hub for key resources for your business in the Remote Workplace. Our Remote Workforce Solutions page continues to grow with new offers every day, showing the dedication Suppliers have for our Partners and customers in this time of uncertainty.
Stay safe and productive and keep in touch with your Intelisys contacts to get up-to-date information on new resources and services available to you.
