RWS_Summer_21

Online scheduling platform Doodle recently released a report that shows nearly three quar- ters (72.2 percent) of American employees feel less burnt out by blocking off their calendars, and a strong majority (83.6 percent) get more work done when they reserve time to focus. “Burnout and extended work- days have haunted employees since corporate America began working remotely,” said Renato Profico, CEO of Doodle. “Compa- nies have searched for countless tools to help their teams man- age their days, but they tend to underestimate the power of something everyone uses – calendars. Our research shows how an action as simple as block- ing time off can help employees feel refreshed and become more productive and efficient.” Time blocking techniques have become popular as remote work continues. The survey found 80.6 percent of respondents have used their calendars to stay focused on work. More than two thirds (65 percent) reserve these times on a daily basis, and more than half (52.1 percent) have blocked off chunks of one hour or longer. As for the time to rest and step away, a good majority (71.4 per- cent) of remote employees report reserving 15- or 30-minute breaks on a daily basis. Despite these attempts to carve out personal time, more than a third (32.5 per- cent) of respondents said they can count on being interrupted. Only 14 percent truly enjoy their brief respites. Whether it’s taking time from the day to knock out projects or a walk around the block, companies are also recognizing the ben- efits of clearing calendars. Many working Americans (58.5 percent) reported their companies have declared “meetingless” days, when zero internal and client-fac- ing meetings are scheduled. More than half (55.7 percent) of these no-meeting days occur weekly. If you don’t need to own the hardware, why would you? Having hardware requires maintenance, worries over downtime, costly repairs, or replacing equipment. Indeed, the cost to a business caused by problems that may arise from faulty systems and poorly functioning computer hardware can add up quickly. Out-dated IT infrastructure can lead to performance issues and troubleshooting concerns. And working with outdated IT hard- ware means exposing your busi- ness to all sorts of security risks every day. Business owners must review their hardware infrastruc- ture on a constant basis to keep track of what may have become obsolete or a liability. Replacing the equipment either can be costly and take years to pay off or other parts of the busi- ness may suffer as your budget becomes too focused on IT equip- ment replacement. All of the above reasons have led to the emergence of “hard- ware as a service.” HaaS can help businesses avoid these problems and provides solutions for busi- nesses that lack IT staff or budget to maintain the IT infrastructure. Similar to other “as a service” models, HaaS clients pay a month- ly fee to use hardware that be- longs to a managed service pro- vider, such as LinkAmerica, which guarantees specific terms of the arrangement through a service level agreement that covers the scope of work, the responsibili- ties of each party, and time stan- dards for each service. Imple- menting a HaaS model transfers the responsibility of keeping up with the IT infrastructure to the MSP. That means any upgrades, monitoring, maintenance, installa- tion, and accompanying software is no longer up to you; the MSP accepts these responsibilities through your agreement with it. All the while, the model eliminates large, upfront investments, as well as unexpected repair costs, and replaces them with budget- friendly and predictable monthly fees. Although, generally, HaaS will require some upfront investment. And as a business grows and needs changes, LinkAmerica can integrate new components to the HaaS as needed to keep up with needs. Study Shows Calendars Help Conquer Burnout, Improve Productivity Hardware Nightmares Solved with HaaS 39 REMOTE WORK SOLUTIONS rwsmagazine.com