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Powerful monitoring technology can keep remote workers’ Wi-Fi consistent and optimized
Ensuring remote workers are connected should be a top priority for businesses, given that so many people now work virtually. Around half of the global workforce is currently remote, yet 75% of these employees say broadband services need dramatic improvement to enable them to work from any location, according to a Cisco survey.
Fortunately, organizations can stay on top of Wi-Fi connectivity and improve performance from afar with dedicated monitoring solutions. The right tools provide this visibility when employees connect to any offsite network. And these insights are becoming crucial for a quality Digital Employee Experience (DEX) that allows widespread teams to use collaborative software and other remote platforms consistently and effectively.
Common Wi-Fi issues faced by the remote workforce
Remote employee Wi-Fi issues have increased dramatically as more people work offsite. Forty-eight percent of the virtual workforce now relies on home internet to do their job.
Three of four Cisco survey respondents indicated that fast and reliable internet service is "critical to future economic growth." And over half of respondents say they have issues accessing critical online services because of unreliable internet.
Unfortunately, poor-performing home Wi-Fi is often the reason for many problems experienced by remote workers. Think of an office setting where network managers are on site, and the entire environment was accounted for in the network design. Everything may be optimized to support the space, the types of applications workers use, and the number of employees.
Home networks don’t have that level of planning. They may not be able to support more complex applications used by workers, like VoIP or large database uploads and downloads. Another big issue for home networks is interference, especially if employees live in densely populated areas or large apartment buildings. When everyone nearby is also using Wi-Fi, channels can become crowded, and connections slow down or drop.
Helping your employees maintain a strong connection is critical to ensuring productivity stays high — and frustration remains low.
Monitoring home Wi-Fi: benefits and solutions
Fortunately, 7SIGNAL’s Mobile Eye® wireless network monitoring software can be installed on employee devices to see how their home Wi-Fi is performing. The benefits of this monitoring include:
Maintain productivity
Workers who have numerous issues with their home Wi-Fi can’t stay productive. The Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago found that shifting to high-quality, fully reliable home internet for all Americans would increase earnings-weighted labor productivity by 1.1%, representing $160 billion per year.
Supporting virtual employees with Wi-Fi monitoring ensures they keep a stable connection and can do their job efficiently.
Less time wasted on inaccurate troubleshooting
Monitoring tools allow IT staff to see precisely what’s going on with a device and network, and they can often prevent problems or resolve them before the user notices. With better visibility into root causes, you’ll spend much less time troubleshooting issues and readdressing temporary fixes. And employees won’t have to test numerous solutions just to get back to work.
Increased employee satisfaction
A better Wi-Fi experience leads to more satisfied workers. The Becker Friedman Institute study also revealed that having better internet service during the pandemic was associated with greater subjective well-being.
Workers want and need reliable, fast, and high-performing Wi-Fi to stay connected to coworkers, complete their tasks efficiently, and perform other essential functions.
3 steps for home Wi-Fi monitoring
These three steps will help you create a better Wi-Fi monitoring strategy for remote employees:
1. Stay in communication and ask for feedback
Keeping the communication lines open is key to understanding employees' home networks. Ask them regularly if they’re experiencing issues and what the problems are like. Make sure they know where they can turn when they have questions or are dealing with a Wi-Fi problem.
2. Teach the basics of troubleshooting
It will be a lot easier for employees — including network support staff — if everyone understands common problems and simple solutions for dealing with them. Conduct training on setting up home Wi-Fi networks and walk through essential troubleshooting steps people can take before contacting the support team. This effort empowers workers while saving everyone time.
3. Deploy Wi-Fi monitoring software
Mobile Eye® from 7SIGNAL allows you to see how the user experiences the network—any network. This is vital visibility for companies attempting to assist employees using a diverse array of home networks.
The Mobile Eye assesses and delivers vital information to IT staff about current issues and potential problems. All metrics are accessible in a user-friendly dashboard. This solution can lead to a 59% reduction in time spent troubleshooting networks.
Get started with 7SIGNAL
7SIGNAL’s Mobile Eye helps organizations resolve or proactively address remote workers’ W-Fi
problems — at home or wherever they’re on the go. This visibility quickly identifies root causes issues, points to real solutions, and ensures that the connectivity vital to productivity stays consistent.
Find out more about the 7SIGNAL platform by reaching out to our team. You can also use this quick online assessment from IDC to see the possible value of the Mobile Eye for your organization.
7SIGNAL® is the leader in wireless experience monitoring, providing insight into wireless networks and control over Wi-Fi performance so businesses and organizations can thrive. Our cloud-based wireless network monitoring platform continually tests and measures Wi-Fi performance at the edges of the network, enabling fast solutions to digital experience issues and stronger connections for mission-critical users, devices, and applications. Learn more at www.7signal.com.