In this episode, the teams talks about the guidance for remote workers during Covid-19 and beyond. Check out our discussion on the guidance and how our home remote sessions are setup.

Michael's home office

Dino's home office

Curtis's home office

Habib's home office

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/03/02/working-remotely-during-challenging-times/

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/03/05/our-commitment-to-customers-during-covid-19/

Working Remotely Checklist

For Organizations

Microsoft has made Teams available at no cost for 6 months

• If you work for a business that isn’t currently licensed for Teams, we’ve got you covered with a free Office 365 E1 offer for six months. Contact your Microsoft partner or sales representative to get started today. (Note: the same offer is available in the Government Cloud, but not available in GCC High and the Department of Defense.)
• If you work in education and want to set up teachers, students, and administrators on Teams, use Office 365 A1. This free version of Office 365 is available to all educational institutions. Sign up by following this link.

For Individual Workers

Home Office Etiquette

• mute landlines or mobile ringers if your mic is going to be one
• tell people in your house you are going on a call if you will have your mic on!
• Lighting – play with different lighting to optimize your video. Lamps behind the camera.  Try to minimize light behind you.
• Minimize Distractions near you (tv, radio, others talking if possible)
• Turn off Fans, phone on vibrate near the mic
• OS notifications from PC/Laptop
• Focus assist – Myanalytics - microsoft.com
• Remember Teams Mobile is an option
• Teams can transition a call from mobile to the desktop client and vice-versa which is great if you need to be roaming around
• Teams Web for Guests don't have the Client Installed

Home Network

• It is all about the network quality at home.  Real time traffic sensitive to bandwidth and latency
• Test it.  Simple tests.  Simple testing strategies
  • https://fast.com (very simple network test powered by NetFlix)
  • Office 365 Network Onboarding tool (https://connectivity.office.com/)
    • This proof of concept (POC) tool runs tests that allow providing specific guidance about networking connectivity improvements that can be made between a user location to Office 365
    • will show your nearest ingress & egress point into Office 365 and
    • measures speed from your home desktop to O365 front-door
    • Resolving issues
  • If you have WiFi issues – look at moving to your main device to WIRED (laptop or desktop)
• Sometimes a network router reboot is best
• Use the online tools to find out where the issue is (your router, your ISP connection)
• Firewall setup? Reboot Router can fix issues sometimes

Media - Audio and Video Guidance

• Use a certified Teams (of SfB) device if possible.  Certified USB wired headsets start at $42 Cdn so not terribly expensive
• Try not to use Computer Mic and speakers as they are known to cause a poor audio experience for all other users in the meeting.
• Most built in web cams on laptops or notebooks work well for video.  If you have a home office for work you might consider a dedicated webcam that sits on top of your monitor or on a tripod.
• For a full list you Check out the certified list of devices at https://products.office.com/en-ca/microsoft-teams/across-devices/devices
• Turn on your video if possible -  The use of video repeatedly shows it increases the collaboration experience amongst co-workers
• Don't force video upon people but suggest it if possible.  Understand that it might not be appropriate at times.  I.e.  Children are home from school
• TEST Audio and Video BEFORE YOU JOIN!
  • Teams Test Call Feature – allows you to record your voice and will play it back for you to hear how it would sound for others when you are in an actual call
  • In Teams goto Devices > Video to see what your Video Quality looks like – best to try and have camera level or just above your head.

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