REMOTE WORKING: 10 TECH ESSENTIALS FOR THE PERFECT HOME OFFICE SETUP

Remote Working

Remote Working: 10 Tech Essentials For The Perfect Home Office Setup

Transitioning from an office containing everything you need to a home office setup can leave you feeling slightly intimidated. You don’t want to overestimate what you need, and may feel like it’s safer to get everything you can think of, just in case.

You may be wondering if you need to order a printer online with extra boxes of paper, or even if you need to turn one wall of the dining room into a chalkboard. We’ve had a look at what would be required, taking into consideration that space is a factor we all have to deal with.

To make your life easier, we’ve compiled a list of 10 tech essentials for the perfect home office.

A Quality Laptop

There’s no need to run out and buy the top of the line laptop right off the bat, maybe even at all. If you need one, have a look at what you’re going to use it for. If most of your work can be done in the cloud, then you don’t need to buy a fancy one.

You’ll need a laptop that has a quality screen, a webcam, a durable keyboard and at least 4GB of RAM. If you’re going to be taking your laptop with you when you go out, then you’d need to consider battery life.

A WiFi/Router

You need to have reliable and speedy internet. For a home office, 20 MBPS download and upload would work well. Even if your kids are watching Netflix, your partner is streaming on a device and you’re having a video conference call, your bandwidth would still be quick without losing quality.

Noise-Cancelling Headphones

If you want to get some peace and quiet then you’ll love noise-cancelling headphones. These will help block out the sound of kids running through the house, or the TV playing in the background.

They allow for greater focus and make things easier to hear,especially on conference calls. Once done with your meeting, you can keep them on and listen to music, keeping the outside noise from disturbing your workflow.

A Multi-Plug

Of all the tech essentials for the perfect home office you may overlook, it could be the multi-plug. When setting up your office you may need to connect an additional monitor and printer. Depending on where you set up your home office, you may not have more than one wall plug in close proximity to you.

A Wireless Phone Charger

This is a convenient and safe way of charging your phone, and you can move it from room to room with you if needed. You also don’t have to worry about another cord on your desk or hanging by your feet.

A Wireless Speakerphone

Whether you’re having a video conference call or teleconference, there are times when having a wireless speakerphone will come in very handy. Most devices connect via Bluetooth to your computer and can help to reduce real-time echos as well as background noise. You'll be able to hear everything and have your voice heard, without any distracting sounds.

An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

You can never be too prepared, and the last thing that you need is being in the middle of an assignment and the power goes off. Your laptop battery may last for a good few hours, but if you were without power for longer than that, then this would be a worthwhile investment. It will also help protect against power surges, so it’s one of our top tech essentials for the perfect home office.

An External Hard Drive

With cloud solution technologies, many people don’t see the benefits of an external hard drive anymore. But what if you couldn't access your cloud drives due to network outages or issues with connectivity to your home network?

Having a hard drive is also a safe way to back up documents. There are additional benefits, such as using the drive as your main drive. This can actually speed up the slow performance of some slower internal drives of a PC.

Think Boards - Reusable Idea Surface

No matter what your business is or how much of a technology fan you are, you’ll love Think Boards Reusable Idea Surface. This will eliminate the need for writing pads, paper and sticky notes. This nifty tool is a see-through, reusable, clear polyester sheet.

Just stick it onto your desk (it can be placed anywhere), write your notes and then wipe them away when you no longer need them.If you need to move it to another room, you can take it with you. No mess and no fuss.

A Coffee Machine

Coffee can be fuel for the day, and it’s also an excuse to move away from your home office set-up and stretch your legs a bit. Try not to spend more time in front of your coffee machine than your laptop, though!