Remote work integrations using an RMM — here’s how Atera does it

In the era of remote working, remote work integration using RMM has become far more than just a trend. Today’s companies lean on RMM software to remain competitive and allow for remote and hybrid work models. Let’s look at the trend, and what the benefits are for today’s remote and hybrid companies.

What is remote monitoring and maintenance?

Remote monitoring and maintenance allows IT pros to gain visibility and control over IT assets through locally installed agents on the devices. This means that even when employees or customers are distributed across different offices, time zones, or physical geographies, IT managers retain their single pane of glass to everything happening on the network.

How does RMM work?

Once the agent has been installed on the device in question, technicians and IT professionals are able to view all relevant information about each asset from one centralized dashboard. This could be information like the CPU or storage, the performance levels of the device, and security details such as unusual login attempts.

IT pros can also take this a step further and practically work on remote assets without going on-site. They can set restore points, shut down or restart machines, update and patch software and hardware, run Network Discovery scans, and much more.

Need for RMM in Post COVID Era

RMM has always been useful for service providers such as MSPs who work with multiple customers across different sites or regions. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, RMM has become a critical tool for all businesses that want to remain competitive. Today, remote work is no longer a “nice to have” for knowledge workers and tech companies. It is one of the critical items on most candidates’ checklists before they will accept a contract.

In the US alone, 58% of Americans report working from home at least 1 day per week, and 87% say that if they had the opportunity to work remotely, they would jump at the chance. This data is incredibly relevant for all businesses that want to attract the best candidates and keep a high quality of talent in-house. If you can’t offer flexible working arrangements, you’re going to be in trouble.

What are the benefits of RMM tools in Remote work integration?

This is where RMM comes in. While previously, allowing employees to work from home meant letting go of the visibility and control over assets, RMM makes it easy to stay on top of all devices, no matter where in the world they might be.

Here are just some of the top benefits of RMM in enabling remote work and hybrid work realities.

Minimizing downtime

If IT pros can detect and diagnose problems remotely, this limits the amount of time that employees need to be offline. It’s the way of the world that sometimes challenges occur with no warning, and it’s the IT team’s job to make sure this can be fixed as quickly as possible. RMM tools mean no site call-outs or waiting around for a technician to come to your home, IT pros can remotely diagnose issues, and then implement a fix.

Proactive maintenance

In some cases, technicians can even be alerted ahead of time to problems that may cause downtime, fixing them before the end-user notices a problem. For example, if an issue is found with specific software, they can implement a patch across all devices. IT pros can schedule updates, defrags and reboots ahead of time at a convenient moment, reducing service disruption, or ensuring the system runs clean as a whistle before a problem occurs. When this is done in a systematic way, nothing falls through the cracks, even when employees are working in a distributed way.

Improved security

Ask a company why they aren’t offering a work-from-home model, and security is likely to be high on the list. It gives many businesses peace of mind to know that all devices and assets are under their physical roof and that employees aren’t working and browsing from the same machines, opening the organization up to risk. With remote work integration using RMM, security can be put front and center. When RMM is integrated with security technologies, IT pros can be alerted to the first signs of a security breach, whether that’s an attempt at access, credential changes, or unusual network traffic. IT teams can also keep devices updated with all patches and security updates, no matter where they are in the world.

Enhanced efficiency

RMM adds efficiency and productivity for both the business and the employee. On the employee side, facilitating remote work through RMM tools means less commuting and distractions at the office and so better output and focus. For the business, technicians can use RMM to get ahead of repetitive and routine tasks, schedule them ahead of time, and also get full visibility over a complex and disparate environment at their fingertips. From a single dashboard, they can be alerted to any anomalies or issues, view and manage all assets, and use automation to free up time for more strategic work.

Optimizing the total cost of ownership

Your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is made up of all the costs of running your business. For many organizations, a fear around remote working is that it will add to their TCO. However, by using RMM tools, TCO can actually be reduced. The cost of office space, equipment, and overheads is a heavy burden for many organizations, so a remote-first or fully remote approach can slash TCO. It’s also a lot quicker and easier for technicians to support the business when they have RMM tools putting a spotlight on assets, reducing support and maintenance costs, and leaving many tasks to automation. RMM is usually one standard and predictable monthly cost, giving more transparency over TCO than a business would have to call IT support every time there is a problem, ad-hoc.

Let RMM boost your remote working strategy

If you’re holding a remote working policy at bay because you’re afraid of lack of control, added costs, security fears, or downtime — it’s time to add an RMM to your toolbelt. In today’s competitive economy, candidates need to see that flexibility is an option, or they will look elsewhere for a business that provides a better work/life balance.

Remote monitoring and management tools allow any business to move from working in the office full-time to a hybrid or remote reality, and actually add visibility and control to the mix. Reduce downtime, increase efficiency, slash TCO, automate maintenance, and boost security, all from a single software tool.

FAQs

What does RMM remote management mean?

RMM remote management is the way that an organization monitors and manages an IT environment without being physically on-premises with devices and assets. With an RMM remote management tool, IT technicians can see everything on the network from a centralized dashboard, be alerted to any network problems or security events, and stay up to date with patch management and other critical tasks.

What is the primary reason for implementing a remote monitoring and management tool RMM?

Today, businesses have a wide array of devices under their control. This could be end-user devices like PCs, laptops, and mobile phones, or other hardware such as printers, routers, and IoT devices. Employees also work in a more distributed way, with many working from home, from abroad, or from co-working spaces. IT technicians need to stay on top of all of these devices for maintenance, security, and control. An RMM tool makes this happen from one single centralized view.

What is RMM software?

RMM software is the technology that makes remote management and monitoring easy. By installing one software solution, IT pros can get access to remote monitoring of a complex network environment, maintenance automation such as patch management, security updates, and regular maintenance tasks, and extras such as remote access technology and IT automation. Strong RMM software solutions will also include reporting and analytics, asset and inventory scanning, and more.

What is the difference between RM and RMM?

Remote monitoring tools may not come with maintenance capabilities, in which case they could be described as RM rather than RMM! Make sure that you thoroughly research to find the right RMM software solution for your needs, so that you can stay on top of activity on remote devices, and also make smart changes without needing to be physically present. Remote access software integration is one example of how RM becomes RMM and allows for hands-on support and maintenance rather than simply passive monitoring.