august2021 - 35

BRIDGING THE GAP
MARC STAUT
Chief Innovation & Technology Officer,
Boomer Consulting, Inc.
it's time for an upgrade. Travel
monitors can still be useful - for
example, when employees need to
move their workspace temporarily
while another family member is
on a video conference. However,
they're not ideal for a permanent,
long-term setup.
be purchased by the firm, some by
the employee. But, no matter who
foots the bill, here are some of the
minimum requirements and musthave
tools we recommend.
1. PROPER MONITORS
Extra screen real estate is always
a plus. While having two or three
monitors in the office is pretty
standard, having one ultrawide
monitor offers several benefits. For
one, it takes up less space on the
desk, yet one 36 " curved screen feels
like more real estate than two 24 "
monitors.
With a curved screen, you also
get a feeling of immersion that just
isn't attainable on a dual monitor
setup. This keeps your peripheral
vision engaged more comfortably
than looking at dual monitors. It's
also more convenient to manage
settings, such as brightness and
other display settings, on one monitor
rather than two or three.
If you're worried about it being
difficult to manage windows on one
monitor, the Windows Snap feature
in Windows 10 offers similar window
management functionality on
one ultrawide monitor. You can easily
snap windows to certain areas
of your ultrawide screen to have
various applications or browsers
opened up side by side seamlessly.
At the start of the pandemic,
many employees brought home
travel monitors and used them
as their full-time second monitor.
Now that people aren't traveling,
2. A DOCKING STATION
Nobody wants to deal with a rat's
nest of cables and connectors every
time they sit down to work in a
home office. One way to avoid that is
by using a dedicated docking station
designed specifically for your laptop
hardware.
A dedicated docking station
powers the laptop, connects to a
wired network, drives one or more
monitors, and keeps USB devices,
such as a full-size keyboard and
mouse, attached. Just plug in a
single connector to get to work.
There is a lot of variety in docking
stations, so try to match the one
people have at home to their office.
Otherwise, you'll inevitably run into
driver and compatibility issues.
3. RELIABLE (AND FAST) HOME
NETWORK
If your employees are using the
modem issued by their cable provider
four or five years ago, they're
working on outdated hardware;
that's likely causing internet speed
and/or connection issues.
At Boomer Consulting,
Inc.,
we've upgraded several of our
people to a Wi-Fi 6 mesh network.
A good mesh system automatically
routes your connection as you
move through your home, steering
you from band to band with a
single, unified Wi-Fi network. It also
decides when to route your connection
through a satellite device and
when to send your signal straight to
the main router. That's better than
using a simple range extender for
your Wi-Fi. It also gives you more
consistent speeds throughout your
home and fewer, if any, dead zones.
Mesh Wi-Fi systems are more
expensive than range extenders, but
costs dropped quite a bit last year.
You can find them on Amazon for
around $200 - even less if you catch
the right sale.
4. HIGH-QUALITY AUDIO AND
VIDEO CAPABILITIES
We're all doing a lot more video
conferencing these days, and two
of the most important aspects of
video conferencing are audio and
video quality. Unfortunately, if your
computer has a slow processor, your
audio and video quality will suffer.
Just a few months ago, an i5
processor might have been good
enough. But to handle the level of
video conferencing people are doing
while working remotely, you really
need at least an i7. The more cores
there are inside your processor, the
more tasks it can handle simultaneously.
When you're meeting with
a client over Zoom, sharing your
screen to present a slideshow in
PowerPoint, and taking notes in
Box or another application, having
that fast processor makes a world
of difference.
After the processor, the most
important elements of quality audio
and video are your camera and
microphone. Unfortunately, most
laptops don't have a high-quality
built-in camera and microphone. So
they're preventing you from coming
across as professionally as possible
on video conferencing calls. Investing
in a standalone webcam and a
good headset or microphone makes
a world of difference. Upgrading
your webcam and headset are fairly
easy from a technical perspective
and relatively affordable.
If you have a private home office,
a Yeti mic is sufficient. However, if
you share your space with coworkers
(of any age or species), you might
need noise-canceling headphones.
You might also want to consider
acoustic room dividers if you're
sharing your home office with a
family member. With an acoustic
room divider and noise-canceling
headphones, it's almost like having
a private office.
5. A STANDING DESK AND
QUALITY OFFICE CHAIR
Working from the dining room table
or couch is fine for short stretches,
but spending hours hunched over
and uncomfortable is sure to negatively
impact your productivity and
possibly lead to physical strain.
Having a convertible standing
desk and a quality office chair
can make a world of difference.
Of course, it might take some trial
and error to find the right setup, but
the Mayo Clinic's Office Ergonomics
Guide recommends:
■ A work surface at or below elbow
height
■ A screen that's an arm's length
away and viewed at a sl ight
downward angle
■ Knees about level with your hips
while sitting
■ Lumbar support to ensure you're
sitting at about a 90-degree angle
to your hits - not hunched forward
or leaning back
If you want to see the exact
equipment and accessories we use,
we keep an updated list at www.
boomer.com/mobile-cpa. This isn't
an exhaustive list, but it should give
you a good idea of the minimum
requirements. Encourage your IT
teams to put together their own
version of this resources list and
share it with your team. You may
not be able to outfit everyone on
your team with everything on this
list immediately, but a few strategic
upgrades can ensure everyone is
productive and comfortable while
working from home. ■
AUGUST 2021 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
35
http://www.boomer.com/mobile-cpa http://www.boomer.com/mobile-cpa http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
august2021

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