It’s safe to say the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the world a curveball. Unfortunately, while there was no specific manual on how to adapt your company in the midst of a global pandemic, those businesses who were already digitally oriented held somewhat of an advantage over those who had put their IT needs on the back burner.
Having an infrastructure in place which allows your team to work remotely, or at least adapt the way they worked and communicated, was something that many companies initiated pre-pandemic. Those who made tech investments and applications experienced reduced disruption in spite of change in their work method.
As restrictions slowly relax and allow businesses to return to their offices, remote working will likely remain. Remote work allows businesses to not only cut overhead costs from physical offices but can also increase efficiency and productivity in the workforce. Once you remove location from the equation, you may find that your employment pool opens up and allows you to effectively source the right people for the job.
What You Need to Allow Remote Working
As a bare minimum, your employees need a reliable internet connection, and the right equipment to perform their job role from their location. Connect your team by using apps built for remote work and SaaS (Software as a Service) which allows you more freedom to connect and stay up to date with your whole team in one place.
- Project Management Tools: apps such as Trello, Asana, Assembla, Basecamp, Microsoft Teams and more, help you group together projects so your team can communicate and collaborate in the one space. Know exactly where everyone is working and how they are coming together to complete projects and tasks every day.
- Collaboration and Communication: Look to Slack, Aircall, Dropbox, Skype, Zoom, Yalla, and even Workplace by Facebook to allow your team to communicate easily and share ideas, exchange media and more instantly as if they were in the office.
- Productivity – Evernote, Todoist, are all apps that track productivity by allowing you to break down tasks and give your team the opportunity to plough through their workload without missing anything important.
Cyber Security for Remote Working
Key IT investments to help you construct and implement your IT services on remote networks is vital to helping keep secure information away from cybercriminals who are always looking for the chance to harvest data to use for criminal activity.
A recent survey of 3,000 professionals in over a dozen countries found that 94% has experienced data breaches from a cyber attack in 2020. With 80% noting attacks had become more sophisticated, it is no surprise that the move to work from home has led to an increase in attacks. Criminals are looking to exploit any gaps in security and with more unsecure networks being used, or a lapse in security judgement by individuals or companies.
When you add up the cost that a data breach can cost it runs higher than a simple fine. Factor in a loss of trust, and downtime, the implications of data breaches are far-reaching. Attacks cannot be predicted, however, they can be protected against.
Invest in the following to avoid liability;
- Comprehensive employee training
- Email encryption
- Secure client portals
- Firewalls
- Regular updates for software as soon as they become available
- Backups of all the data you hold
- Individual User Accounts
- Limitation of access to company servers
- Secure WiFi connections
How to Future Proof your Business
Companies catching up to the security measures already put in place by other companies before the coronavirus are beginning to understand the vital need for proactive IT security. Stay ahead in your business by creating a business plan, and implementing the security measures available through a Managed Service Provider (MSP).
- Flexibility: our previous method of work technique has changed. Take what you can learn from this experience and implement a stratagem for the future to ensure that you don’t fall into a security trap.
- Upgrade technology and IT: look for gaps in your IT services and consult with an MSP to come up with the best solution for your business.
- Invest in employees: management training to help fill gaps in experience, knowledge and provide them with the tools they need to adapt to how they work in the future. If your employees are aware of what threats exist and how to avoid them, your risk of encountering a major security breach significantly lowers.
Ask a local IT company in Austin, what your business can do to stay on top of the new adjustments and to ensure that your data is securely protected.