Recent developments in the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) have necessitated the urgent transition to a remote workforce for many businesses. Current regulations in and out of the U.S. range from recommendations to limit social contact to government-mandated quarantines.
Even if businesses in your area haven’t yet been required to stop operations at their physical locations, it is wise to do everything possible to enable a remote workforce now as a precautionary measure against both future spread of disease and in case of stricter quarantine regulations.
To enable your employees to work remotely, you first need the technology capabilities that allow your company to stay connected and access data files, no matter where they are.
Here are a few IT tools and strategies your business may require in order to operate remotely:
To work remotely, employees need to have access to adequate equipment to keep them connected, both to the team and to essential data and systems. A strong network infrastructure that’s optimized for remote access is the first necessity in enabling this setup.
To function remotely, your business will need the following tools for your network:
Remote desktop services (or RDS) allow you to take control of another remote device over a network connection. They limit or eliminate the necessity of physical proximity for applications to be installed, instead allowing for tasks including remote installation of applications, screen-sharing and access to advanced or secure applications from machines with limited operations.
Cloud applications are web-enabled, meaning that instead of relying on physical hardware or devices, they are hosted by a provider and accessible virtually over the Internet. Using cloud-hosted systems for your storage will allow you to access data remotely and securely.
While some of these other remote working solutions take more time and planning to implement, there are a few solutions you can take advantage of immediately to help ensure your team can collaborate effectively while working remotely:
With the right software, you can create a virtual office that allows your employees to communicate seamlessly even without being in physical proximity. Tools such as Microsoft Teams give you options for messaging, video conferencing and audio calling between teams and channels all with one application. A Managed Service Provider such as Dynamic Quest can direct you to the right tools and applications that will best meet your needs.
A strategic plan transcends the hardware and software immediately at your disposal, and it is perhaps the most important point on this list. COVID-19 and the worldwide response to the virus are affecting many aspects of life, as well as your business. While you may be in emergency mode responding to the issues currently at hand, now is the time to be thinking about future repercussions as well and planning for how you and your staff will respond to them.
What effects will the outbreak be having on your business in the coming months, and how can you structure your business’s operations now to have the best chances of success in the future? Having a plan can help you outline your future goals and prepare for other unexpected situations that might occur.
Unfortunately, in this time of immediate crisis, many companies find themselves coming up short-handed when it comes to accessing technology resources because their IT service providers can’t give them the full range of remote services and resources they need to set up remote work stations.
At Dynamic Quest, we can prepare your company with all the resources you need to work remotely. We can help you implement these tools and strategize with you as you transition smoothly to a remote workforce. We understand that this is a difficult circumstance for your business, staff and customers, which is why we are dedicating ourselves to being your IT partner as you navigate new challenges associated with the COVID-19 outbreak.
The current situation doesn’t have to cost you business or productivity if you can set up your team for remote work and communication. Contact Dynamic Quest today to get your systems optimized for remote work.
The internal team was energized. With the Level 1 work off its plate, the team turned its attention to the work that fueled company growth and gave them job satisfaction.
It takes an average of 287 days for security teams to identify and contain a data breach, according to the “Cost of a Data Breach 2021” report released by IBM and Ponemon Institute.
Forty-three percent of attacks are aimed at SMBs, but only 14% are prepared to defend themselves (Accenture).
The cost of cybercrime is predicted to hit $10.5 trillion by 2025, according to the latest version of the Cisco/Cybersecurity Ventures “2022 Cybersecurity Almanac.”.
The three sectors with the biggest spending on cybersecurity are banking, manufacturing, and the central/federal government, accounting for 30% of overall spending (IDC).
More than 33 billion records will be stolen by cybercriminals by 2023, an increase of 175% from 2018.
40% of businesses will incorporate the anywhere operations model to accommodate the physical and digital experiences of both customers and employees (Techvera).
The average cost of a data breach in the United States is $8.64 million, which is the highest in the world, while the most expensive sector for data breach costs is the healthcare industry, with an average of $7.13 million (IBM).
We did a proof of concept that met every requirement that our customer might have. In fact, we saw a substantial improvement.
We did everything that we needed to do, financially speaking. We got our invoices out to customers, we deposited checks, all the things we needed to do to keep our business running, and our customers had no idea about the tragedy. It didn’t impact them at all.
“We believe our success is due to the strength of our team, the breadth of our services, our flexibility in responding to clients, and our focus on strategic support.”