How To Quickly Shift To A Work-From-Home Business Model To Maximize Productivity In Today’s Coronavirus Environment

IT Support Near Me Remote Work SetupAs a company owner today, you are now facing unprecedented challenges to help deal with the coronavirus pandemic. You are asked to self-isolate and practice social distancing to “flatten the curve.” You are asked to allow your employees to work from home to reduce possible exposure and slow the spread of COVID-19.

These are all reasonable requests. However, as a business owner you also need to maximize productivity, bring in revenue and try to grow your business in these demanding times. How can you accomplish these goals when your office is now a ghost town and productivity has fallen off a cliff?

The answer lies in using the proper IT support services to set up your office to function remotely. If you’ve never implemented a work-from-home policy before, it may seem like a whole different world. Managing an entirely remote workforce goes far beyond giving your employees a laptop and reminding them to check in every once in a while. After all, there are many factors most business owners haven’t ever had to consider, such as:

  •  What technologies do I need to do my job?
  •  How can my employees work from home without compromising the security of our network?
  •  How can I make this new work environment as easy, comfortable and productive as possible?
  •  Do I need to have back-up and data recovery services when no one is at the office?
  •  Are there any computer repair services available during the crisis?

We understand these are unique times. We know that “business as usual” in the Salt Lake City area is going to be quite different for an undetermined amount of time. But together we can help you adjust to today’s new normal by giving you the tools, technologies and insights to create a secure and productive work-from-home business environment.

IT Support Near Me: Remote Work Setup

Here are three important considerations to getting you set up and running a successful work-from-home business:

1. Don’t simply allow employees (or "remote workers") to use home computers or devices. Their mindset may be, “Well, I’m working from home so I may as well use my personal computer.” This is a dangerous mistake. Our team works hard to ensure your company computers and network are secure and protected from malware, viruses and cyber-attacks. Employee personal computers and devices could be littered with tons of downloaded music, videos, images and more. Because it’s more exposed, it can invite malware into your network. Rather, provide a company-approved and secured remote login (where all work is done on the company computer at the office), or a computer/laptop for employees to use at their location.

2. Secure their WiFi access point. Without a secure WiFi access point, you’re essentially leaving a back door open to hackers. That’s because WiFi signals are often broadcast far beyond your employees’ site and out into streets. Yes, drive-by hacking is popular among cybercriminals today. A few tips for securing your employees’ WiFi access points:

• Use stronger encryption and a more complex password
• Hide your network name
• Use a firewall

These security measures are not difficult to set up. But if you have any questions or need assistance, we will be happy to help get your employees set up remotely.

3. Use a two-factor authentication VPN. VPN stands for an online virtual private network. It’s essentially a private, encrypted tunnel that goes direct to your IT network in your office. Ideally, you’ll want your VPN to support two-factor authentication. This means it’s doubly secure because your employees will need to provide a password and a code that changes every minute in order to access the network. If you don’t have a VPN for your employees to use, you can consider other services such as a remote access program (which we can provide for free or at a very low cost). While these products are not as secure, at least they keep your home network from being exposed.

As owners ourselves, we too are having to pivot and work differently than we ever have before. However, because we have the technology and infrastructure in place, we are still surprisingly productive.

Our team wants to help your company survive and thrive during today’s unique environment. If you find that you or your IT team need extra hands right now…or solutions to help your employees work SECURELY from their location…we have software tools, expert staff and resources we’d like to offer you to keep your company as productive as possible.  Many of the options we are implementing right now are FREE, or LOW COST to help our community businesses during this time.

Please let me and my team help your company before it is too late. The best way to reach out is via phone. Call me directly at 801-572-4000 opt 1 and ask for Greg. Please know that this is not a sales call but simply an outreach to talk about how we can help a fellow business owner stay afloat.

 

 

qnectU IT Support Near Me: Remote Work Setup

Want to learn more about Managed IT Services? Check out these tips:

https://qnectu.com/2020/03/10/5-tips-to-find-the-right-it-services-in-utah/