Connecting to a digital, modern world – Assure you rise to the challenge and achieve your goals

13 Jul Connecting to a digital, modern world – Assure you rise to the challenge and achieve your goals

As we explained previously, the modern world is constantly changing and evolving, and this – and the pandemic that the world is in the midst of recovering from – has allowed business owners to discover the potential of technology when used correctly in the workplace.

Let’s take a look at the two goals from the previous blog in the series and explore how to go about achieving them, in the process assuring your business has the opportunity to grow and thrive long into the future.

Let us remind ourselves what those challenges/goals are:

1. Lower risk – increase levels of security and compliance
2. Increase profit and productivity

Finding a solution to both of these goals sounds difficult, but it doesn’t have to be.

Let us take a brief look at what you can do to assure you rise to the challenge and achieve your goals.

1.         Lower risk – increase levels of security and compliance

To make achieving your goals easier, try splitting them into four different categories – in this way you will have a better chance of achieving them. They are as follows:

• A cultural change
• Infrastructure
• Technical controls
• Data

A cultural change

• In modern business a cultural change is essential. Security should always be the main priority for every single employee you have – this can be difficult to distil in your team but, with top standards of training, education, and support for your users, you stand a very good chance. They must be trained on the basic and advanced security measures taken by the organization, depending on the value and sensitivity of the data they have access to. (Security measures include passwords, the dangers of Shadow IT, how to spot Phishing Emails and Ransomware attacks, etc.)

Infrastructure

• You must first check the age, lifespan, and the level of support required for your current systems to run at their full capacities. Be certain you own and have control over every end-user device – you must know what your employees can access and what device they are accessing it on to ensure the most secure technological infrastructure possible.

Technical controls

• It is essential that, if you or your users work on mobile devices, they are encrypted. We all know how easy it is to lose your mobile phone – well, it’s just as easy for someone to pick it up and access everything on it. Mobile encryption will stop your data falling into the wrong hands in the eventuality that your phone is lost or stolen.
• Firewalls are key to protecting your systems from cyber attacks. A Firewall acts as a gatekeeper to your system and a filter between your computer and the internet, only allowing through what is safe and blocking access to unfriendly/unfamiliar data and entities. A Firewall lets you carry on doing your daily activities whilst protecting your system in the background.
• Anti-Malware software is an integral part of your cyber security. Anti-Malware software is a program designed with the sole purpose of preventing, detecting, and removing any malicious software on your IT systems. Malware can pose problems for your business in the form of viruses, rootkits, spyware, or (most commonly) Ransomware – all of them have the ability to completely debilitate your organization from the inside.
• Get rid of ALL Shadow IT! You have no control over the backup and recovery of data or who can access it either. You undoubtedly – like most businesses around the world – have a hierarchical system in your workplace, with your user access reflecting that hierarchy. (Employees with lower access privileges should not be able to see, modify, or copy certain data.) Tests should be carried out on all technology that you want to introduce into your company – the tests should highlight what potential impacts they could have if any occur and what can remedy those inefficiencies if they arise. Shadow IT is introduced outside of normal business practice and does not undergo these checks. Yes, to your users they are simply making the business process faster for themselves or potentially slightly easier but, having not undergone the checks, the potential for problems is high – and these problems could potentially do irreparable damage to your IT infrastructure, in the process leaving your business unable to operate altogether.

Data

• The key to data is knowing as much about it as possible – you should know where it is stored and who has access to it – not knowing either of these could leave you subject to legal ramifications.

2.      Increase profit and productivity

As we did earlier, we can split this into two subheadings:

• Integration and automation
• The right tools.

Integration and automations

• By far the best platform and range of tools on the market is Microsoft. Microsoft 365 provides unrivalled tools in terms of functionality and quality. Let’s take a brief look at one of the best tools that Microsoft has ever released – Teams. Microsoft Teams, with its range of tools to promote communication, collaboration, and productivity from anywhere in the world, has amassed a daily following of an astounding 145 million people worldwide. Microsoft’s entire platform is integrated and has many opportunities for automation – with everything in the same place you can save time and boost the productivity levels of your team.
• Having the right tools is essential. As we touched on previously, Shadow IT is the WRONG tool! The problems it can cause – both with security and the levels of productivity that are possible to be achieved – are massive. An issue will arise when employees download apps that will improve the device – but that app may not be backed up, and this will pose risks to your entire organization. The Shadow IT may be familiar to the end-user but that does not necessarily mean that it is better, and it may lack on productivity.

Train your team. Your staff need to have – at the very least – a basic understanding of the hardware and software they are using. You will find that this is a big benefit to your business both for security purposes and in improving productivity levels. It is that knowledge your users have discovered about the tools they use every day that will ensure they are as productive as possible.

Your Cloud service provider – Downtown

Our team of experts enable companies to enjoy the advanced opportunities offered by Cloud technologies. Our Cloud solutions include offsite data backup, data sync services, Hosted Exchange, and Office 365. Those same experts will work alongside you to be sure we not only implement the best technological solutions to improve the way you work but also ensure it is as straightforward as possible. You and your team will be educated throughout the entire process and be confident that your systems are secure at all times.

Contact us now to find out how we can help you.