Business Improvements to Consider as You Resume Operations

Businesses are now in the process of reopening. While there are sure to be growing pains and setbacks, this also provides an opportunity for these businesses to make many adjustments and improvements to how they operate. As you reignite your operations (or make the preparations to), it will help to do so with the support of modern technology and the processes it enables.

Let’s go over a few of the technologies that we recommend you embrace as you get back to business.

Updated Solutions

It is no secret that many cybercriminals have taken advantage of the current situation to hit businesses while they are down. This means that you need to prepare to deal with these attempts moving forward. The first step to doing so is to make sure that your business’ assorted hardware and software solutions are up to date with any applicable updates and have been replaced when a better option becomes available.

Not only will this make your solutions more secure, you will also see improved productivity and overall capability from newer solutions. As a result, your team will be able to accomplish their goals safely and effectively with the best tools available.

Monitoring and Maintenance

Once your team is back in the office, they will need to work at maximum efficiency to make up for lost ground. To accomplish this, they will need their tools and solutions to be available to them as much as is possible. Working with an IT resource who has the capability to monitor your solutions and resolve any issues they find remotely will prevent challenges from interrupting your staff. Oftentimes, these issues can be mitigated before your team is even aware that they are present.

Cloud-based Technology

The increasing development of cloud-based tools has opened possibilities to many businesses across the industry spectrum, with solutions to see to general business needs to the highly specified needs of each vertical. In addition to that, using the cloud also has the potential to expand your business’ functional mobility through telework, as we will touch on next.

With cloud technology by your side, you can have the mobility and efficiency that your successful operations require.

Telework and Communication

If conditions once again cause businesses to shut their doors, the right solutions can help prevent this from interrupting your operations a second time. Remote work is far easier with the support of the right technology, especially when paired with the communication tools your team will need when not working side-by-side. Fortunately, the cloud can cover many of these needs through Software-as-a-Service, Voice over Internet Protocol, and the far too many options to list here that it can support.

If you elect to go through this route, however, you will want to be certain that your team isn’t inadvertently exposing your data to risks as they work. This will require a few safeguards to be in place.

Security and Authentication

To ensure your use of remote operations and telework doesn’t do more harm than good, you need to be sure that your employees are following the proper procedures. The use of a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, will help protect the data that your employees access as they are working remotely, in addition to the security solutions that you should have installed on each endpoint your team uses.

Furthermore, your team should also be required to use authentication measures that meet best practices. This includes passwords that are sufficiently secured and multi-factor authentication wherever it is available. In the office, your solutions should have all the requisite defenses against downtime as well, to eliminate the possibility that they could be rendered unavailable to your team.

Directive can help you see to all these preparations and evaluate where your IT priorities need to be going forward. To find out how we can help your business specifically, reach out to us at 607.433.2200.