This past year has presented many challenges for businesses, and internet technology has surfaced as an evolving critical player. Even with some of the work force returning to the office setting, remote work and IT security are issues facing every organization.
A Managed IT Service can help you run your business more smoothly, even if you have a designated IT employee. The MSP (Managed Service Provider) can deal with the complicated issues, leaving your employee to focus on the day to day responsibilities. An MSP can also assist and monitor email and web hosting, data storage, server and network maintenance, along with assessing changes and updating that might be needed for your organization.
We have seen small businesses over the past year often fail to see the extent of their security vulnerability until it is too late. The MSP can advise you on the best backup for your data and how to keep it up to date. It can also help you with an IT plan and what to do if you have a security breach or natural disaster.
We asked our president, Brian McDonnell, about some of the issues that he has seen with customers over the past year:
What are some of the most common IT problems that you have seen with customers in the past year of Covid?
- secure remote access
- slow or sketchy home connections
- phone systems not equipped for remote workforce
- meetings on various platforms
- video and audio quality lacking
- compliance issues arising from data being exposed over non secure connections or being saved locally
How were these problems resolved?
- Security is the biggest of these issues, and ensuring the best security is the best resolution.
- Setting up VPN (virtual private networks) and enforcing group policies (for things like where documents can be saved, the use of encryption and data access.)
- Next to security, we have seen many problems with home connections being slow or inconsistent, causing remote connections to drop or confusion with end users. Double checking service levels from ISPs and increasing home speeds has helped resolve the problem.
How could they have been avoided?
It was hard to predict or imagine the scenario of the pandemic and remote work, but thinking through remote access issues with a professional could have helped. Some clients took our advice early and set up secure connections and followed our contingency plans before users were forced to be home. The Spring of 2020 was incredibly busy for us.
Any other advice to offer the SMB, regarding its IT moving forward?
Since hackers and spoofers recognize vulnerabilities from companies having remote users and disjointed security measures, they are working overtime. Focus on security first, then performance and everything else will fall into place in terms of lesser priorities.
