Whether it meant shrinking teams, updating their processes, or temporarily halting the production of their goods and services- among all of the businesses hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses were hit hardest.
One of the most challenging things that businesses had to adapt to was the abrupt transition to remote working, with employees moving away from the comfort of their high spec office to a laptop on whatever surface they can find in the home.
IT is the heart of many modern businesses. With the help of some strategic IT consulting, small- to medium sized businesses’ IT could expect this transition to be smoother with less hiccups.
What are some of the things that small to medium sized businesses have learned throughout the pandemic?
Keep reading to find out.
Businesses are only as good as their continuity plans
‘If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail’ This sentiment has never been truer than among a pandemic that has seen a shift en masse towards remote working.
An IT provider should work with you to constantly revise your business continuity plan to ensure its ability to protect your business and rates of productivity.
There needs to be clear work from home/ bring your own device policies
Around 75% of American adults own and use a smartphone. This means that it is even easier for them to access the software needed to be able to successfully work from home.
Many smaller businesses will ask their employees to use their personal or company device to work from home- and this is ever more popular amidst the coronavirus pandemic. This is why there needs to be clear policies in place to help to protect the data and to keep employees accountable throughout their working day.
These policies should include how and where these devices can be used, the internet connections that can be used, security protocols and anything else that is particularly important for the needs of your business.
You should be monitoring remote networks
To protect businesses against any potential security incidents that will lead to costly downtime, there needs to be necessary remote network monitoring.
Remove the risk to your business of the impact of an abrupt switch over the remote working. Not having the right security controls in place can impact a business very negatively.
Rigid network monitoring can mean small businesses are able to detect and patch system vulnerabilities quickly to prevent exploitation by hackers. This will eliminate the risks of costly downtime.
Invest in a VPN solution
Being unable to access data is a bug issue for businesses who have started to work remotely. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, more hackers are actively working through enterprise bugs. A VPN can help small businesses to connect with ‘in-house’ servers; with the added security of not needing a public internet connection.
This will also help to create the divide between home life and remote working for users who are using their own devices to complete work tasks from home.
