It’s probably safe to say that most organizations that made a sudden shift to work from home recently, did so due to necessity, and not due to a planned organizational change.

The results have varied by industry and by individual business, but I believe there is thing we can all agree on:

From a technology perspective, working from home has never been easier.

The rise of mobile devices, cloud computing and collaboration software have made most office-based roles achievable from home.  With the potential benefits of reducing office space, the leases, furniture, safety and utility costs that go along with it, maybe it makes sense to look at a long-term or permanent work from home option.

So, how can you ensure your staff & colleagues are safe, secure and productive when they work from home?

In this guide, we'll be covering some of the basic, and often-missed items that you should be aware of when you send employees home to work.

Data Security

While company data may be secure and accessible only on company hardware, what policies are in place if an employee is working from home?

The basics should include wording in your IT policy that includes "when away from the computer it must be screen locked" or something similar.  This is a very basic measure to prevent unauthorized access at the office, and should not be overlooked when working from home.

A more advanced approach would include a BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device, policy that includes remote management software, and requires device enrolment to access company data.  After the devices have been enrolled, certain policies can be enforced on those devices to protect your company data.

Those with advanced security systems in place may need to expand geo-based access restrictions, and also deploy or expand virtual networks to retain public IP restricted protections and access.

Staff Training

Your workforce may not be ready to work from home for a number of reasons.  At the very least, ample training should be given on relevant collaboration systems.  A good example of this is Microsoft Teams or Slack.  While many office workers have embraced these collaboration tools there is still a percentage of them that shy away from new software.

As such, relevant training that encompasses all skill levels on the right software tools should be organized sooner rather than later.

Another item often overlooked is an update to your employee policies handbook.  A well thought out plan, including expectations for communication and availability for remote employees, is a critical component of a successful remote work program.

Getting the Basics Right

The basics, from an IT perspective, are the things that you might assume a staff member has but might be lacking.  A good example of this is the Internet.  While many would assume that everyone has home internet service, the reality is that there will be a percentage that for one reason or another do not have home internet, or do not have a connection sufficient for work from home.

As such offering, a 4G/5G hotspot with a company data allowance might be required.

Next up are the little things like monitors, keyboards, mice, and other peripherals such as a scanner.  Most work from home scenarios will help a company move closer to paperless processes out of necessity.  Scanning, however, is still is a part several job functions and may need to be considered.

Tech Support

In most cases, the unfortunate truth about business systems and technology is that they can go out of date very quickly.

How do you keep up with new technologies and make sure you have a competitive advantage?

In this article, we will outline some simple example steps your IT provider should be doing on an annual basis, to keep you informed and your business up to date with the latest IT technologies.

An IT systems audit should be scheduled, conducted and reviewed at least annually.  When this takes place very much depends on your business operation.  A good rule of thumb is to carry out an audit before quieter times of the year.

This helps the business to plan any upgrades and projects to coincide with those quieter times which will cause less disruption to the business.

The following items are examples of some components an audit should include.  This is not a complete list.  Let's get started:

Age of equipment

• An inventory of all IT equipment should be kept, this should include model numbers, serial numbers, manufacturer and more importantly warranty status.
• IT equipment which includes desktops, laptop, servers tend to have an optimal performance life cycle of between 3 - 5 years. 
• Maintaining an inventory with this information allows the business and IT provider to plan for upgrades.  You can easily prioritize which machines should be renewed or upgraded using the inventory list.

Automation

• The audit should also look to include an overview of manual tasks or problems in the business.
• Is there a manual, repetitive task that could be automated?  This could be something as easy as duplicate data input by a member of staff. 
• You might have 2 systems in place that require the same data to be input, why not automate this so data it is entered manually only once? 
• Automation is becoming more common in the workplace and services such as Microsoft Power Automate and Zapier allow business to work smarter, not harder.

Disaster Recovery Test

• Backups should be tested monthly to ensure files can be successfully restored, but disaster recovery is meant for larger events
• More insurance providers are now offering "Cyber Insurance" critical insurance that any business that has been hacked will make a top priority when renewing.
• A little known fact about cyber insurance is the need for a disaster recovery plan with answers to questions such as "how long will it take your business to recover"  and "when was the last time your disaster recover was tested?"
• This highlights the need for at least an annual test of your recovery process and should be included as part of an IT audit.

 

For more information about how we can help your business and provide an independent 3rd party IT audit of your systems and technology, follow the "Get Started Now" link below.