It has been over two months since COVID-19 “Stay at Home” orders were announced nationwide; in that time, businesses needed to adjust their work environments to satisfy government requirements as well as safeguard their employees and customers from possible exposure to the virus.
By now, all of the clients and businesses that we serve have adapted to a “Working from Home” model. The minor issues that arose during the beginning of this pandemic have been either ironed out or have been resolved with a work around. However, as uncertainty about the pandemic prevails, most business owners are asking their IT vendors “What’s next?”
Although the pandemic will not last forever, but it has been a game changer for most businesses. Most have adapted quickly, as they had an emergency plan in place with their IT support. This allowed businesses to have limited presence in their offices, as well as allow for them to conduct business as usual while the transition to a “Working from Home” format was established. Video conferencing and chat/messaging services have also taken center stage as a way to communicate with employees and clients alike. Cloud solutions like Office 365 have also had a key role in allowing work to continue seamlessly while away from their offices. With that said, it can be said that this pandemic has shown us technology truly is the backbone of a lot of businesses.
This is also a pivotal moment where IT companies prove their worth. The motto “Security First” applies in any circumstances, which means following the industry best practices including: VPN for remote connection, Antivirus and Antimalware on all the workstations and home office computers, strong passwords and Multifactor authentications, access and permission rights, employee awareness training, etc.) Secondly, marinating the infra-structure such as: internet, network servers, switches, firewall, workstations and peripherals such as printers, copier and scanners in a good condition has the top priority.
Many Execs, although happy with the role of technology, may not be happy about the expenses that they have incurred to pay for the additional laptops, VPN licenses, setting up staff’s to work from home, etc. So the next steps for all these execs will be cost cutting to conserve cash where they can. Placing non-essential spending on hold and working closely with the IT vendors on their IT budgets to make the most impact and move from surviving to thriving. It also means, reviewing projects, contracts and budgets and asking the IT vendors to implement solutions that are tailored to the their specific needs. Solutions that are necessary yet inexpensive and affordable such as migrating to the Cloud, Backup and Disaster Recovery, Collaborative software and services and more.
Nowadays, most technology companies are offering great deals on their products and services to benefit business effected by Covid-19. There are long term trials, free licenses, no restrictions on use of services, etc. All these products and services can be evaluated and recommended by the IT vendors to their clients and prospects.
Although uncertainty still rules but we are getting back to somewhat normalcy and see the light at the end of the tunnel.
For additional questions or assistance, please feel free to give us a call at IT21st: 855-448-2178 or visit us at: www.it21st.com for more information.
