07 Oct Connecting to a modern World of Work – The Challenges & Goals

Connecting to a modern World of Work – The Challenges & Goals

As we stated in the previous article, the world is becoming more reliant on technology by the day, and that reliance will only grow. Business owners are exploring the potential capabilities that technology could have in their own organisations – and those that delve deep enough, get the right tech, and the right advice and education around it, are rarely disappointed.

Let’s refresh our memories of the two goals from the previous article and explore how we can achieve them.

The challenges / goals:

• Increase levels of security – Lower the risk to your organisation
• Increase profit and productivity.

Achieving both of these all day everyday is the main aim of every business on the planet, and if it was easy everyone would be making millions a year, so we know this won’t be an easy task to achieve. Let’s look at what you can do to ensure that you achieve your goals and take one step closer to the main ones.

• Increase levels of security – Lower the risk to your organization

When setting yourself goals, it is recommended to first break them down into smaller more achievable goals. This time we will split it into four different categories:

• A cultural change
• Infrastructure
• Technical controls
• Data.

A cultural change

Your organisation must undergo a cultural change, security should always be your main business concern no matter what, but it can be a very difficult task getting your team on side – they must know the important role they have in protecting your systems when navigating them. This is best achieved through training, education, and support – your team must be trained in all methods of protection you have for your systems based on their position in the organisation.

Infrastructure

Ask yourself, “is my infrastructure capable” – you can answer this by checking the age, lifespan, and what level of support is required for it to run at its full capacity. Be certain you have control over every end-user device (you must know what your employees can access and what device they are using to access it) as we said, without this knowledge your data could be anywhere.

Technical controls

Encrypt all mobile devices that you and your team work on. It is too simple to lose a mobile phone and once lost anyone can pick it up and have free reign over its contents. Mobile encryption stops your data being stolen if you were to misplace it.

Firewalls are essential, they act as a filter between your computer and the internet and allow access for what is deemed as safe and blocks access to anything that is judged as malicious or unfamiliar. Firewalls allow you and your team to continue working as normal whilst it protects your systems silently in the background without causing any disruption.

Anti-Malware software prevents, detects, and removes any malicious software from your computer systems. Malware can cause debilitating problems within your system from the inside, and it comes in many different forms, so software that can fight all kinds is essential.

Data

You must always know where your data is stored and who has access to it – not knowing could leave you open to an attack if the wrong person has access, and the legal ramifications could have severe financial implications, so you must always be sure.

• Increase profit and productivity

We can split this into two subheadings:

• Integration and automation
• The right tools.

Integration and automation

When you think of a suite of tools that have benefited our experience working on a computer, for most the first they will think of is Microsoft 365. Its suite of tools has been a staple part of our day to day lives for many decades now, it has provided us with tools that have no competition when it comes to functionality, quality, and affordability. The most popular tool in the Microsoft arsenal by quite some way is Teams – with an astonishing 250 million daily users internationally it is by the far the most popular connectivity application ever released on the market. Microsoft’s entire suite of tools are integrated and allow many opportunities for automation – with everything consolidated in one place you can save time allowing your team’s productivity levels to rise.

The Right Tools

It is integral your team have a basic understanding of the hardware and software that they are using every day. Once having achieved this you will start reaping the benefits almost immediately – both in terms of security and productivity. Your users will become familiar with how to use the tools to their full potential and in turn will become more productive and in turn help you bring in more revenue.

Modern technology to help you thrive

Technology is pivotal to your business and we want you to understand the value it provides when it is allowed to work seamlessly with your operations on the most updated tools available. Apogee values transparency and simplicity – we provide the IT support you need when you need it. Within this support is the guarantee that your technology is secure against all manner of cyber threats, that it is operationally beneficial to the way you run your business and is always updated to the latest version. We will work alongside you and guide you into a secure, brighter future with technology as your ally. Contact us now to find out how we can help you.