secure remote access

Two Big Reasons to Move to the Cloud

Most of the decisions made in business are to protect or increase the bottom-line. Cloud services are reported to boost profits and spur growth. By using cloud hosting, your company can scale and reduce data without the additional cost and physical space taken up by servers. The cloud is also convenient with easy file sharing capabilities, ensuring that teams can coordinate and work on projects from anywhere at any time.

In light of the COVID-19 lockdowns, the cloud is keeping many companies open, allowing workers to communicate, collaborate, and keep operations moving. Zoom, OneDrive, and other cloud-based applications provide greater workforce mobility. Migrating your business to the cloud will allow more customers to be served and workers to stay productive with a secure job to support their families. Additionally, it will allow employees to have more creativity and control in their day, thereby increasing their job satisfaction.

Make a Plan

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to plan, you are preparing to fail.”

Set a clear plan with objectives and goals, perhaps with a mix of on-premise and cloud solutions. This could be referred to as an implementation road map.

Build in “Off-Ramps”

Businesses should create milestones to pause the migration from an on-premise to a cloud solution. Think of it as using the off-ramp on a highway to get gas and check your map before continuing your road trip. It’s an opportunity to check and evaluate your progress.

Create a Data Storage Strategy

Carefully analyze each benefit when making a complicated transition. Moving some data to the cloud may impact the user experience. Certain hosts can make it difficult for a business to work with the data. Some pieces of data need local copies or caches of data to be used while maintaining a backup of that data in the cloud. Find the solutions that work best for your business.

Benefits of cloud servers include:

Performance
Security
Around-the-clock support

Control
Scalability

Outsource Your Business IT to Cloud Computing Experts

At Throttlenet, we understand that not all businesses have their own IT department to implement large and complicated transitions. Our business engineers will help you migrate and expand your services as your company grows. Click here to learn about our managed cloud software. After all, business happens around-the-clock, and your employees need to be able to access systems, software, emails, and documents at any time.

Businesses could benefit from allowing their employees to work remotely. Employees could be more productive and creative at home, work in an environment free of distractions, and maintain a positive work-life balance, making them a more engaged employee. To make sure businesses run smoothly, they can prepare for remote work.

Here are some need to know tips for managing a remote workforce.

Create a Series of How to Guides

Once everyone starts to work remotely, they may have the same questions and not realize it. The person in charge could receive emails from different co-workers with the same question, and their inbox would fill up. So that they don’t have to answer each email individually, it’s recommended to create how-to guides for the most used applications.

To prepare everyone for working remotely, have a group meeting either in person, over the phone, or through video chat to set guidelines. By going over this information once in the beginning, everyone will be on the right track and not waste time. Make sure users know how to login to their network on their PC or Mac computer and are familiar with the remote access solutions they’ll use at home, such as VPN or RDP networks.

Mobile Device Management, or MDM, software can be set up to give devices a standard configuration. The aim is to improve productivity for employees. Check out our IT solutions for secure remote access.

Mobile Device Management

Ensure proper management of mobile devices. Mobile devices are more likely to be lost or stolen when they are away from the home or office. Make sure that your team understands the risk of leaving devices unattended, especially in public places, and the importance of keeping their software and devices up-to-date. Encourage staff members to keep their devices in a safe location when they are not in use. One prevalent scam that is on the rise is sim card swapping.

In case this were to happen, use encryption to protect data. While most modern devices have encryption built-in, it may need to be turned on and configured. Fortunately, most devices have tools to remotely lock the device, erase the data stored on it, or retrieve a backup of its data. At the same time, if your organization allows for Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, make sure your team backs up their photos and music. These items would be wiped from the device in the event that it was reported stolen.

Create a policy outlining what will happen if a device is lost or stolen, as well as the expectations. For instance, make note of who employees should report to, and encourage them in a positive, blame-free manner to report losses as soon as possible. Early reporting may help to minimize risk to the data, and staff members who aren’t fearful of reprisals are more likely to report promptly.

Avoid USB Drives and Removable Media

USB drives and removable media contain sensitive information and are easily misplaced. As they are openly shared, it becomes hard to track what they contain, where they’ve been, and who has used them. Hackers could also use USB drives to infect IT systems with malware. Reduce the likelihood of viruses by only allowing products supplied by the organization to be used. Another method is by using alternative means, such as corporate storage or collaborative tools such as OneDrive, FTP sites, or email.

Provide an Internal Who to Call List

Our last tip for working remotely is to make sure staff members know how to report any problems. This is especially important for security issues. If you work with a company like ThrottleNet, give them a call. If not, direct users to the appropriate support channels.

A Reliable Employee Who Can Work From Home

As a bonus tip, you need employees who can work remotely without supervision. Here are some interview questions that you can ask candidates looking to work for a remote position.

“How do you schedule your day?” looks for how a person schedules their time, perhaps by first checking emails, then having any meetings, and then working on daily tasks.
“How would you manage a project with a lot of people?” looks for how they work together on a project. This could be done through a document sharing service like Google Drive, where everyone can view and edit the same document.
“Why do you want to work remotely?” is a question that everyone answers differently. For example, some may want to stay at home with pets. Animal lovers will like to work with their furry friends by their side.

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There are overarching concerns when working remotely are safety, security, and compliance.

It is important to ensure remote work can be performed safely and securely to avoid data being compromised.

Those in the healthcare and financial industries need to take extra precautions to ensure they are not only secure but also remain compliant.

A Solution That Meets All Compliance Requirements For Your Business

For those that aren’t aware, your remote work solution must be compliant if you are subject to HIPAA, FINRA, SOX or PCI regulations. If the method remote access isn’t compliant, you are exposing your data and business to unnecessary risk. Some things to consider when thinking about this.

Am I working in a secure, web-based environment or am I working on a local server infrastructure located in my office?

If you answered a web-based environment, you’re most likely in compliance since the provider is responsible for ensuring their systems meet whatever regulations you might be subject to.

Conversely, if you’re working via remote connectivity, you need to make sure you’re accessing the data via a secure VPN or RDP connection. If you’re not, you need to get this in place as soon as possible to ensure your data is secure while in transit.

What does working remotely means for file access and collaboration?

If you answered Office 365, you should be in compliance as these meet minimum standards; however, there are those organizations that require heightened compliance measures when using these solutions and this may require upgrading your subscription to a more compliant variation. For example, your Office365 account may need to be increased from E2 to E3 for those familiar with how Microsoft designates these.

Finally, and most importantly, if your solutions allow for MFA, please turn this on. This is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to ensure security around your data. For those that may not be familiar with this, when you log in to an application, it sends a code to your phone which provides a number you key in addition to your username and password.

Reliable Internet Connections

What does working remotely mean for a secure home internet connection? This is pretty simple since you just need something that provides minimal bandwidth and is reliable.

However, for the employer, you will need a more robust internet connection that can handle many simultaneous secure connections since you’re going to have your entire team remotely accessing the network and, as a result, consuming bandwidth. We recommend Charter as our experience with them has been positive and the speeds are typically consistent.

Keep in mind that cloud-based apps such as Microsoft Office 365 or Google Apps do not require or put any strain on the employer’s internet bandwidth. This is because your end users are accessing those secure cloud platforms directly from their pc and internet at home; however, you do want to make sure the data is as secure as possible on a home network. We’ll talk more about this later.

Either way, your remote workforce shouldn’t have to increase their connectivity – in most cases – unless they live in rural areas in which case they may be limited.

At Throttlenet we’re here to help you decide what does working remotely mean for you and your business? How can we help you and your employees stay compliant and productive? Call us for a FREE consultation today!

In our effort to better serve you in these unusual times we are unrolling a 3-part series that covers A-Z for each aspect. Check out our blog on safety and security here.

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A carpenter can get the job done with a screwdriver, but it gets done better with a drill. The same is true for your employees who will now be working from home. Setting up your employees with the right tools for working remotely can keep productivity high.

Third-Party Solution for Direct Connection to Computers at Work

Now that we’ve established secure connectivity and compliant solutions, let’s discuss solutions that allow for access to your PC remotely.

There are great 3rd party applications that end users can download and install on their home PCs and on their computer at work; however, they will require that their computers at work stay powered on. An example that most are familiar with would be Go To My PC.

ThrottleNet offers a solution as well via our Everfuel Remote Access solution which we introduced specifically for the situation we find ourselves in today. You can start researching some of our solutions today.

Other solutions include Nord VPN, Private VPN or ExpressVPN. I only mention these as ThrottleNet doesn’t have personal experience with them nor do we represent any of these organizations; however, they are viable options. Once connected, your end-users will be able to securely work directly from their desktops at work!

Windows Virtual Desktop

Another method you can use is the Windows Virtual Desktop. This solution allows for a secure virtual Windows experience that is usable by any device including phones and tablets and lets them securely access their work data and apps from anywhere even on an unsecured device such as the end user’s home PC!

Keep in mind, this isn’t the same as accessing your Office365 account online. This too offers access to all the same tools you have access to via your desktop, but in the Microsoft hosting environment instead. This allows for the creation of documents and collaboration but won’t provide you with a virtual desktop with all of your users’ settings and profile information. Check out some of the dos and don’ts of email security here.

You also use Citrix as a number of virtual desktop solutions to use this to house your virtual workspace allowing access from anywhere, anytime and on any device.

Secure Access to Your Files and Folders

If your end users are using a 3rd party solution to connect directly to their work PC, are using Windows Virtual Desktop or are accessing their files via Office365 online, they should be good to go.

Keep in mind that users can still download files meaning if they are doing so on a local, consumer-grade PC, there could be security and compliance risks which we’ll discuss later in our presentation.

Robust Cloud Phone Solution

An often overlooked yet valuable tool for working remotely is using a contemporary cloud phone solution such as RingCentral as this allows your users to use their business phone extension directly from their cell phone or desktop.

Cloud phone solutions include the ability to securely and remotely communicate through chat, text or video on a computer using an encrypted channel in addition to allowing for conference calls depending on the features you’ve chosen.

Another solution we’ve been using and for those companies that have it is Microsoft Teams. This has a built-in VOIP and video conferencing solution that works well if you don’t have a phone system that’s hosted; however, this would be limited to internal team members only since this isn’t something that allows you to redirect internal calls.

It does allow you to make outbound calls through assuming the contact is in your list of contacts and are added to your list of speed dials.

Webcams for Remote Meetings and Presentations:

One of the biggest challenges with social distancing is the ability to connect with people one on one. This is where having a good webcam can come in handy when trying to overcome the disconnect.

Another recommend tool for working remotely is to create a solid PowerPoint presentation for your Sales team as this will convert them from a voice over the phone into an interactive presenter. As they say – a picture is worth a thousand words.

High-Quality Headphones and Microphone

It should also go without saying but invest in high-quality headphones as these can greatly reduce distractions from the home environment around you – especially if your end users have kids or animals!

There’s nothing worse than being on a conference call only to have your kids break into a full-blown fight in the next room. I’ve been there more times than I can count, and you will be too if you have little ones at home. This will forever be my favorite video of kids disrupting a working from home dad.

Make Sure your Online Meeting is Setup to Manage More Participants

Regarding online meetings and presentations, you should remember that the number of participants you can have on a call is limited. This means you may need to increase your subscription to accommodate the increased number of online participants.

Check this BEFORE your meeting since there’s nothing worse than finding out the hard way that you don’t have enough space to accommodate everyone.

Another thing to keep in mind, these companies are being inundated with requests, so if you can do this online and without involving a customer service rep, you should.

Collaboration Tools

For those organizations that require a lot of collaboration, we would encourage you to check out Office 365’s tools such as OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams – all of which can provide your team with the ability to work remotely while still collaborating in real-time with team members. Other solutions include Monday.com and Basecamp as these allow you to create project plans as well as collaboration with designated team members.

We’ve found this to be a great way to keep your people on task by creating to-do lists that are updated daily. This allows your managers to view the progress each team member made that day.

And as an Open Book Management company, we would encourage you to put in place metrics to track employee activity and performance. These might be the number of calls made, the number of tasks completed, or, in our case, the number of tickets resolved.

Our goal and mission is to keep you running full throttle full time, it’s more important than ever to be adaptable and keep working through social distancing. These are our best tools for working remotely. If you’re ready to explore the full capabilities of offsite managed IT and security contact us for a consultation. We will show you first-hand how we are staying connected and working through social distancing.