virtual desktop

Explore New IT Strategies for the Year Ahead

2020 has taught us a lot about the type of technology it takes to run a successful business in a modern world. When times are uncertain and normal operations are interrupted, companies need to be able to rely on critical IT services that can help them survive and thrive. Many businesses have learned some hard lessons and made quick adjustments to keep moving forward, but the future will continue to present more challenges. The following IT strategies for 2021 will help ensure that your business is ready for the next calendar year.

Focus on Remote Access

The world was already becoming decentralized as more and more business transactions occur online, but the digital shift has been accelerated due to recent events. It’s important for employees to stay connected and productive even when they can’t physically be in the office. Secure remote access makes it possible to maintain business continuity even when people have to work remotely.

Consider all of the following as you secure your remote access for the future:

Hardware like headphones, microphones, and cameras
Reliable solutions for calls and video meetings
Virtual desktop solutions to connect you to the main office
Secure access to files, folders, and everything else you need

Fix Technology Issues of 2020

Address any technology issues that caused the most business disruptions and dissatisfaction in 2020. This year put a lot of strain on companies and pushed technological solutions to the limit. You may have had to modernize your IT services more quickly than you originally planned, but the trial by fire has given business leaders an opportunity to see which technological gaps are preventing them from reaching future business goals. If you don’t have the resources to address all of your vulnerabilities with your internal IT team, this may be the time to get a competitive advantage with outsourced IT.

Be Aware of the Latest IT Security Threats

Just as IT services are evolving to provide better solutions for your business, hackers are getting more sophisticated. Staying ahead of ransomware and other cybersecurity threats may feel like a full-time job at times. The good news is that you don’t have to make it your full-time job. You can outsource cybersecurity to take the pressure off of your internal team as you receive the most effective protection available.

Identify the Most Important IT Services for You

The pace at which technology evolves makes it hard for business leaders to keep up. If you have bigger things to focus on than the latest and greatest IT Services, some of the lingo might sound a little bit foreign. Between meaningless buzzwords and technical jargon, some IT strategies start to read like alphabet soup. It’s important to form a partnership with a managed service provider that will take the time to explain the true business benefits behind the technology.

Still, it can be hard to trust your technology to a third party. Look for an experienced managed service provider with a long track record of enabling success in your industry. When you partner with accomplished technology experts, it becomes easy to co-create a customized blend of the most important IT services.

Find an IT Company in St. Louis

Here at ThrottleNet, we’re proud to be awarded as one of the best IT companies in the St. Louis area. We’re even more proud of the way we help local businesses succeed. We’re so confident in our ability to serve your business goals, our whole business model depends on your continued satisfaction. Check out our win-win deal and contact us today!

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“Out of adversity comes opportunity.” - Benjamin Franklin

2020 brought an unexpected journey for just about every business. Companies and individuals all over the world saw everything get turned upside down in a hurry, and suddenly we couldn’t take anything for granted anymore. The importance of technology hasn’t been in question for quite some time, but reliable business IT became even more of a necessity in 2020. It’s hard to see so many local businesses in St. Louis struggling, but the silver lining is that we’ve become more resilient and more adaptable.

The things we learned this year will help us achieve business goals in the future, and the ability to learn from bad situations is what defines successful companies.

Here are four of the most important business technology lessons we learned this year.

Secure Remote Work Is Critical to Business Continuity

Allowing employees to work from home occasionally is not the same as having a truly remote workforce. Many companies were prepared for some contributors to work online but weren’t ready to manage full teams without any central workforce in the office. When employees are only out of the office one or two days each week, it’s also possible to wait to go back into the office to complete certain tasks. One of the biggest lessons from the past year is that secure remote access and remote desktop connections are absolutely necessary for most businesses.

Trust Is Key

Trust is important, and it needs to extend in every direction:

Managers need to trust that employees are working productively.
Employees need to trust that they’ll receive all of the support they need.
Customers need to trust that their data and transactions are secure and that their experience won’t be interrupted.

We have a lot of award-winning capabilities here at ThrottleNet, but we can’t build a trustworthy company culture

Security Is Essential

It’s easier to gain trust when you can provide a completely secure environment. Hackers don’t take breaks, and many opportunists actually tried to prey on businesses during their moments of confusion in 2020. As more and more companies in St. Louis prepare for prolonged periods of remote work, cybersecurity will become even more important. If you’re still concerned that there may be soft sports in your business technology, ask a local IT company to perform a vulnerability audit and identify weaknesses before hackers do.

Technology Can’t Solve All Your Problems

This may not be what you expect to hear from one of the most award-winning IT companies in St. Louis, but it’s the truth. Technology can’t solve all of your problems all by itself. Even the best MSPs can’t be all things to all businesses at all times. It’s important to focus on defining efficient processes and keeping the lines of communication open. To that end, make sure you’re working with a managed IT company that understands their role as a supporting partner for your business goals.

Better IT Services for 2021

The best IT support companies understand that their success depends on yours. Instead of offering you a cookie-cutter solution, our team at ThrottleNet will take the time to understand what your business really needs and how we can help. How did your technology fail you in 2020, and how can outsourced IT services get things back on track for 2021? Connect with us today to see how the right MSP can keep you focused on growing your business.

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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.

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