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How Have Small Businesses Been Managing Their
How Have Small Businesses Been Managing IT INFRASTRUCTU Their RE THROUGHOUT THE PANDEMIC?
According to a recent survey conducted by CDW Canada, small businesses in Canada have suffered a lot during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. As they adapt to the economic impact of the pandemic and transition to remote work, many have had to pause operations or shut down entirely.
The survey provides insight into the current IT infrastructure and practices of small businesses, identifies changes over the past year, and identifies remaining gaps that need to be addressed as we look into the future of the post-pandemic business landscape. One of the themes that emerged from observing the challenges that small businesses continue to face is the lack of adequate IT resources.
While many businesses admit they have faced at least one IT problem since the onset of the pandemic, IT remains surprisingly low on the priority list, with 32% saying they have not invested in IT. This signals that the issue has been identified, but there is still work to be done to mitigate the impact of the IT problem.
How Can IT Help Small Businesses?
IT can help small businesses when it comes to problems and increase efficiencies during and after the pandemic. With the right IT tools in place, a team can remotely collaborate while securely accessing the business resources they need to get the job done. This is especially important in today ' s increasingly digital world, as 18% of small businesses are using, or will ultimately use a hybrid telework/office model, and 16% have or have already switched to working online. Technology helps businesses in a number of ways, including providing capital to businesses to expand and invest. This is made possible by using new technology for a hassle-free receiving process. So, it’ s high time that small businesses should embrace IT to streamline their business processes, eliminate security threats, and ultimately bring efficiency.
Hybrid Work Model
Creating a productive hybrid work ecosystem is more important than before for small businesses. To stay agile, small businesses should make the most of their resources, stay in touch with their employees, consider the infrastructure and tools the business needs to maintain productivity, and enable effective collaboration anywhere.
Collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex can help employees to stay connected. Mobile solutions also allow them to communicate from anywhere, keeping everyone productive. CDW also works with all major laptop and desktop vendors to help ensure your teams are equipped with the latest technology.
Eliminate Cyberthreats
At a time when small businesses are particularly vulnerable to potential ransomware attacks and cyberthreats, it is more important than ever to step up cybersecurity efforts. Small businesses must take a driven approach to security to shield customer data and sensitive information. Robust IT solutions can help keep your business safe. Whether you are looking for an email or web security solution, or regularly monitor sensitive data, CDW can work with you to keep your information safe and secured.
Proper IT Infrastructure and Strategy
A business strategy describes a business goal and sets the principles for achieving it. IT strategies are pretty much the same, except that they explicitly state IT tools and methods. Just as a business plan should include marketing and sales strategies, one should pinpoint how they will manage your technology to enhance your business now and in the future. Your IT strategy evaluates and allocates IT budgets and addresses IT challenges such as infrastructure, applications, services, sourcing, integration and innovation. It should be specific, but should not prevent useful changes. Whether you are a cloud-based startup or a small onsite company with 10 employees, CDW can provide the hybrid, cloud-native or on-premises infrastructure you need to help your business run seamlessly.
Custom IT Solutions
In addition to the fact that small businesses need the right IT tools, they also need to have a dedicated team of IT professionals to help them navigate the post-pandemic environment. CDW can help you manage your supply chain through a warehouse, warehousing or stock holding agreement. CDW can also help onboarding by providing new technology on day one to new hires.
Implementing a more robust IT infrastructure can be challenging if an enterprise is unsure of their needs, but CDW Canada is here to help you out. They have a full team of experts having years of experience to support your small business.
Overview of CDW’ s Technology Services
For small businesses, it' s important to determine how best to use technology to speed up processes and refine business outcomes. At any stage in your technology journey, CDW' s full-service lifecycle supports and helps your internal team focus on your business goals.
Design: CDW uses extensive tools, data, and years of experience to provide workshops and guidance, make recommendations and assess your specific needs to close gaps and optimize growth.
Orchestrate: CDW’ s experienced engineers configure and deploy the solution to ensure you have the right technology in place and that it works right the first time. The talented engineers create a roadmap to help you get the most out of your technology solutions and get the value you expect.
Manage: You can save money and time, and even increase your internal IT team bandwidth, with expert management and 24/7 support of all aspects of your technology solutions.
Compliance: CDW helps small businesses accomplish and uphold compliance with every latest standard (PCI DSS, ISO, etc.) through its risk advisory services. If your business wants to meet these standards for the very first time or maintain them as they develop, CDW has years of experience and expertise to assist.
Why CDW? How Can We Help?
CDW’ s robust team of small business experts helps you learn how to migrate, manage, and improve your overall IT infrastructure. CDW offers a lot of benefits to small businesses:
Small businesses can save 5% instantly on services and products with no coupon codes or expiry dates.
You can easily manage and run your small business through an online account with real-time access to quotes, orders, and advanced reporting tools.
With CDW' s Membership Shipping Program, you can receive ground shipping on any order (products weighing not more than 75 pounds) at no additional cost.
CDW' s talented team of experts works with major technology brands to develop top-notch IT solutions and services tailored to your unique business needs. From a solution specialist to a backup account manager, you can get IT advice at every stage without any cost. You can have access to all the tools along with expert advice at CDW.
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Expert Advice
Small Business Chat with Navin Arora
Navin leads a national team of more than 5,500 team members and oversees the endto-end portfolio for B2B nationally, including sales, marketing, product development, customer experience, strategy and operations for all TELUS business customers across Canada. As part of his national portfolio, he oversees TELUS Enterprise Solutions, TELUS Small & Medium Business, TELUS’ Employer, Partner and Financial Solutions teams, as well as GoCo, one of Canada ’ s leading managed service providers.
From local small businesses and tech startups, to medium-sized manufacturers, large national businesses and public sector agencies, Navin and his team are working with thousands of organizations of every size across Canada to reimagine the way technology can be used to thrive in a digital world. Under his leadership, the team is providing world-leading technology capabilities, ranging from network connectivity, collaboration, security, 5G, IoT and virtual care solutions that power the digital workplace of the future.
Since joining TELUS in 1999, Navin has held senior leadership roles with increasing responsibility across various parts of the organization, including Business Solutions, Partner Solutions, Consumer, and Technology and Operations. He ’ s played a crucial role in steering some of TELUS’ most successful market growth and service innovation strategies and has guided several transformations that have driven industryleading business growth, customer loyalty and operational excellence.
Navin Arora
Executive Vice-president and President, TELUS Business Solutions
TELUS, Canada
’ s leading healthcare technology company, and its TELUS Business division now provide small business owners and employees on smartphone plans with access to the TELUS Health Virtual Care app-based service at no extra cost to help them and their teams prioritize their mental and physical health when and where it’ s most convenient for them. We got more insights from Navin Arora, Executive Vice-president, TELUS Business Solutions. Navin leads a national team of more than 5,500 team members and oversees the end-to-end portfolio for B2B nationally, including sales, marketing, product development, customer experience, strategy and operations for all TELUS business customers across Canada. In this exclusive Q/A Navin discusses how services like virtual health care can help small businesses succeed, why mental health should be a priority amongst small business owners and shared his future predictions for the small business owners in Canada in 2022.
What made you offer TELUS Health Virtual Care to small businesses and how will this support them?
’ ve always been proud to support Canadian small businesses, and TELUS Health Virtual Care is the latest in a series of activities we ’ ve launched to give them greater value and peace of mind. Other programs include our $1.5M commitment to #StandWithOwners where we helped profile owners across Canada to give them the exposure their business needed and the launch of TELUS’ Owners Advantage Mobility Plan. We know the pandemic has put huge pressure on owners to run their businesses and focus on well-being, for themselves and their employees, so we really want to continue doing our part and make it easier for them, their employees, and families to access healthcare support they need.
How much do you think this pandemic has posed a threat to small business owners?
Small businesses are one of the hardest impacted groups, and for many, it would have been very difficult to prepare for all the different challenges. The pressure to stay afloat, take care of their family and employees, while dealing with the challenges of moving their business online, has been immense, and I’ ve been blown away by the stories of resilience, support, and seeing how owners have pivoted so quickly to adapt. The pandemic really pushed more people and businesses to go digital, and there ’ s no going back, so we really feel we have to do our part and help support our business customers both professionally through their transformation and also personally with health and wellbeing support.
Coming out of the pandemic, I believe virtual care will continue to be prevalent and expected by Canadians. The labor market is really competitive, and offering virtual health options such as this is a win-win for small businesses. Employers can offer something highly differentiated to their employees and their families at no extra cost, which helps with retention, engagement, and productivity. And employees and their families can safely access health services where and when they need them, which is typically reserved for larger organizations that have more robust benefits plans.
What do you think about keeping mental health a priority amongst small business owners?
I think a focus on mental health is vital. Dr. Diane McIntosh, our Chief Neuroscience Officer at TELUS, recently shared that “In any given year, one in five Canadians will experience symptoms of a mental illness.
Small businesses make up nearly 98 percent of businesses in Canada, and many times its members of the family working in that business, so imagine the impact on all these hard-working owners, and their family members who support them. Small business owners taking care of their own and their family ’ s mental health, and providing support for their employees to do so as well, is good leadership and good business.
As a world-leading technology company, TELUS is committed to leveraging the power of technology to deliver connected solutions. How is technology important today?
Connectivity is a resource that is as important as any other type of infrastructure. Canada has a huge and vast geography with people spread out across the country, and the pandemic really reinforced the importance of connectivity and technology for society and day-to-day lives. It also demonstrated how we really do live in a digital world. We take great pride in using our technology to bridge the digital divide and enable the connections that matter, like being able to FaceTime with family, work from home with fast connections, and get remote access to health experts. We also take great responsibility in helping to drive meaningful change in society, whether it’ s improving access to virtual health services, addressing global food sustainability issues in agriculture, or enabling cities to operate more safely and sustainably.
What is the Unique Selling Point of TELUS Health Virtual Care being offered to Small Business customers?
What’ s great about this service is that it’ s easier to get the health support you need by being able to book an appointment on your device anywhere and anytime you need it, and for Small Business mobility customers to get that support at no additional cost. I think the other important piece is that we have over a decade of providing leading health technology, and we want to use that technology for good, which is a big reason for offering this up so owners, their employees, and families can prioritize their health.
How can small business owners keep themselves mentally healthy during these tough times? Could you please share some strategies?
I think one of the most helpful strategies for anyone is to make the most of the resources and support around you.
For our part, we hosted a webinar and virtual discussion on mental health and wellness with mental health experts and Canadian small business owners. There were some great stories from owners who shared how easy it is to get burnt out as an entrepreneur, and how important it is to take time for yourself, lean on your network, and always check in on their own and their team ’ s mental health.
What are your future predictions for small business owners in Canada in 2022?
Small businesses have weathered a ton of challenges and shown us how resilient and adaptable they can be. My prediction is that more owners and small businesses will embrace digital technology to transform their businesses so they can thrive in a postpandemic environment. However, there ’ s a lot of pressure to overcome, especially with supply chain disruptions and shortages in a competitive labor market. Only 30 percent of small businesses are back to pre-pandemic revenue levels and only 42 percent are back to pre-pandemic staffing levels. So I think the key will be to differentiate through some variations of e-commerce, curbside pick-up, and delivery, and to get really creative around attracting, engaging, and retaining employees so they can get a leg up against larger businesses. I also think as individuals we have to do our part and continue shopping locally to support their success.
