The New Normal e-book Adapting your business for post-lockdown and beyond
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION
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STEP ONE: ADAPT
04 - 05
STEP TWO: PLAN AHEAD
06 - 07
STEP THREE: PROTECT
08 - 11
CHECKLIST
12 - 13
GET IN TOUCH
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INTRODUCTION OPERAM EDUCATION GROUP
For businesses of all sizes, this unprecedented situation has made us all stop and consider the impact it may make to the way we operate in the future. Indeed, it’s likely that COVID-19 will permanently change the way we work. Whilst we are all seeking answers to the future, what is clear is that technology will play a huge role in the transition to a (new) normal way of working. Employers and employees alike have seen the benefits of remote working, with workforces using the newest technologies to collaborate and communicate in a seamless way (even if they’re in their pyjamas!). And while face-to-face interactions are still incredibly important in business, it may be a careful balance of face-to-face and remote contact that becomes the norm. With this in mind, we wanted to give you some clear and effective IT strategies for both the short and long term. Whatever the implications of COVID-19 are for your business, you can use this advice to begin to lay the foundation for a smooth and secure transition. This will enable your employees to remain engaged and productive in the weeks, months and possibly even years to come. We strongly believe that businesses need to take a measured and decisive approach now, in this period of change, in order to thrive and grow. We hope that this e-book will help you to feel more prepared and resilient when facing these new challenges and set you in the right direction for long-term success. If you do have any questions or you’d like to discuss, do give us a call on 0113 897 0450 or drop me an email at tim.leslie@mtech.uk.com. Tim Leslie Operations Director
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STEP ONE: ADAPT MTech IT Solutions
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STEP ONE: ADAPT The “New Normal” means that we are likely to have a distributed workforce for quite some time. Recent government announcements have even set Flexible Working as the standard for employment. The standard up until lockdown was for workers to come in to a single site or multiple corporate sites – these sites were linked together by secure connections and files & systems were accessible mainly from within the corporate network.
During Lockdown, businesses and users have had to adapt to working from home, accessing the centralised data and systems; in many cases it has been very difficult to adapt technology to support this model. Moving forward, as offices start to open there are a number of questions to answer:
How will I move my employees back into the office whilst maintaining social distancing? • • •
Possibly only 50% of employees can fit within the space to support this Do I make teams, and rotate them in and out of the office? Will I keep some staff as fully home-based?
Do I even need this expensive office space? •
With flexible staff, can I reduce the office space I need?
How do I keep my teams engaged with each other, keeping efficiency & morale high? • • •
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Microsoft Teams can help to keep staff in touch. It is less formal than email, and with simple switching between messaging, voice and video users adopt the new technology simply and seamlessly Simple screen and document sharing also aids efficiency with geographically separate staff able to work together on projects.
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STEP TWO: PLAN AHEAD MTech IT Solutions
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STEP TWO: PLAN AHEAD It is likely that new working practices will continue to be adopted. The “New Normal” will use a more flexible workforce – with staff working from home and with different hours. Long distance travel is likely to be reduced significantly as staff, customers and suppliers have all got used to Video Conferencing during lockdown – it is now unusual not to see video on a Teams or Zoom call. There are new challenges that come with this new working model, however. Areas such as access to required files and systems, security of home networks and computers and the ability for people to work together whilst apart will all challenge current technology. We recommend looking at how modern technology can accelerate the benefits and remove the challenges. Points to consider include:
Telephony – it is still necessary to speak to people inside and outside of the organisation and this can be hard to manage with an old fashioned system. • •
Microsoft Teams can handle the calls for the whole company, office-based home or mobile. Answer calls from a handset on your desk, a Bluetooth headset or even your mobile in a foreign country! Microsoft Teams becomes the key way to communicate both inside and outside the company using chat, voice, video and full telephony. Users adopt to this extremely quickly with very little training and staff become more productive.
Team Collaboration - During lockdown users have adopted Teams for chat and video, but not many utilise the collaboration aspect of Teams. Create a Team across different functions and locations and they can work together, benefiting from: • • • •
Focused messaging – avoiding a deluge of emails “discussing” options with Reply-All. Centralised document storage in the Cloud, so that vital documents can be worked on from anywhere. Users can collaborate on documents at the same time – imagine five people all working in the same spreadsheet or proposal document rather than having different versions floating around on email. Additional apps are available - To-Do Lists, Planners and hundreds of different apps can be added to a Team.
Sharepoint can also be used as a cloud-based document store, allowing users to access the documents they need whenever and wherever they are. Version control and users being able to work on the same document will aid productivity whilst being able to share documents externally with customers & suppliers will support co-operative working.
Security is vital - take a look at Step Three to ensure you’re keeping your staff and business protected against cybercrime and loss of data.
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STEP THREE: PROTECT
STEP THREE: PROTECT During the Covid-19 Pandemic, there has been a 600% increase in Email Phishing attacks. This is yet another clear sign that fraudsters are extremely opportunistic, and will use whatever means possible to attack businesses. Since lockdown began, they have been taking advantage of the increased security risks that comes with huge numbers of people working from home, away from the full safety of the office environment. Opening up a VPN tunnel to the office protects the traffic inside that tunnel from the outside world. However, it’s important to remember that every time an employee does this, they are opening up a tunnel between their home and the business infrastructure. It’s likely that this weakness accounts for a large amount of this rise in cyber attacks. As we gradually move back into the office environment, staff will probably be moving back and forth from the office to homeworking. It’s therefore crucial to make sure that your security procedures and disaster recovery plans are up-to-date. By now, your IT Department or provider should have carried out, or at least offered to carry out, an audit of anyone’s home PC if they aren’t using one provided by and built in line with the business and its IT policy. Ask yourself the following:
Has the employee’s PC got good anti-virus installed?
If so, have the signatures been updated regularly and are they currently up to date?
Is that PC used exclusively by the employee or do the rest of the family use it? (It is commonly known that some gaming sites can be a regular source of malware and virus attacks).
Is the PC on Windows 10? (Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8.1 are all now unsupported by Microsoft and are therefore security risks).
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REMEMBER: BACK UP YOUR DATA! In the event of a cyber-attack, do you know for certain that your data is securely, regularly and (definitely worth double checking) successfully backed up? This is fundamental to being able to recover from certain types of attack. The most common malware attack is Ransomware, making up around 80-85% of all attacks. This type of attack usually emanates from an employee opening an Email attachment which then spreads to the internal company shared drives, encrypting all files and demanding a payment to enable you to unlock the files.
It is key to understand that Cyber Attacks are NOT just technology issues, they are business issues and need your attention.
THE AVERAGE UP-FRONT COST OF A CYBER ATTACK ON SMALL BUSINESSES IS BETWEEN £3,000 AND £9,000. Do I have a documented, regularly tested Business Continuity Plan?
Do I know when that was last tested?
When was the last time I had to recover anything from my backup solution, and was that recovery successful? Do I have an absolute guarantee that my backups are working correctly and are regularly checked?
Is my business reliant on any human intervention to work correctly (Tape loading, manual start process?)
Do I know what my Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is? If your answer to any of the above is ‘No’ or ‘I don’t know’ you need to find out as soon as possible. MTech IT Solutions
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SUMMARY CHECKLIST MTech IT Solutions
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SUMMARY CHECKLIST If you need any clarification or advice in order to complete any of the steps below, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help. Create and communicate plan for moving employees back into the office whilst maintaining social distancing Consider reducing office space, if possible and beneficial. Look at the technology currently available for staff and consider whether enhancements need to be made to improve engagement. Consider cheaper, more flexible alternative telephony solutions, such as Microsoft Teams Business Voice. Explore the collaboration tools available for staff in chat-based platforms and make sure they are adopted company-wide. Make sure staff are saving all files are stored in a cloud-based solution. Ensure all staff have good quality anti-virus installed on any PC or laptop they use. Check that email signatures are updated regularly. Ask staff to let you know if their PC or laptop they use for work is also shared by the rest of their household. Ensure that all staff PCs and laptops have the latest version of their operating system installed. Check that you have a documented and regularly tested business continuity plan (and get one if you don’t!) Make sure you’re confident that backups are working correctly and regularly checked. Review any current processes for business recovery that require human intervention, and look to change these to be automated. Check your Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective, or look to have these in place if you don’t have them.
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GET IN TOUCH 0113 897 0450 enquiries@mtech.uk.com www.mtech.uk.com
ABOUT US MTech are award-winning specialists in delivering complete business solutions. This includes IT support, cybersecurity, flexible working solutions and consultancy. We assist our clients in achieving operational excellence so they can focus on what matters - their core business.
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