Are you starting the new year with a bang?💥

Are you starting the new year with a bang, putting detailed plans together to ensure that your business grows this year?

Perhaps your best intentions of new year’s resolutions are already a distant memory?

If you need help with the IT part of this plan, read on….

Do you expect to be recruiting new staff or replacing existing staff this year?

We never cease to be amazed how many business owners wait for their IT systems to fail before they think about how they can improve things. It can be that drastic, or sometimes it is simply a case of employees sitting unable to do their jobs efficiently because they must wait for a slow computer. For example:

• Have you thought about how your use your computers and what they are doing for you?
• How would you respond to an incident where the computers failed (for whatever reason)?
• Are your staff working efficiently, or waiting around for the computer to catch up?
• Have you noticed that your computer systems are getting slower?
• Have you ever lost any data or access to data – what would you do if it happened again?
• Are you hoping that your systems are secure, or have you put steps in place to make them more secure?

When was the last time you checked that your computer system could handle the amount of data it needs to process?

Once slow computers start to have an impact on your business, you will notice an increase in frustration and possibly also start to lose customers because your system cannot keep up and you cannot respond to their enquiries/orders efficiently. By this point, it’s serious and needs sorting out immediately!

January is the time of year when people are most like to change jobs, so whether you are increasing your team or looking to replace an existing team member, having your IT sorted will make this run more smoothly.

If your team is growing, this could be because they are too busy to handle the workload. But what if that is because the computers are a bottle neck in your process? You may find that you don’t need to recruit someone new to help with the workload, what you need is a quicker, more efficient system with automated processes, so your existing staff can work quicker and smarter!

Your computer is a key tool to make sure your business functions smoothly and that transactions take place with minimum frustrations for your staff and customers. But all too often, we find that staff are trying to process information with one hand tied behind their back, while customers give up and buy from a different company, where the customer experience is smoother.

Have you thought about planning your business IT to smooth out processes, make your staff more efficient, and make sure customers experience a smooth process when they do business with you?

Remember that inefficient IT costs you money, through lost business and paying staff to sit around waiting for computers to catch up!

Book a call with us today to find out how we can make your systems operate more effectively!

Book a call

What happens when you need to recruit someone new?

It’s usually at a time when you are really busy, so thinking about what is needed is yet another task to add to an already very full list of tasks!

Have you thought about what they need to access to do their job? As well as, of course, what must they not get access to (confidential files, such as finances and HR)

Here are our top tips on what to include in an IT policy for your employees:

Devices

• What devices do they have access to?
• What security is setup on these devices?
• Are they allowed to use them for personal use and if so, under what circumstances?
• Have you agreed who is responsible for protecting them and the data that is on them?
• What should they do if their device is stolen or broken?

As part of your employee IT policy, you also need to make sure you specify usage, so employees know and understand the consequences of breaking the rules or contravening the company IT policy:

Software programmes, email platforms, social media and internet

• Username and password protocol
• Network security
• Confidentiality rules
• Prohibited activities
• Acceptable/unacceptable behaviour
• Misuse of company media assets such as photos, videos
• Breach of copyright
• Privacy policy

It is a good idea to have a clear policy in place to prevent employees:

• Accessing sensitive data from anywhere
• Accessing sensitive data on any machine (not necessarily the one they were given!)
• Using any internet connection for access – café, hotel room, home, any kind of ‘open’ access

At R&A, we believe that you should protect these IT assets against misuse or damage, just as you would other company equipment like a car!

Our latest blog tackles putting an IT strategy in place, with an emphasis on employee induction

It all starts with employee induction

Unsure what cybersecurity measure you have in place or don’t understand the importance of disaster recovery?

If you are unsure what cybersecurity measure you have in place or don’t understand the importance of disaster recovery book our 9-point MOT check now.

We can give you peace of mind about protecting and best use of your IT.

Nothing in IT is ever guaranteed to be 100% secure, but there are things you can do to allay your cybersecurity worries

• Book an appointment for a jargon free conversation about cybersecurity. The IT MOT only takes about 30-40 minutes. What’s more, you don’t need to be techie!
• Advice on how to protect your data straightaway.
• Advice on automating systems or improving the speed of your systems and/or processes.

Book IT MOT

Surely the cost of less than an hour of your time outweighs the potential cost to your business of a cybersecurity breach?

Get your IT working as well as possible for business benefits and protection.

All the best,

Tor