coronavirus

With Coronavirus concern interrupting public activities, how might your business need to shift its operations?  If you do want to operate remotely, how well positioned is your business to do this?

Houk Consulting Update

As of now, we are continuing to provide both remote and onsite support to our customers.  We will attempt to do everything we can remotely and limit onsite visits when possible.

Before coming onsite, we will confirm with the primary client contact.

How Will Your Company Address Remote Access?

If your team is no longer coming into the office for work, are they set up to work from home effectively?  Have you tested this out to work out any kinks in the process?

As you make plans, consider the following:

Logistics of Working from Home

  • Remote Access: Do you have a remote access solution for everyone that might need it?
  • Training:  Are they trained in how to use that remote access solution?
  • Computers: Do they have a laptop they can use at home?
  • Monitors: Do they need any extra monitors to work effectively?
  • Printers: How will you print?  Do you have any special printing needs like printing checks?
  • Applications: Will your required applications function correctly?
  • Accessories: Are there any unique accessories necessary to perform your job (special keyboard, dual monitors, foot pedal, etc.)?
  • Keyboard & Mouse: For those that do extensive typing, is an external keyboard and mouse available for them?
  • Space: Is there a dedicated space to work?
  • Internet: Are the internet speeds at home and the office sufficient?  The office internet might have a faster download speed than upload speed.  When everyone is in the office, the download speed is usually most important.  But, if everyone is working from home, does the upload speed need to be increased?
  • Access to the Office:  If there is a connectivity issue in the office, who can access the facility to troubleshoot? Can vendors get in to fix issues?

Security

  • Security Applications: If people are at home and not behind the business firewall at work, do you have at least two layers of protection from security threats when your people work from home?  We recommend using both an antivirus and Cisco Umbrella to help filter malicious websites and programs.
  • Phishing: Is your team aware of the Coronavirus based phishing that is trying to trick them?  Have they been trained on how to detect general phishing emails?

Communication

  • Phones: Can you still receive calls if no one comes to the office?  Solutions like RingCentral make remote access to the company phone system easy.  Can you set up notifications if someone leaves you a voicemail at the office?
  • Collaboration: How will your team stay in communication remotely?  Do you use a chat and video conference collaboration tool like Microsoft Teams?  Does everyone know how to use it?
  • Meetings: Should you restructure your meetings to stay in contact more often if there is a reduced face to face interaction?  Can you use a remote meeting tool like Microsoft Teams to host meetings easily?
  • Files: How will you access your business files?  Can you as easily collaborate on them when out of the office?  Are you using technology like Microsoft OneDrive to access data from anywhere?

Please feel free to reach out to us to discuss this.  Our team is here to help.

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