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IT support during the pandemic has never been more critical. Lockdowns and closings have sent everyone from school children to office workers home to work. Small and medium-sized businesses compete to survive and thrive, which means not missing a beat, even when all or half its employees are working from home. Professionals are experiencing several pandemic-related challenges related to IT.
Creating Secure Network Connections for Employees
The physical distance between employees working from home has built a complex structure that’s more difficult to maintain stable and secure connections to the company’s system. In an office setting, the IT manager has more controls over data and few to no vulnerabilities. With Wi-Fi and multiple family users sharing connections, there are more ways to experience delays and expose security holes. A managed IT team can monitor all systems to fix problems and prevent unauthorized access to company files quickly.
Prepare for Service Interruptions
Yes, the IT and supporting industries have done a fantastic job of keeping everyone online over the past year, despite the historic usage spike. But there are still latency issues, especially when employees use Wi-Fi connections instead of a hardwired line. The most significant delays businesses are experiencing are with video-conferencing and real-time streaming of extensive volumes of data.
When you choose an IT service, you get a crisis response team to find new solutions to reduce latency and protect trade secrets. This vital option can save your business time, money, and prevent setbacks in your company’s progress.
End-User Remote-Friendly IT Support
Even if you take the employees out of the office, they’ll still need tech support for any problems with their computers and connections. You need a dedicated team that can remotely guide workers through troubleshooting steps and get them working again. The more downtime employees experience decreases work output, and can directly affect sales.
When everyone’s working from home, you need an IT team that can help with multiple systems and different user levels. You may have several employees who can clear cookies and do a hard refresh on their browsers, but there’s bound to be a few who have never worked on their own PC and need extra guidance.
Assist with Secure Collaboration Tools
An IT team can help solve remote work problems by finding apps and other tools to help your employees and customers communicate and handle tasks remotely. For example, technicians can set up widely used digital devices, such as Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco WebEx and teach your employees how to use them. The right IT professionals can also build customized software and other means to streamline your company’s transactions to provide faster service to customers and reduce employee frustration.
A pandemic isn’t the time to reduce your digital support budget. Your company is competing with industry rivals around the world and needs your systems secure and running smoothly. Let the experts handle your IT needs so you can concentrate on your business. To learn more about our fully managed IT support services for SMEs, contact us today.
